You know you're a parent of a tubie baby when....

• You intimately know about all types of syringes and connections and which you prefer

• You know what a 'french' is

• You know the brands of dozens of kinds of tape, and your childs reaction to each

• You keep litmus paper in your wallet

• Your baby's favourite toy is a syringe

• You constantly have to take the tube out of the baby's hand/mouth

• You get used to the stares you get while feeding out and about

• You can't count the hours you've sat and held a gravity bolus feed. You may have attempted to construct a clamp system

• You have a love hate relationship with the feeding pump

• You learn the delicate balance between over feeding and underfeeding your baby

• You mourn your breastfeeding relationship

• You are overjoyed when they eat something
  
  

• You are more of a pro at inserting an NG tube than most nurses and Doctors

• But you have made more than one late night trip to the hospital for a tricky insert

• You obsessively keep track of how many mls your baby is drinking orally

• This obsession leads to a near mental break down

• You start to learn to not stress too much over baby's oral intake

• If you see another tubie kid, you give the parent a knowing glance

• You get camera happy when the tube is out

• Other milsetones (crawling, babbling) are so much sweeter, as they show you your baby's strengths

• You don't even 'see' the tube anymore, all you see is your delicious baby