barium swallow

Actually, I think the barium swallow is one of the most painless procedures Quinn has ever endured. She’s had two. It’s very painless and can provide some very good information. What they will do is take her to an xray room. First, they will take a few films of her anatomy to be sure that if there is something wrong with her swallowing, it’s not due to a structural abnormality.

Next, they will either lay her flat on the table, or have her sitting up in a special chair and take moving xray pictures of her as she is drinking the barium. The barium is a white liquid. I think it’s chalk like. But Q didn’t seem to mind it. As far as I know, you can bring some chocolate or a flavor to make it easier for her to take… but ask the therapist first. There will be a speech pathologist and an xray person there evaluate her as she is drinking the barium. If she eats anything else like finger foods or something like that, they will ask for one or two and cover it with barium as well to see how she swallows that too.

What they are looking for is difficulty in swallowing… how often the food comes back up the esophagus, reflux into the nasal cavity. If there is excessive or little jaw movement. On some occasions, they will be able to tell if the tongue is not doing a good job. They will basically see how she eats from the inside. It’s kind of neat to watch your baby’s bones and stuff move around on the xray.

Sometimes, right away they will tell you if they saw something abnormal. I know that with Q, they told me right away that she needed therapy. I do wish you luck with the testing. IF she does not like to drink, she may be a little uncomfortable… so be sure she is hungry. Many times, they only need to see a little bit and so 1-2 ounces is fine. That’s all it took for Q.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes, please!

-Sarah

Just wanted to clarify…

Is she having a MODIFIED barium swallow, or an upper GI. Sometimes the upper GI is mistakenly reffered to as a barium swallow, but the tests are not the same. The modified barium swallow is looking for difficulty swallowing or aspiration like Sarah said. The upper GI is looking for structural malformations through the GI tract.

This has happened to us once when she was younger. She did, however reflux during the study, but it was so minimal that they didn’t prescribe her anything. Don’t feel bad. Every time I take Q to do a test, I always say… okay Quinn, don’t make a liar out of mommy. Because she does. Last time we were in the ER because she had a high fever of 105 for days. I finally took her in and it was down to 100.4. They sent us back home and said to continue with what we were doing. I came back in that same day hours later because Quinn was purple and her fever was over 105. They decided to admit her then.

Don’t feel bad. This happens a lot. Continue pushing for some answers… trust me, eventually they will come. Quinn’s reflux started out as very very mild. But it became apparent that her reflux was not mild at all.

I would say that because she didn’t reflux during the study… keep your mind open to her maybe having a milk or soy intolerance… this could be upsetting her tummy. I would try switching her formula and see if that helps a little. To something like Alimentum or Soy.. and if that doesn’t help still, try some hypoallergenic like Nutramigen or even Neocate. Keep in mind that it does take about a week for a new formula to make a difference. Discuss this with your doctor first if you do not feel comfortable, though.

Don’t forget, you are her mommy and her voice. If you do not feel like you are getting answers, get a second opinion. Quinn has had many many second opinions. And we even avoided having to insert a n/g tube with second opinions. It isn’t right for a kid to have to feel pain from eating. That is a good way to start an oral aversion which can lead to many other complications. So keep pushing to get the answers you need. you’re doing a great job!!!

-Sarah

Yeah, it does sound like you’ve gone through a lot of formula. When you go to see the GI specialist… you have an appointment, right? Well, when you go, mention this stuff to him and about her barium swallow. Most docs will do the ph probe. That’s the best way to see if there is reflux going on. It is a 24 hour test and so there’s no getting around the fussiness with that.

I can totally agree, though. Quinn is incredibly fussy at home with me, but when she is with other people, she can be much calmer. And then I find that I defend myself by telling people how she normally is or what kind of problems we encounter at home etc, etc, etc…

Hang in there! I do hope that you can find a doctor who will help get to the bottom of this.

-Sarah

It makes me really mad when docs use the UGI to diagnose reflux (it actually sounds like that was the test that your daughter had to me, but I could be wrong). That test is only supposed to be used to diagnose structural abnormalities. Sometimes they can see reflux. They also told me that Hailey didn’t have reflux based on this test. I told the GI that my carpets begged to differ!

Don’t give up, and if your doc refuses to take you seriously because of this, let us know where you are and we can try to recommend a good doc.

How old is Noah?

I would try not to worry- young babies generally don’t have too hard of a time with it. Especially if he’s bottle fed, as they feed it through a bottle.

Hailey had a feeding aversion, and wouldn’t even BF, but she sucked back that barium no problem. She was 9 weeks old.

They mix it with a bit of something (I don’t know what), but it’s not “flavoured”. And they don’t need to drink very much.

If he won’t take it from the bottle, then ask them to try other feeding devices before the ng. They used some kind of syringe thing with Hailey. And you always have the right to refuse anything that you don’t agree with.

What are his symptoms? Is it silent reflux, or flat out vomitting?

As I said, this was a pretty easy test for Hailey… worse for me, I think. I worried a lot about it beforehand. I was also afraid that she wouldn’t take the barium, but she surprised me.