The problem with catheter tip bolus syringes is that they weren’t designed for the bolus delivery of nutrition!

Bolus syringes are incredibly inefficient. The typical bolus syringe is 60mL, which is great for hydration or many enteral medications but not for a full meal. They aren’t designed to be used multiple times either – the rubber tip on the plunger wears out quickly making it almost impossible to push. They were designed to deliver meds or hydration and then thrown away, not refilled and used over and over. 

A larger bolus syringe isn’t the solution either because it gets very difficult to to push the plunger. If you don’t use a plunger it gets tiresome to sit and hold a large volume syringe while it slowly drains.

A lot of people like the Miracle Syringe from the Squirrel Store. It has an o-ring instead of a large rubber tip on the plunger, which makes the syringe somewhat easier to use and longer lasting.  But, bottom line, this syringe is designed for veterinary use! If you shop for them on Amazon the first bullet point says “Not for human use-animal hand feeding only.”

Is that really what you want to use for yourself or your loved one at meal time?

Keep it Clean

No matter what type of syringe you use for bolus feeding you have to connect and reconnect many times during a meal.  This means dipping the syringe into the nutrition, cleaning the tip and connecting it to your feeding tube.  With each connection, the chance of contaminating the nutrition increases.

Reducing the number of times you need to connect and disconnect with a messy tip is best way to keep your feeding tube clean and lower the risk of contamination. 

ENFit syringes are great for making a secure connection but doesn’t change the fact that you have to disconnect and refill the bolus syringe up to six times at every meal. ENFit syringes have threads to make a secure connection, but that also makes keeping the tip clean a challenge. The nutrition on the tip can transfer to the groove in the ENFit connector on the feeding tube.  The nutrition then builds up in the groove and can create a hard to clean residue.

If you don’t have an ENFit feeding tube or extension set yet you can still use the bFed® System – just make sure to add an ENFit adapter to your order.

The Alternative

All of these difficulties in using bolus syringes are why we created the bFed® System – designed specifically for the home tube feeder. Using the Bolink® Large Cap and a Bolee® Bag or Bolink D Cap with nutrition in a tetra with the DreamCap means no messy tip and less chance for dried nutrition to build up in the ENFit system. There’s no dipping a tip into the nutrition.

You now have many meal time bFed System options.

• Pour your nutrition into the Bolee Bag, attach the Bolink Large Cap and connect to the feeding tube or extension set to deliver your nutrition – one connection per meal.
• If your nutrition is in a tetra with the DreamCap, screw on the Bolink D Cap, connect to the feeding tube or extension set and you're good to go!
• You can also fill multiple Bolee Bags and store them in your refrigerator or freezer. Easy to grab for a day on the go or storage at school or work.
  

The Bolee Bag is also easy to wash and reuse. We’ve tested it through multiple fill, freeze, use and wash cycles and are confident you will get on average 15 uses out of each Bolee Bag (some will get more, some will get less). You will appreciate not having to throw away so many bags.

And, best of all, the bFed System is covered by insurance. If you use a DME , you can get the bFed System delivered to your home as part of your monthly Enteral Nutrition Gravity Supply Kit with the cost covered under HCPCS code B4036 .

Since the Bolee Bag is reusable, most home care suppliers will provide 10 Bolee Bags and 30 Bolink Large Caps for your monthly supply.

Get Rid of the Messy Syringe

Why put up with the misery and mess of bolus syringes?  You finally have an alternative to the inefficiency that is bolus feeding with a 60mL syringe. Put down the syringe and get the bFed System  today! Either the bFed System Starter Kit or a Bolink D Cap 5 pack is a great way to get started! 

Still Have to use a Syringe?

Sometimes as much as Team bFed hates to admit it, some folks just prefer a syringe to deliver nutrition.  For this group we have a solution, the NeoConnect at home ENFit Syringe.  Like the Miracle syringe, it has an o ring design and is designed to be reusable.  There's no large rubber tip to wear out quickly and make it hard to push the plunger.  But, unlike the Miracle syringe, the NeoConnect at Home ENFit syringe is cleared for human use by the FDA.  You can have confidence using a product designed specifically for the home tube feeder. These are the reasons U Deliver Medical decided to include it on our online store.

Even with these improvements over the existing syringes, the NeoConnect at home ENFit Syringe can be messy!  The ENFit tip is a challenge to keep clean.  Team bFed has a solution for that as well - the EZ Fill Kit.  Fill a Bolee Bag with nutrition, attach a ENFit transfer lid and fill your ENFit syringe from the Bolee Bag without having to dip the tip into a nutrition container!  The video below shows how easy it is to do.

Click on the button below to go to the U Deliver store to check out all the options available we have to help you get rid of messy syringes.