As mothers, we always strive for the best for our children, and we make sure to do everything in our power to ensure that they don’t lack what it takes to develop in the healthiest way possible. When it comes to feeding, most cases fall into one of the two main options: breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
However, there are special cases, in which for some reason, it is not possible to feed a baby as thought and end up opting for a third option: feeding him with a tube. To help make these cases visible and show the mothers’ love for their children, a photographer held a photoshoot in which she pays tribute to tube-fed babies .
Anna Poteet, who is the owner of Anna Stacy Photography, is a photographer from Chattanooga, Tennessee and the creator of the beautiful photoshoot that we will share below. In an interview for Babies and more, Anna tells us that it is a very special session for her , due to the eating difficulties she has had with her baby:
” Feeding is something that I have recently become passionate about, as my nearly four-month-old baby is having trouble eating and gaining weight. Also, one of my best friends (who participated in the session) has a child whom she loves. They have just put her catheter in, but due to her age the insurance does not cover it and she is paying for it, so I am glad that she has also participated to raise awareness about these problems “, Anna tells us.
Originally, the idea was to bring together diverse mothers to show the world that it doesn’t matter how they feed their baby, be it breastfeeding, bottle or tube , and that all must be accepted and stop falling into negative attitudes, such as when judging to a mother for the decisions she makes about her baby.
To bring the mothers together, Anna posted an ad on her Facebook page asking the mothers who follow her to participate in a special session, and that this session was inspired by other “Fed is best” sessions. , like the ones we’ve previously shared in Babies & More, but this one took a very special turn by focusing solely on tube-fed babies, which she was delighted to see .
Each of the babies who participated in the photo session has a different eating problem. In the case of Bellamy, who is her friend’s baby and is the size of a one-year-old despite being two years old , he is too picky and picky about his food, so he doesn’t get enough calories orally. In addition, he has allergies to various foods and suffers from reflux, which makes his stomach ache after eating.
After trying various methods, ranging from food therapy to higher calorie beverages, he finally needed to be fed by a tube. Thanks to her, in three weeks he has managed to gain weight and instead of just surviving, he is finally thriving .
Katherine is a six-month-old baby who has had difficulty swallowing her food and has severe reflux. He has been vomiting constantly, gaining very little weight. At three months of age, a tube was placed in his nose that carried food to his intestine . After two months of being fed this way and gaining weight, they began to work on their reflux and swallowing abilities.
After many visits to doctors and diverse opinions, they traveled to a hospital in Nashville, where thanks to a special surgery his reflux was controlled and he is now drug free . She is currently thriving with her new catheter and as her reflux is improving she may already be eating baby food, which makes her very happy: ” She is definitely the happiest baby I know! ” Says her mother.
Hailey, who is called “Bug” at home, is a five-month-old baby who was born full-term but had great difficulty being breastfed and bottle-fed . Seeing that several weeks passed in which he could not eat due to his multiple eating problems (he could not swallow properly, in addition to having reflux and allergies to dairy, soy and coconut), as well as presenting a severe case of oral candidiasis, he put a tube through the nose. In your case, it is fed steadily directly into your gut and not your stomach.
Unfortunately a second study measuring their ability to swallow food has failed and they are currently working with a hospital to find the reason behind this problem . Also, she is receiving therapy to help her learn to eat and drink eventually.
Anna comments that the photoshoot was great and that they all agreed to do it just before the sun went down to avoid having the babies exposed to the strong Tennessee heat for too long. She explains that her goal of raising awareness and making these types of situations visible has been achieved when she saw that the images on her Facebook page went viral:
” My heart goes out to all those parents who go through these types of situations on a daily basis, I am very grateful to be able to help raise awareness about this. I see that a lot of people are genuinely asking questions in my Facebook post and this is leading to a new way of understanding it. “
In Babies and more we have loved Anna’s photographs, because we believe that it is important to give greater exposure to these situations and special needs, and because once again it is shown that all types of feeding, be it breastfeeding, bottle or tube, is carried out as an act of love from mothers to children .
Photos | Anna Stacy Photography (reproduced with permission)
