GORD

Hi, my Daughter is 4.5 years old and for the past 4 weeks we have been very worried about the sudden appearance of problems with her digestion. It started on a car trip so we put it down to travel sickness but it has continued to be a problem. She will all of a sudden get painful hiccups, sometimes does huge burps (I call them 'man burps') and sometimes they also make her vomit. She has barely eaten anything for about 5 days now. She has also on one or two occasions complained about feeling like her throat is blocked. Her behaviour is terrible at the moment, crying and throwing tantrums over the slightest thing. Several times she has been crying immediately after eating and complaining of tummy pains.

I have been to see the GP with her and a series of blood tests, urine tests and an abdominal x-ray show that she is not constipated, not diabetic, and pretty much all other results are normal. The Doctor is still considering coeliacs disease or reflux. We have an appointment with a Paediatric Gastroentorologist tomorrow but I can't help googling and searching for an answer...I have come across GORD (Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease) and so many of her symptoms match up. Including one I hadn't thought of and that is a peristant, irritating cough that is hard for her to shake off at night time.

I just want to know is there anyone (I'm sure there must be as it's mean to be fairly common) in the bellybelly community that has a child with GORD? I would love to be able to discuss her symptoms etc with someone that could offer me advice etc. If the Doc tomorrow thinks this is what it could be it would be great for me to have some understanding of it now and whether a change in diet or some natural treatment is possible rather than putting her on any kind of medication to begin with?

Not a child but my Dad recently had most of those symptoms diagnosed as GORD - particularly the cough. He put up with it for years before my Mum made him do something about it. He started medication and had a great result.
I believe there are quite a few natural remedies, but my dad's not into 'that' as he puts it.
Stuff like being upright after a meal, sleeping on an incline and identifying triggers should help.

Hope she gets some answers tomorrow.

My daughter has GORD and has suffered since she was born. She is now almost 3 years old. The gastro paed you are seeing may suggest doing an endoscopy (camera down the throat) to have a look at whats going on in the inside. Did you daughter have issues as a baby with eating or reflux? My daughter has been on Zantac, Losec and now Nexium.