Tube Feeding The Keto Diet
Written by Alison Maguire
Assistant Co-ordinator – Matthew’s Friends
Dietetic Content approved by Gwyneth Magrath RD – Matthew’s Friends Medical Board
My Background
I am Alison, mum to Niamh.
Niamh is featured in the Matthew’s Friends DVD and her story has been shared by many professionals in the neurological world, as example of success with the ketogenic diet against all odds.
My daughter’s story can be found at www.niamhsjourney.com but in summary Niamh went from 100+ seizures a day to zero in 6 weeks on commencing the Ketogenic diet.
She was totally tube fed, and we administered the diet in liquid only form due to the severe and complex gastro-intestinal problems she regularly experienced as part of her underlying condition.
Many around us had concerns that with all her pre-existing feeding problems whether it would be possible to administer a diet based epilepsy treatment effectively - but we did.
We solved the problems as they arose, and we did not give up without exhausting every possibility.
The next few sections explain tube feeding and the liquid ketogenic diet and discuses some of the problems we encountered along our way and how we resolved these.
I have a lot of direct experience in the field of tube feeding the ketogenic diet and am happy to receive any individual questions through alison@matthewsfriends.org
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Throughout this section I have noted any personal experience which you may found useful with this flower symbol. |
BACKGROUND TO TUBE FEEDING & THE KETOGENIC DIET
Many children with different medical problems receive nutrition through a naso-gastric tube (NG) or gastrostomy tube (GT). Children may need these tubes for several reasons:
- The child may not be able to eat at all; or
- They may not eat enough to meet their nutritional requirements; or
- They may not be able to swallow safely, which may eventually lead to them aspirating feed and getting recurrent chest infections.
The Liquid Ketogenic Diet can be given in exactly the same way as regular liquid feed, using any of the existing tube feeding methods.
There is no evidence to suggest any of the tube feeding routes are more or less effective than another, nor that one produces better ketones than the other on the diet.
In fact, because tube fed children are less likely to be able to “cheat” on the diet, tube fed children are often seen to produce the most remarkable response to the diet of all the groups.
TYPES OF TUBE
Tubes can be divided into two general categories:
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Those that are inserted manually through the nose |
Those that are inserted surgically through the stomach |
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Each of these types of tube have their own advantages and disadvantages and the choice of tube will be very dependent on each child’s individual needs.
More Information on each tube can be found by clicking the button links below:
| Naso-gastric & Naso-jejunal Tube Feeding | xxxx | Gastrostomy Tube Feeding | xxxx | Jejunal Tube Feeding | xxxx | Gastro-Jejunal Tube Feeding |
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Our Experience with TubesOur daughter started aspirating feeds within the first few months of her life which had resulted in 2 bouts of bronchiolitis and one of pneumonia within 4 months.
Niamh was fed her ketogenic feeds through all these routes. |
FEED DELIVERY METHODS & RATES
Many children whom are tube fed will also have underlying gastro-intestinal problems therefore feeding may not be as straightforward as simply putting in a tube then getting started.
Feeding pumps and other equipment have been devised to provide a variety of methods of giving the feeds so as the delivery rates and volumes can be tailored to each child.
Some children can happily take bolus tube feeds where the full feed is delivered into the tummy over 15-30 minutes, but other children will simply not tolerate large volumes of feed in one go and these children prefer continuous drip feeding.
More Information on each method can be found by clicking the button links below
| xxxx | xxxx | Continuous Drip Feeds |
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Our Experience with Delivery Methods and RatesDespite two fundoplication operations (to narrow the top opening to her stomach) and high doses of anti-reflux and anti-inflammatory medications, our daughter still suffered severe reflux, regular gastrisis, and frequent retching, gagging and vomiting.
Over time through trial and error, we found what worked best for her was:
Having the G-J tube was incredible helpful as we had two feeding options – Gastrostomy feeding into her Tummy and Jejunal feeding into her Jejunum. |
KETOGENIC TUBE FEEDS
The initial option for tube fed babies/children is usually Ketocal.
This is a powder formula feed made in a ketogenic ration of 4:1. It is incredibly simple to use and actually is no more difficult that making a baby formula milk. Various other things can be added to the Ketocal to change the ratio or to ease common symptoms of the diet like constipation.
Any addition to the feed will affect the ratio, so it is very important that if you are giving you child a fibre supplement of any sort that you inform your dietician so as they can adjust your recipe accordingly.
For children that have more complex feeding problems/intolerances there is a modular version of the feed where components are partially digested (or broken down) into their simplest form. This means that the tummy has to work less hard to digest the feed.
Modular feeds are made up of the same basic nutrients as Ketocal but as separate components of fat , carbohydrate , protein ,minerals ,electrolytes and water. There are many types of products which provide these components eg. Maxijul is a carbohydrate powder often used in such feeds.
An experienced dietician will chose the individual products from the range available to make up a feed tailored to each child's individual requirements. Each of the components can be individually manipulated to suit the child's specific needs.
The recipes often have as many as 8 ingredients all need to be carefully weighed and measured. Making up such a feed requires painstaking accuracy and care.
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Our ExperienceWe mainly used Ketocal, but did try the modular version of the diet for a time.We actually saw no difference in ketosis using either method, but unfortunately nor did we see any improvement in stomach symptoms. As the modular feed was more complicated to make, we reverted back to Ketocal after a few months. |
RATIOS
The aim with the Ketogenic diet is to find a ratio for your child that allows them to produce regular and stable ketones to a level that offers therapeutic relief from seizures.
There is no “right” ratio to achieve this – in fact it is different for every child, so it is very much a matter of trial and error.
It is much easier to get this ratio right when tube feeding as ratio’s can be altered relatively simply and quickly if required.
The usual target ratio is 4:1 which means four parts fat to one part carbohydrate and protein. Some children may go up as high as a 5:1 ratio or as low as a 2:1 ratio - it is different for every child.
If your child obtains good seizure control at a low ratio, there is no need to increase this.
The lower the ratio the less chance you will become overly ketotic and therefore health professionals will try and find the lowest suitable ratio for your child.
Liquid feed ratio’s can be varied by the addition of Calogen (fat) to increase ratio or Maxijul (carbohydrate) to decrease the ratio.
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Our ExperienceWe weaned to up a 4:1 ratio then settled at a 3.7:1 for most of our daughter’s diet. This produced good consistent ketones for her. |
MAKING UP TUBE FEEDS
Ketocal
In its simplest form, add equal amounts of boiling and cool boiled tap water to get your water at about 50’C.
Mix with Ketocal, whisk (ensuring you include the powder in the baseline edge as this tends to miss the whisk) and put into sealed bottles, allow to cool to room temperature then refrigerate – simple as that!
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Our ExperienceWhen you whisk, ensure you include the powder in the baseline edge of the missing jug as this tends to miss the whisk.Also we used to run the whisked Ketocal through a sieve to ensure we didn’t get any lumps. When taking out of the fridge for use, we allowed it to stand for half an hour to warm to room temperature rather than actually heating it. |
Modular feeds
These are a bit more tricky and your dietician will give you a recipe that will be tailored to your child.
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Our ExperienceMix the benefibre in water first to dissolve it – otherwise it floats on the top.Metabolic mineral mix – this causes the feed to separate so we used to mix this separately with water and give in three doses spread throughout the day. |
GENERAL TROUBLE SHOOTING
Constipation
Can be a problem on the diet due to high fat content and low fibre content, Made worse by the fact that tube fed children tend to be less mobile than orally fed children and also that you may be battling to get the full volume of feeds in per day, so fluid levels may not be high.
Mixing Benefibre into feed – will affect ratio. For serious constipation Phosphate enemas contain no carbohydrate and so are “ketogenic diet friendly” – these need to be prescribed for use in children.
Times of Illness
Finding a method that works when your child is well is one thing. Methods of course have to adapt when your child is ill and during times when our daughter experienced inflammation of her stomach lining and reverse peristalsis we had a number of tricks up our sleeves:
- During these times we varied concentrations by diluting feeds (unfortunately this meant sacrificing calories but anything was better than nothing we believed)
- During these times we altered the administration route of day feeds from gastrostomy to jejunostomy which although meant less feed (as the rate was much slower) it also meant that more stayed down.
Separation of Feeds
On the odd occasion we did experience separation of Ketocal (but this was not a common occurrence), however much more common was separation of feed components whilst we were on the modular version of the classical diet.
Because our child was fed at such a slow rate overnight, her feed was hanging for the full 6 hours. During this time it separated out into its individual components – ie. fat and protein+carbohydrate.
On the first occasion, (before we realised this was a problem) our poor little Niamh had received her full 6 hour dose of carbs which had sunk to the bottom of her feeding bag (the feed drained from the bottom) followed by all the fat which was floating on the top. Fortunately her tummy realised this was not right and promptly threw it back rather than causing her to seize due to too much carbohydrate followed by ketoacidosis due to too much fat!
Initially the separation problems meant that one of us had to be up every hour overnight to shake the feeding bag to re-mix the feed but we soon found that a small electrical vibrating toy tucked into the front pocket of her feeding bag and a supersize bag of AA batteries did the trick just as well.
Gas & Trapped Wind
A lot of our children have problems with gas and trapped wind. At best this causes them discomfort and at worst vomiting.
There is no evidence that the Ketogenic Diet makes gas or trapped wind worse, but any problem that leads to feed being thrown back up (when the feed is responsible for seizure control) needs to be addressed.
- Venting - We found our daughter would have to be vented to release stomach air before each feed. Whist she was being vented we gently rocked her from side to side to ensure the inside of her gastrostomy was free to release any air that may be there.
- Free Drainage – If you have a child with a gastro-jejunostomy you have the added advantage (and it is a huge advantage) of trying “free drainage”. This is where you attach a “bile bag” onto the gastrostomy port and leave it open so as the stomach can drain air/acid freely. You then feed through the jejunual port.
If you don’t have a gastro-jejunal tube, some children still benefit from being on free drainage via their gastrostomy between feeds or overnight.
Weight Loss
Although not common amongst children on the diet, weight loss can be a problem in some children, particularly if they have underlying gastro-intestinal problems.
Concentrating feeds or increasing volume are the only ways to get extra calories into tube fed children on the ketogenic diet but our daughter was not able to tolerate these attempts.
Weight loss was the reason our daughter came off the diet nearly 3 years later.
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In Summary - Our ExperienceOur daughters feeding regimes were complex and continually changing but all of our efforts to make this diet work for her, were worth it and I would have no hesitation in doing it all again tomorrow if in the same situation again.It can be exhausting and at times incredibly frustrating that things have to be so hard, but Matthews Friends coordinators are there to try and help to make it work. |
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Alison at the following e-mail:
Alison@matthewsfriends.org
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