Author: V. Abadie, A Andre, A. Zaouche, B. Thouvenin, G. Baujat, and J Schmitz
Source: Acta Paediatr, (2001), 90: 738-45.
Summary: Doctors sometimes see newborns who have trouble feeding and gaining weight and they can?t figure out why. This study looked at 16 newborn babies who were having trouble eating without a clear reason why. Each infant had a test called esophageal manometry with abnormal results. The results were compared with babies of the same age who underwent the test for different reasons. Esophageal manometry is a test done to measure the coordination and strength of the muscle contraction in the esophagus. The esophagus (food tube) is made up of muscle that uses a wave like contraction to push food into the stomach. If the contraction is weak or irregular, the child might feel like food is getting stuck or coming back up. This can cause feeding problems.
The babies had different kinds of feeding problems such as taking too long to bottle feed, refusal to take a bottle, unexplained crying, and bad spitting up. The manometry testing was abnormal in all of the babies. In some cases it showed lower esophageal sphincter hypertonia or partial failure to relax (this would mean that the opening at the bottom of the food tube would not let food into the stomach and food would get stuck there), and giant waves of the esophagus (meaning poor coordination of the contraction that moves the food through the food tube). Treatment included thickened liquid from the nipple and early spoon feeding of thickened liquids. All babies improved around their first year.
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