Looking for Experiences with a "Modified Barium Swallow" or "Barium Swallow"

My son had a barium swallow at 4 months to confirm whether he had reflux (he did). He drank the liquid and was fine during the procedure. But in the middle of the night, he woke up with a horrifying shriek. He screamed and writhed all the next morning. We took him to the emergency clinic where he continued shrieking. Turned out he was so constipated that he was actually plugged with what looked like cement! Once the doctor pried it out he stopped shrieking, but we had to give him suppositories for several days before his bowels returned to normal. No one warned us about this, so we had no idea what was happening to our poor little guy. I'd recommend giving him a laxative a few hours after the swallow and stocking up on baby suppositories. Good luck!

H.

I am an xray tech and do these proceedures on both young and old. From all the advice that you have read so far, the constipation is definitely something to be aware of and make sure she takes in LOTS of fluids after the fact. Maybe even some MOM in her diet to help move things along. Without enough fluid, the intestinal wall will suck all the water out of the barium, and yes, it will turn into clay in the system. So make sure she stays SUPER hydrated after the fact.
The exam itself is very benign depending on how quickly her system moves the contrast thru and how cooperative she is with tasting,drinking,eating the items she is suppose to eat.
If you have more questions, please ask.
R.

I have been going through eating issues with my baby since she was born. She is 10 mo old and has acid reflux and its a struggle almost everyday to get her to eat even just a little bit. Did she have eating issues as a baby? It is also frustrating when you dont know why or what. It is sooooo stressful and nobody really knows how we feel until their in our shoes. Hang in there, our thoughts & prayers are with you and your family and hope this is a smooth process and your child is ok.

Hi H., I actually had this done as an infant and it apparently made me constipated for quite a few days. My family was just talking about this over the holidays. It got so bad that I was turning purple trying to go to the bathroom so my mom called our neighbor who came over and basically gave me an enema right then and there. What a good neighbor huh? Just wanted to give you a heads up that this might happen afterward. Good luck and I hope you get some good news as a result of all this.

H.,
My daughter had the barium swallow done at about the same age (maybe a bit younger)...it was not a pleasant experience since as you probably know you drink some of the solution and then wait, then do the xray, then drink some more, then wait, then do the xray. We were there half the day. She did not really want to drink it (who would) so she drank little tiny bits. I think that made it harder to get a good "read"...However, after those painful hours of crying, drinking little bits, waiting, and x-raying, it was over and we found out there was nothing wrong. (We had to do the barium swallow, CT scan, brain MRI also, to rule out any issues as she was constantly throwing up....turns out she suffers from motion sickness...also not fun but much better than the alternatives...!) It will be hard but you'll both get through it and hopefully it will give you some much-needed information. Good luck to you.
C.

Hi H.: The good thing about these swallow studies is the stuff they use is not as bad as it smells. The nurses and doctors use yogurt items to mask the barium and it usually is pretty easy on the child. The problem arises when they end up spitting up and you wish you did not have to put your little one through it. However, the good thing is it will show you and you get to watch it too, where if any the fluid gets stuck between the throat, stomach and intestines and that will help in figuring out whether your child has reflux issues or not. The bad thing is that even if it does show problems internally, the big issue is the weight gain. My 3 yr old has reflux, a syndrome called VATER, he was deemed a Failure to Thrive child because he cannot gain enough weight, was put through GJ-tube feeding into the intestinal tract, G-tube feeding in the stomach, throwing up, aspiration pneumonia, and even though the swallow study showed he was doing okay with fluids, he won't gain weight. So the question is what does the study really give you? If you get something else from your study I would love to hear the results! My private email is ____@____.com luck and you are thought of.

T.