Medical Nutrition Therapy for Tube Feeding

1) How will you benefit from seeing a dietitian?
You will benefit from seeing a dietitian for a tube feeding regime to provide adequate and appropriate nutrition support. You may require tube feeding due to one of the following reasons:

• you are have swallowing difficulty, which makes it unsafe to eat or drink
• you are unable to obtain enough nutrients from food to maintain weight or nutrient adequacy

2) The objective of the medical nutrition therapy
The objective is to provide adequate calories and nutrients via tube feeding, promote target weight maintenance and to prevent further muscle, fat and weight loss.

3) What is covered in the session?

During the consultation, the dietitian will perform a detailed nutritional assessment and collect the following information:

• Weight history
• Physical assessment of fat and muscle storage
• Previous dietary intake before tube feeding was started
• Past tube feeding regimen and tolerance if any
  

• An individualised tube feeding regimen to maintain your target weight and meet your nutritional requirements.
  
• Recommending appropriate amount, type and frequency of nutritional supplement that is most suitable for your tube feeding
  
• Troubleshooting with tube feeding related problems e.g. constipation, diarrhoea, tube blockage etc.