OG Tubes..

I tape them in the center of the bottom lip. I found that taping on the left or right side of the mouth causes the OG to curve towards the opposite side of the mouth before going down the back of the throat. The baby will push some OG out with their tongue and provide a loop for them to hook their finger in and pull it out.

^^ What GuyInBabyland said. We used to have a terrible time keeping them from bowing out but now we just tape them in the bottom center lip (on the chin, essentially). If we have a real Houdini we'll tape them like an ET tube but that's incredibly rare.

Do you just point the tube straight down?

Do you just point the tube straight down?

Yup. Like this:

Thanks for the help guys! That looks a lot more secure and out of the baby's path than what I've been seeing. I'll try it next time I put down an OG.

What kind of tape is that? It looks like duoderm

I think it is. We use Duoderm underneath the tube and Tegaderm on top, and ours look very similar to the photo.

Asked my preceptor about this. She told me that (sometime before I started) they were told by numerous emails not to tape OG tubes like this. There were problems related to restricted mandible movement. I'd have to do more digging for specifics. So, it looks like I won't be taping like that.

There were problems related to restricted mandible movement.

How is it restricting mandible movement? It is taped to the chin. It does not restrict movement of the jaw at all.

All I can see it it might hold their mouth open... Like I said, I'd have to do more digging for specifics, but that was a pretty new change for the unit.

I'd be curious as to those specifics too. These are very thin, flexible tubes we're talking about, they're not stiff enough to prop open a baby's mouth.

I'd really have to see some evidence to back this concern up - is she thinking the tape is wrapping across the entire chin and sides of the jaw? (Like the old toothache wraps in cartoons)? Plus (this is a bit of a tangent) but everything we do in the NICU has some negative effect - if you put it on the side you run the risk of it not staying in the correct position and the belly will fill with air (plus who knows where the milk ends up). If you tape it like an ET you run the risk of it digging into the side of the mouth (which I have seen in real life and it's not pretty). The tube has to stay in somehow!