My dad had surgery for squamous cell cancer in his mouth; had a fibula flap done. G Tube inserted. He is now starting to introduce solid foods (he can now swallow) and for whatever reason his G Tube is starting to get irritated at the site. Wondering if the cause of the irritation is the sudden use of solid foods?

I never had such an experience, other than from a bacterial, fungal infection. Could be from the increased stomach from eating more food? I would see the doctor just to rule out infections too, which are easily treated with Bactrim or anti fungal, each one is different. I washed mine with soap water in the shower, dried thoroughly, used peroxide, and then applied the cream wether it be Bactrim or anti fungal. sometimes I used gauze, under, over, the plate plate, sometimes not, due to bacteria being caused by moisture. Good luck.

The irritation at the peg site would not be caused by his eating regular food. This area is very delicate and needs to be kept very clean. Many patients will experience granulation tissue at the peg site which can be very painful, this area can also easily become infected due to leakage at the site.

My suggestion is after your father takes a shower to have him dry the peg site very well. He should dab some antibiotic ointment around the peg site and cover with a drain sponge. Change this before he goes to bed and reapply more antibiotic ointment with a new drain sponge. You can also use regular 2"x2" gauze pads with cutting a slit halfway thru them. After a couple days the site should look better, if it doesnt he should see his gastro doc to check it.

When I started trying different types of foods after having been on formula, the area around where the tube went into the stomach started getting irritated. And the discharge from my stomach increased too. That may be what caused the irritation - the increase in discharge.

But like Christine says, keeping the area clean and changing the gauze often will help.