Aerodigestive clinic for baby who chokes on bottle pls read

amother

Sun, Jan 11 2015, 10:43 pm

My baby was born moderately preterm.

He had a rough start with eating and choked often in the beginning.

He's 3 months old in real age now (not gestational age) and the choking doesn't happen every feeding any more - sometimes not even for a whole day.

I have the opportunity to go to an aerodigestive clinic where there is a pulmonologist, they'd do a barium swallow study, and a GI doctor to see if there's anything wrong. It would be in a month.

My instinct is that he'll grow out of it. Should I go to the clinic anyway?

I would especially appreciate responses from people who have done this with their kids and know if it's worth it for me.

anonymrs

Sun, Jan 11 2015, 11:12 pm

I don't have experience with this particular issue but in general I always like to schedule the appointment and then I can cancel if I feel it's no longer necessary.

MaBelleVie

Mon, Jan 12 2015, 12:31 am

Yes, absolutely. She might not be visibly choking but she can still be silently aspirating, which is probably even more dangerous.

(Not based on personal experience, but based on what I've encountered professionally)

amother

Mon, Jan 12 2015, 4:25 am

Yes, do. A year old baby in our community just died after choking on a piece of apple. They said there was something wrong with his swallowing ability which is why he choked. He had had a hard time swallowing food before but sadly the parents had not had this checked out. Sad

cbsp

Mon, Jan 12 2015, 7:25 pm

I vote for scheduling it. You can always cancel and if he hasn't outgrown it by then you'll be happy to have some medical input.

My baby was also preterm. 34 weeks, right when the suck-swallow-breathe instinct starts to kick in. Because he also had a medical condition he was unable to eat regularly for a few weeks. They started him on feeds without doing a swallow study first and, like the previous poster mentioned, he was indeed aspirating silently. He also wasn't able to swallow effectively so there was "residue" hanging out in the back of his throat. Once he was cleared to eat by mouth (3mos) we still had to help him by pacing the bottles (stop him every 5 swallows) and nursing only 5 minutes (I was also supposed to unlatch him every 5 swallows. That was so not happening). Progressing with food was also challenging - he got stuck on stage 2 consistency and would gag on anything thicker. Too thin was also a problem. He was almost 2yo before I could confidently say he outgrew his feeding issues.

Hatzlachah!