Caring for your syringes

This resource was written by dietitians at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. It is intended to be used by people being discharged from hospital with a feeding tube.

Why do I need syringes?

Your child is being discharged from hospital with a feeding tube. The syringes let you to flush the feeding tube with water, give medications through the tube and, if they are on a bolus feeding plan, give their prescribed feed.

Cleaning your syringes

The syringes you are given with can be used for a week, provided they are thoroughly cleaned and correctly stored when not in use. Cleaning will help to remove any bacteria that might contaminate your feeding tube.

The following steps will keep your syringes clean:

1. After using, pull apart your syringes
2. Wash both parts in warm, clean, soapy water. After washing, rinse your syringes with cooled, fresh water
3. If your child is under 1 year of age, you need to sterilise your syringes after washing. You can sterilise in several ways: using cold water sterilising solution, steam sterilising or sterilising by boiling
4. Once washed, or washed and sterilised, leave the plunger out of the syringe and allow both parts of the syringe to ‘air dry’ on a clean piece of kitchen paper
5. Once dry, store your syringes in a clean, airtight container. This will keep your syringes clean between each use
6. Throw away each syringe after it has been used for one week

What if I need to throw the syringe away sooner?

Sometimes a syringe may stop working properly. For example, the markings are no longer visible or you have difficulty pushing the plunger. In these cases throw the syringe away rather than using it for the whole week.

If you require more syringes than you currently receive, please discuss this with your Home Enteral Feed Dietitian so they can review your usage and, where necessary, give you extra syringes.