What Happens at the GI Doctor?

Appointments are like any Dr.s appointment. They Look, listen, and touch. Your GI may schedule other tests or procedures to follow at later dates.
We raised two of our children on raw goat's milk. With our first child, we milked our own goat daily. For our second child we no longer lived on a farm, so we bought fresh milk daily from a goat farmer. After age two our children were put on small amounts a cow's milk. As our pediatrician said, "Cow's milk is for calves. Not so much needed by humans.." There are other ways to get the nutrients needed. Goat's milk is the closest match to human breast milk.
Allergy tests are less friendly (lots of needles) - but sure made life easier for our first little guy!

We've done both. We just took my 6 yr old to Dr Jack An - a pedi GI in Frisco. He was great! She had also been complaining of stomach problems constantly. After a standard "look and see" exam, he recommended a GI scope procedure that would basically solve the problem once and for all. We came back the next day and they put her under anesthesia for the 5-10 minute procedure. They put a scope down her throat and took pictures of different areas of her gut, and also biopsied tiny bits of tissue. This would tell us if she had any food sensitivities, allergies or intolerance (i.e. lactose intolerance), and the visual inspection would tell us if there was anything serious like an ulcer or growth of some sort. If the gut was healthy and she still complained of stomach pain, he said it was likely IBS. This is how he ended up diagnosing, and there is medicine for it. However she still complained, so we started paying close attention to the times she said it hurt... and it actually ended up being psychological. She had a stomach virus a month or so earlier and was afraid of throwing up again -- so every time she ate she'd be stricken with fear/worry about throwng up! We dumped out the IBS medicine and filled the pill bottle with white Good 'N' Plenty candies and told her that Dr. An said 10 days of the new medicine would make the tummy ache go away. It actually worked!!

On allergies for the 3 month old -- I agree with you on the goat milk. I wouldn't make that switch til she's at least 9 months. I drank goat milk as a child due to a milk allergy, and I gave it to my daughter at 1 yr for the same reason. As far as reflux medicine -- if it works, then stick with it. You definitely need to give it to her on time, and stay on top of her growth. You should be able to tell when she's outgrown her dose because it will stop helping -- you'll need to go back to the pediatrician and they'll adjust the dose. Also, has the doc done a stool test to make sure she's not dairy and/or soy intolerant? There are options for formula. You might try lactose-free formula, then from there try a soy-based one (if she's not allergic/sensitive to soy), and then on to those special formulas like nutramigen (sp?). Allergy testing on an infant (in my experience) is typically just the stool test. There is a blood test too, which will be more accurate than the skin test. However, when we took our son in for allergy testing at 17 months, we were told that allergy tests were often inconclusive on kids under age 3. His test didn't tell us a thing :-).

I hope you get some answers soon. I know how frustrating it can be to figure out what's wrong with your little ones!

I had to take my 4 year old to the GI Specialist last summer. He was having chronic diarreah and vomiting that lasted all summer long which occurred about 15-20 times a day. My son had to have stool samples, blood work, endoscopy/colonoscopy to rule out Celiac or Chrones disease, we found out that he has malabsorption which means he can't process or digest foods so he has to take supplements, disgestive enzymes and probotics to help him break down the foods and process it.

I hope this helps. I Love our GI, I used him when my son was a baby because he also had projectile acid reflux. I've you want to know the name of the GI let me know.

Good Luck and I hope this helps. I know it's hard seeing our baby so sick.
M.

I fortunately have NOT had to take my kiddos to the GI doctor, but I have gone. I did have bloodwork done, an upper and lower scope done, two rounds of antibiotics, and still not relief. I ended up going to Dr. Shepherd (chiro and nutritionist) to do a food intolerance test by IMMUNO LABORATORIES. WOW, the results were right on. I removed the foods and my issues disappeared.

My lil' one also had reflux as a baby and continued as she got older to have other issues, like reactive airway issues. I took her to Dr. Chalmers in Frisco. He helped her with natural supplements and she if great. We put her on supplements directly for her gut. The dosage is specific to what the child's body is calling for, so it is individualized. Apparently she just has a crazy gut that manifest into different issues as she grows. I feel confident we are addressing the issue at the core with this office. He will also do free consults.

Be careful when doing food intolerance testing......not all labs are equal. IMMUNO has a less than one percent variance........don't assume labcorp or quest or whatever other ones out there have consistent results, they don't. Immuno has a guarantee that it will correct digestive issues or they refund you the money you spent. That is why I went with them. They are not cheap, but I have used them for my daughters' ear infections, and they have not had an ear infection since we did their testing. Just can't say enough about the accuracy and results of this test.

Hope you find help....it is tough to have our lil' ones having issues.

ADDED: IMMUNO is a straight blood draw....not lots of needles, just one. Go to a clinic that has a pediatric staff member to do the draw.....makes a world of difference.

Our little guy had reflux and that stopped once we switched him to Nutramigen (hypoallergenic formula). He also has issues with consistent bowel movements. We went to a GI for the first year but have since managed on our own. He also has food allergies (milk and eggs) and intolerances to certain acidities and additives. As long as he stays on his diet, he does really well. I think a trip to the GI may be of interest to you but you also may find some key answers with a RAST test (allergies). It requires a blood draw so that they can see the reaction to different allergens at the cell level. We have done that twice. We won't do it anymore and will just rely on skin tests - which for us are tell-tale because one of K's key symptoms with an allergy is an eczema outbreak.