In the neonatal intensive care unit at UVA Children’s, Dr. Brooke Vergales noticed that many babies who were nearly recovered had to overcome one more hurdle: feeding. These babies were often fitted with a nasogastric tube to help them take in nutrients as they are bottle-fed around-the-clock to ultimately move them off the tube. Vergales, an associate professor of pediatrics and neonatology, suspected that babies would do better at home, where their parents could care for them.