ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to use a qualitative research paradigm to describe the parental experience of caring for a child who received some or all of their nutrition via a feeding tube. It focuses on the experience for the baby would provide information important to the understanding of tube feeding and its impact on development of oral feeding and interaction with caregivers. A growing body of literature related to parental perceptions of tube feeding, more specifically, usually gastrostomy tube feeding, in older infants and children is emerging. Parents must learn to manage all aspects of tube feeding to enable their baby’s discharge from hospital. Approval for the study was obtained through the Ethics committee of the interviewer’s employing hospital, The Royal Children’s Hospital. Parents of six babies from the interviewer’s clinical caseload were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews. Interviews were videotaped and the data transcribed to personal computer for analysis.
