Upper GI Results

sunrosejenn wrote: Eliana's Upper GI was Friday at 11am and for some reason my phone must have gone array as I didn't hear the phone ring at all Friday afternoon. Yesterday I had a 817 area code number come across and of course didn't answer cuz that is not in my area. I had a message indicator. I checked it and had 4 messages. I get to the last message. It was the doctor's office at about 330pm. I called them back to see what they wanted. The results had come back already on Friday afternoon.

In a way I'm happy and in a way sad. The GI no longer showed reflux. But yet she still vomits. For a 4-5 month period she was only vomiting once every 2 weeks. And for the last 5-6 weeks it has been 2-3 times a day. Finally she has not vomited since Saturday except once when she got super mad. I read some of my old medical records from when I was 5-5 1/2. I got the same way if I got upset enough I started coughing, choking then vomiting.

I also know that when I was 6 months old I was in the hospital as I would not eat. I was in for 6 weeks and would not eat on my own. I was tube fed for 6 weeks. The doctors were about to give up and send me to a children's hospital as I was in a German hospital. I then finally started to eat.

Eliana has had similiar things going on with her as I did as a young child. Except I didn't have reflux or maybe I had a mild case of it and they didn't know this back then 30 years ago. The only difference is that after my not eating spell I did eat and never had food aversions.


We are now dealing with Eliana's food aversion since it has been confirmed the reflux is no longer there. Eliana and I have a long road ahead of us to try and treat the food aversion.


Food refusal in younger children and infants, especially refusing to begin to take solids, is usually a different matter.



By seven or eight months however, if your child still refuses to take solids, then you should have an evaluation with your Pediatrician. If he is otherwise growing and developing normally, then his refusing to take solids may very well be normal, but it is important to rule out other disorders, so that treatment, if necessary, can be started.

This is what Eliana does ... An evaluation is especially important if your child is not gaining weight (failure to thrive) and developing normally, or if he coughs, chokes, gags, or vomits during feedings, which may indicate that he is aspirating during feedings and can lead to recurrent respiratory problems.


Common reasons for infants to refuse to take solids and have difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) include, but are not limited to:

gastroesophageal reflux: children with this condition will usually spit up a lot, which can lead to esophagitis and pain when swallowing, causing irritability.
oral motor dysfunction: can lead to aspiration and recurrent pneumonia, especially in children that cough or gag when eating.
food aversion disorders: this usually occurs in children with a chronic medical problem, who may have been hospitalized at a young age, requiring help breathing with a ventilator, intravenous nutrition or tube feedings.
neuromuscular disorders: such as cerebral palsy can cause trouble swallowing.
obstruction: delayed gastric emptying or other gastrointestinal obstruction
achalasia: an uncommon condition, especially in younger children, in which the muscles of the esophagus do not work properly, so that foods do not move through the esophagus to the stomach normally.
many other anatomical and neuromuscular disorders can also cause dysphagia.
A thorough evaluation by your Pediatrician, with special attention to your child's growth and development, is usually required for children with dysphagia. If your child is growing and developing normally and has good weight gain, then it is not unreasonable to wait a month or two and continue to try and feed small amounts of solids.

Additional testing may be required if your child has dysphagia and he is not growing and developing normally, or if he is not improving after a period of watchful waiting.

This was done Dec 22 ... Further evaluation is usually with a speech pathologist or occupational therapist, who can observe how your child swallows, or attempts to swallow, foods of different consistencies. These specialists are usually part of the early childhood intervention programs that are available in most areas.

The most common test performed for children with swallowing difficulties is a video swallow or video fluoroscopy, which is a type of barium swallow. In this test, barium with different consistencies is given to the child to drink. X-rays are then taken to see if the barium is swallowed or aspirated. This test is usually done with the assistance of a speech pathologist that can observe and look for swallowing abnormalities.

Treatments for dysphagia depend on the underlying cause. Reflux is usually treated with an antacid. This is why the speech thereapist is coming 1 hour a week ... Food aversion and oral motor dysfunction is usually treated by a speech pathologist and/or an occupational therapist.

This is going to be fun ... Treatments include changing the position the child is in when he feeds, and offering foods with different consistencies. The speech pathologist will also attempt to desensitize your child to having solid foods in his mouth, especially if he seems hypersensitive to having things in his mouth. Special adaptive feeding devices may also be used.


Thanks for taking the time to read and listen!

3_call_me_mama replied: HUGS! It may be a long road but it will get better.

sunrosejenn replied: thanks

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: Wow, that is going to be a long road, but you have taken the right steps and you have a therapist working with her. I'll be praying for both you and Eliana.

coasterqueen replied: Megan has food aversions so badly that she used to puke as soon as something hit her tongue. We have been working with a "feeding team" to remedy the situation. Just a few weeks ago they put us on "standby" meaning that we don't have to go for a bit while we use the techniques they have given us. She's doing better. She's not puking the instant something hits her tongue but NO food is going down at all. She will chew on things but it eventually comes out her mouth, just not in the form of puke. Sorry for being so graphic. We know we have a long road ahead of us as well but are trying not to stress over it because we know she's 10 months old and she can survive a LONG time (til 2 years, even) just on breastmilk alone with no solids.

Have you asked your pediatric gastro specialist about seeing a feeding team? Maybe you don't need a "team" per se. Our team consists of two women (they are called the feeding team). Their job descripts include lactation consultant, nutritionist, speech pathologist and something else, lol. Each one has two job descripts. Maybe you only need to see one since you are not nursing (at least I think I'm correct on this, right?). Our team has done an EXCELLENT job at reassuring us, giving us the tools we need to succeed, and are just a wealth of knowledge with our situation. I wouldn't have come this far without them, I know that. I was so freaked out when they said, don't come back for a month or so, let's see how she does with what you know now. YIKES! I was a mess, but they gave me the confidence to help Megan get through this and I'm actually proud at how well I'm handling her situations.

I'm here any time you need to talk about it or if you need tips on how to help Eliana get through this. She WILL be ok, I'm sure of it.

sunrosejenn replied: thanks for all your support

boogabearzmom - not sure what the difference is with a feeding team and a speech therapist.

the speech therapist we have coming to the house starting last week - 1 hour a week. she is going to help with feeding techniques and how to get her to eat and so forth. she will be coming until Dec 21, 06 or until she feels Eliana does not need anymore help. In Dec 06 they will do an entire evaluation again to see if she needs further help. we also have a DT (developmental therapist) who will be coming to work on fine motor as she is 23% delayed in this area.

the speech therapist, one of her children (now in college) had feeding issues so this helps alot. I actually got to pick which ST by reading bio sheets at the evaluation. Nila is AWESOME!

we have switched to rice milk as Eliana can not handle cow's milk (neither can I if I have too much in one day). she can handle other dairy products but of course they are in smaller portions and less in lactose then cow's milk.

the ST is through First Steps of Indiana (early intervention). so I do not have to pay for this which takes a great burden off of me.

i've always suspected something was up with her eating and noticed it at 7 months and should have gone this route back then. I am glad however we are dealing with this now before it's harder to treat.

I didn't realize you were going through this also. glad that you were able to catch early on. you will do great with time off from your feeding team.

Eliana does eat some food. But mixing 2 textures doesn't always go well. Foods that she has eaten before sometimes she can't eat them and gags, chokes. There is no pattern for Eliana.

I thank god everyday that we had her evaluated and are able to help her.

sunrosejenn replied: boogabearzmom - we have not seen a pediatric gastro yet as it will take months to get into one and we have to drive 2 1/2 hours to see one. so far with the help of First Steps and her New Pedi we are on the ball with getting her help.

coasterqueen replied: Sounds like you are seeing someone that can really help Eliana, which is good!

Are you giving her jarred food? Just curious. And what stage of jar food if you are?

luvmykids replied:

sunrosejenn replied: sometimes she will eat jarred food. she eats stage 2 as stage 3 has too much mixed texture for her. she will eat 2-4oz if she is going to actually eat. buying stage 3 would be a waste.

I do have a magic bullet and will probably start to blend, chop, puree to different textures then freeze it so we don't waste.

kimberley replied: i am glad you are getting some answers and help. hope you see improvement soon.

coasterqueen replied:
We could only get Megan to take stage 2 as well. Stage 1 and stage 3 textures were too much for her. She would only eat a couple spoonfuls of it and then turn her nose up. I said before nothing goes down, I'm wrong. When she will eat jarred food it will, but not much. She's totally disinterested in eating from a spoon and wants to hold everything she eats. So our direction is to give her anything she can put in her hand or scoop up and whatever goes down the pipe, goes and what doesn't well...hopefully one day it will.

Have you tried spicing up her jarred food? I noticed when I added seasonings that Megan took to it better. Also, do you notice if she prefers spicier foods to sweeter foods. Megan likes spicier/seasoned stuff so much better than sweeter things. She won't touch peaches, pears, applesauce with a 10 foot pole even in stage 2. But give her an apple slice and she'll gnaw on it for sure.

We were told to buy a magic bullet and blend our own food, but like I said since Megan wants to feed herself I just haven't done it yet.

sunrosejenn replied: jarred food - she loves carrots, pears she ate yesterday, she will eat baby oatmeal cereal, squash and a few others but can't think right now.

she will not eat applesauce, peaches and i'm sure there are a couple more.


she will eat shredded cheese and deli turkey in small pieces. not sure if she's more into sweet or spicy but with babies with/had reflux don't do well with acid and spicy. she likes cut up apple but it has to be quite small she only has 4 teeth.

my mom got the magic bullet (buy one get one free) and she gave me the 2nd one. it's still in the box. want to try it this weekend. you can make foods into different textures and consistencies. when we were at my mom's for new years she put ice in it and it came out real soft and looked like a snow cone....ELIANA LOVES ICE.

we have to freeze her meds now and german baby ice tea to make sure she takes it. she will eat anything that is cold and looks like ice/popsicle from a spoon.

she HATES eating from a spoon. for awhile she would even take 1 bite from a spoon. when she feels like it she eats from a spoon now.

she eats a small selection of foods. there are a few more that I didn't name cuz i've got mommy brain.

coasterqueen replied: Yeah, Megan has reflux....still does. But we have weaned her off the meds and she is doing good w/out them. She still spits up a lot, but she doesn't cry with it like she used to. I was concerned when our feeding team told us to add spice, especially with her reflux, but she's done pretty good with it. It hasn't made her reflux any worse, I know that. Who knows she may have more issues with it later, but for now I just want her to take any food she will, so if she wants spice I give it to her, lol. It's not extremely spicy, but is acidic. She absolutely LOVES garlic bread and anything with pasta sauce on it. Two things that are really acidic! Not sure anything really goes down but she likes it.

sunrosejenn replied: the upper GI friday confirmed she no longer has reflux but we are dealing with the aftermath of it ... food aversion.

sometimes she cries when she vomits and sometimes not. depends on how bad it is. before you can even clean it up she wants mommy to hold her and she gets mad cuz she can't have me til everything is clean. then I hug & kiss her to pieces and tell her it's ok.

we tried zantac and reglen at the beginning and they never did any good.