Toddler Swallow/feeding study advice

mightmom13

I looked on FAQ and back a few pages but could not find anything. DD has a swallow/feeding study in the morning at 10.

No food or drink 4 hours prior: wake her up early for food or feed her a bunch tonight and suck it up in the am?

It is taped, so will I get results later most likely?

She will eat right, it says bring her favorite foods but she will do only juice water an no "soquids"

Anyone know what the barium might look like in the diaper? Just want to be prepared.

Oh and what if she is/has been aspirating; what would they recommend?

preggersINschool25

I think it depends on how cranky your kiddo gets without food. Grant doesn't show much interest, so in our situation I would have decided to not do a morning feed. You don't want your kid so hungry that they are so upset they can't eat.

I brought Grants favorite foods and his normal bottles and spoons. They also had a few foods for him to eat there like puffs and yogurt bites. He never had those before.

They basically just fed him a variety of things at different textures that had barium mixed in and took pictures. We had a meeting with an ST after the study to go over the results.

Grant's food was penetrating his airway, but he was not aspirating. I think if your kiddo is aspirating they may recommend a g tube because they say that if they aspirate it is not safe eating.

Barium in the stool just made it look coated in white. It was pretty obvious and not alarming.

Ekate09

I woke my DD up really early to give her one last feeding, but she was still getting bottles of milk then.

Ours was with a radiologist and a speech pathologist.  The xray is done in 'real time' and that's what is recorded.  They reviewed the images with me after and gave me a preliminary report/diagnosis.  I agree with OP, bring LO favorite cup/utensils, etc.  That way you can increase the chance of them eating and drinking.  I had to bring my own nipples and bottles.   

Their stool might be streaked with white and it can make them constipated, but with the ones my DD had, she didn't really have to drink enough to cause issues.  She had 'deep penetration' which isn't full on aspiration, but was symptomatic, so they recommended thickening all her thin liquids.  She was fine with things like applesauce and thicker.

Good Luck!

MaxandRuby

Wake her up early or not? I think this will depend on what she is like if she doesn't eat breakfast right away and what time she typically gets up and/or eats.  DS2 has had 2 swallow studies.  I don't recall giving solids in the morning at all but did (what we could given his age at the time of each one) to do like a chicken and pasta type meal later in the evening (ex: ate supper but we made sure he ate before going to bed and a "heavy snack" if you want to call it that).

Results: I got preliminary results immediately following and requested a copy of the letter/results they send to the doctor to also be sent to me.

Food: Bring her favorite foods and drinks, including cups and utensils. One place he had a study done they and I provided stuff, the other place it was completely up to the parents to provide the food and drink.  You will want a variety of textures.  They will put a small amount of barium on each thing.  I had to feed everything to DS2 because he would not allow the SLP to do it at either test (although the 2nd test was a little easier in that regards because his SLP therapist was also there with us).  I can tell you that for the 1st test (don't remember his age), DH had to have DS2 sit in his lap on the chair in the X-ray room because they didn't have a seat (so stupid).  For the second test (DS2 was around 2 or 2.5yr) we brought his high chair (FP Space Saver) and sat it on the chair in the X-ray room and fed him from there.  He was recorded eating and drinking.

Diaper: I don't remember but I assume any poop would have a white tinge to it.

Aspirating: I don't know. DS2 was not aspirating.

I would plan on taking some time to feed her a meal or snacks after the test. The test will only be so long and it won't be like she is eating lunch so she could actually be hungry after the fact.  Don't make a big deal out of things as you don't want her to feel any anxiety that you may have.

mightmom13

Thanks everyone!

I am having my mom give her a snack before bed tonight, keep her up a little later if possible she usually gets up between 6:15 and 6:45, in the car by 9 then on our way. Depending on when she goes to bed I may or may not wake her up earlier for juice and a banana after that she usually forgets about food for a good while if no one else is eating. So I may be hungry after too.

Good to know to pack both her food, utencils, and a lunch. She doesn't really use the utencils or eat off of them from me but Elmo could help. I may bring her own straw cup too even though she still chokes. Also that diapers won't be too bad.

I am hoping for results and tx ASAP but am also scared. Her weight to height is pretty small, but on the charts for weight. I also hope her lungs are ok because this has been going on for her whole live if it wasn't for EI we wouldn't be even at this point!

I know I didn't know and therefore there is nothing I could have done. Andplusalso I hate solo appointments; but my recording on my phone helped big time at the last one.