What standard procedure to verify initial placement of feeding tube?

Typically the nurse or health care provider will do one of two things (or both): use a syringe to pull stomach acid from the stomach and test the pH (acidity) to make sure that it is stomach acid. Another way is to use a syringe to inject air into the feeding tube, and then use a stethoscope to listen for a "glub" noise over the abdomen, which indicates that the air has entered the stomach. These measures are very important to make sure that the tube is open and is not in the lungs.