Diagnosing Toddlers

[carrie11777]

My daughter is going to be 4 in Dec. It has taken be a while but now I know I have an intolerance to gluten, probably caesin and maybe even sugar.

My concern is with my daughter who I believe has acid reflux. I have no desire to give her medications. I'm thinking she has similar reactions to food as I do.

When she was born the we had a very difficult time getting her breathing. It took her so long to breath our doctor suggested she go to another hospital and then flew her by helecopter to Dartmouth Hitchcock where she stayed for a week. No problems were diagnosed. So now I am not sure if perhaps she has some anatomical malformation that is now causing her to choke frequently and fletch after and during meals or if this is acid reflux from food sensitivities. I have only had very mild heartburn and very infrequently at that in my response to foods but maybe she is just affected differently. Every day I hear her fletching, clearing her throat and occasionally choking on food. She also has cavities on her upper back teeth which can also be in association with acid reflux. I would like to get her diagnosed with this if that is what is happening and find out if and what foods or food allergies might be triggering the response. Somebody told me that a test is performed but she would have to be under general anesthesia or put to sleep and I don

[tarnalberry]

Two bits of advice:

1) If you strongly suspect food-based reflux but really don't want to put her on meds, try eliminating things from her diet. (Be very careful that she still has a well balanced diet, however.) Try removing a food for at least a week, better three or four, and see if there is ANY change for the better.

Dairy is the biggest dietary culprit in reflux (whether it's dairy she's eating from milk or (earlier) formula, or dairy you're eating if you breastfed her). But other things are known to exacerbate it as well, with caffeine and chocolate being the next two biggest ones on the list. Tomatoes, onions, and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages) are next in line.

2) The advice my midwife gave me when we were talking to her about our four week old possibly having reflux but not wanting to put her on meds - "Why? There is a lot of damage that can be done by acid coming up into the esophagus, and letting it go now can make it worse in the future." We opted to put her on Zantac - and yes, I know a lot of people feel acid reflux meds are horrid things. But it made a world of difference, and now - at nearly six months - we have reduced her dose and are hopeful we can get her off of it before she's a year old.

[carrie11777]

Two bits of advice:

1) If you strongly suspect food-based reflux but really don't want to put her on meds, try eliminating things from her diet. (Be very careful that she still has a well balanced diet, however.) Try removing a food for at least a week, better three or four, and see if there is ANY change for the better.

Dairy is the biggest dietary culprit in reflux (whether it's dairy she's eating from milk or (earlier) formula, or dairy you're eating if you breastfed her). But other things are known to exacerbate it as well, with caffeine and chocolate being the next two biggest ones on the list. Tomatoes, onions, and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages) are next in line.

2) The advice my midwife gave me when we were talking to her about our four week old possibly having reflux but not wanting to put her on meds - "Why? There is a lot of damage that can be done by acid coming up into the esophagus, and letting it go now can make it worse in the future." We opted to put her on Zantac - and yes, I know a lot of people feel acid reflux meds are horrid things. But it made a world of difference, and now - at nearly six months - we have reduced her dose and are hopeful we can get her off of it before she's a year old.

Your baby pic is beautiful. Thank you for the post. I'm going to switch her to almond milk. She loves dairy so it will be hard...esp with cheese and yogurt but I believe it has already caused damage and I have waited too long she is already almost 4. She is my first so I just thought all the spitting up was normal for babies but now with all the other symptoms I'm thinking this has gone on since she was born. She doesn't like tomatoes, very rarely has chocolate, milk and water and occasional juice are really all she drinks and we take very good care of her teeth as I am a hygienist. So Seeing the cavities really hit home for me I'm sure if she has acid erosion of her teeth she has damage to her esophagus. I'm going to take your advice and start with the milk...maybe all dairy. Thanks so much.

[twohokies]

If you suspect celiac disease or food allergies, raise your concerns to your ped and they can run a bloodtest - celiac top 10 food allergens. If the celiac panel comes back positive (or you really question the negative result), then that is when you have to put your child under anethesia and do the endoscopy/biopsy. My 3yo did the procedure in August and it really wasn't horrible for her - worse for us seeing her go to sleep and having her be unconcious. But we had to get over our fears b/c we needed to get the positive biopsy for the celiac disease diagnosis. She was only out for maybe 20 minutes, woke up a crank (but that's not unusual for her) and was just fine.

[twohokies]

Your baby pic is beautiful. Thank you for the post. I'm going to switch her to almond milk. She loves dairy so it will be hard...esp with cheese and yogurt but I believe it has already caused damage and I have waited too long she is already almost 4. She is my first so I just thought all the spitting up was normal for babies but now with all the other symptoms I'm thinking this has gone on since she was born. She doesn't like tomatoes, very rarely has chocolate, milk and water and occasional juice are really all she drinks and we take very good care of her teeth as I am a hygienist. So Seeing the cavities really hit home for me I'm sure if she has acid erosion of her teeth she has damage to her esophagus. I'm going to take your advice and start with the milk...maybe all dairy. Thanks so much.

I will tell you that my 5yo (non-celiac disease) LOVED all things dairy - she couldn't get enough of milk, yogurt and cheese. However, after 1 winter with 4 dx's of pneumonia, we suspected food allergies. Got her b/w done and no allergies, no celiac. However, just to try it out, I took her off casein. OMG. Her GI issues improved (loose stools), her skin cleared up and we got through last winter without any chest colds. We allow her 1 dairy item per week and she drinks almond milk with dinner & breakfast; she's also on a custom-made multivitamin and omega 3 supplements. HTH!

We had taken my 3yo celiac disease off dairy as well at about the same time but never saw improvements........because it was the celiac that we didn't diagnose until a year later.