Eliza: Feeding William

Welcome to my first blog post!

My name's Eliza and William is my big brother. He's not quite like other big brothers but I still think he's the best big brother in the world! I'd like to tell you about some of the things William does a bit differently to other people.

I thought I'd start by telling you about how William eats and drinks. William can't eat and drink in the same way as most people do because he finds swallowing very tricky. Instead of putting his food and drink in his mouth like I do, we put William's food through a special tube straight into his tummy so he doesn't need to swallow it. William is very happy about this because he doesn't like having things in his mouth and it means he can have his food even when he's asleep!

William's feeding pump

The special tube that goes into William's tummy is called a Mickey button and mummy and daddy have to swap it for a new one every few months.

Just like me William needs to drink lots of water to stay healthy. He has his water through his feeding pump. This is a special machine that lots of William's friends have too. You tell the machine how much water William wants and how quickly he wants to drink it and the machine does it all for you! It's very clever. I like helping by pressing the buttons.

Here I am holding a syringe! William is having his drink of
water while he's asleep! He loves to sleep!

William has three meals a day just like I do. Most people who have a feeding tube like William's are fed a special type of milk as their food. The milk has everything they need in it to keep them healthy. William used to be fed a special milk called Nutrini. About a year ago though, my mummy and daddy decided it might be better to give William normal food like I eat. The problem is the food still has to fit down William's little feeding tube! This means all of William's food is mixed up by a big noisy machine called a blender. You can put any food in the blender and it will come out looking like a milkshake! William's food doesn't go through his feeding pump because it's a bit too thick so we have to push it into his tummy using a special syringe. I like helping with this! Sometimes William is kind and lets me use his old syringes to squirt water in the bath!

       Here's William's lunch ready to give

Mummy and Daddy do lots of maths on their computer to make sure William gets just the right amount of food because he can't tell us when he's hungry or full. William has breakfast just like I do with some weetabix, milk and fruit. For lunch he has a sandwich with some fruit and for tea he usually has whatever I'm having! Our favourite is Shepherd's Pie and banana for pudding!

It needs a quick stir first though!