Gastric emptying study results
@shaggin (72021)
United States
March 8, 2022 12:45pm CST
Friday I took the baby to have a gastric emptying study done.
It was a very easy procedure where they put a radioactive material in her bottle of formula called a tracer. Photo shows her bottle with the radioactive sticker on it.
Every 15 minutes after she finished her bottle they did an x-ray on her stomach. She thought the first one was interesting but was scared of the following ones.
If you can picture laying on a table then being slid down a conveyor a few feet and having a tabletop scanner lid down over you that’s about what this looked like from the baby’s view.
I went to get groceries and before heading home the doctor called and said he already had the test results.
He told me that her stomach is slow to empty and it is very common in babies. He wrote her a prescription for a very low dose of Erythromycin to take 3 times a day for about 8 weeks and this is supposed to help so she won’t have to deal with the acid reflux anymore after that.
She is continuing to take Pepcid daily until she sees the doctor again in 6 weeks.
15 people like this
13 responses
@DaddyEvil (137249)
• United States
8 Mar 22
I'm sure the machine scared her after she got to "ride" the first time. (I got to drink tracer a few weeks ago and ride like that. I didn't enjoy it, either.)
I'm glad she's getting something to help her now. Hopefully this will take care of her problem.
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (47137)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
8 Mar 22
Do you still glow in the dark?
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
9 Mar 22
@Daddyevil what were they trying to find out with you when you had to take the tracer?
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
14 Mar 22
poor baby. I hope it works for her. 
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
17 Mar 22
@bunnybon7 actually the erythromycin is working good. She hasn’t been herself though since she’s been on it. She’s also pooping a lot! I think it’s bothering her stomach. So I started giving her a probiotic a few days ago. It’s been just under 2 weeks now she’s been on it 6 more to go or so
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
18 Mar 22
@bunnybon7 oh my gosh that must have been terrifying for you thinking of her possibly needing a feeding tube.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
18 Mar 22
@shaggin So sorry. It hurts us to the core when they are sick. I know every time this one I live with was sick, I got sick too because of all the stress. One time, the doctor said I should be admitted to hospital with her it was so bad
I had not wanted to eat because she could not eat because everything we tried, even liquids, came back up from her. They were thinking of feeding her through a tube in hospital. 
My father in law that had 8 kids said put her on skimmed milk I skimmed myself by boiling the milk and skimming off most of the cream left at top. It was a slow process but it worked
when the doctors were unable to help her. 
Shes 47 yrs. now
I had not wanted to eat because she could not eat because everything we tried, even liquids, came back up from her. They were thinking of feeding her through a tube in hospital. My father in law that had 8 kids said put her on skimmed milk I skimmed myself by boiling the milk and skimming off most of the cream left at top. It was a slow process but it worked
when the doctors were unable to help her. Shes 47 yrs. now1 person likes this
@kaylachan (68535)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8 Mar 22
Hopefully she outgrows it. Although, getting babies to drink stuff is easier than kids or most adults. Which is kind of sad.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
11 Mar 22
@Kaylachan when I ever tried to give her medicine she would just spit it back out and not get any of it so I started putting it in her bottle of formula. That works well
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (68535)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
11 Mar 22
@shaggin Yeah. It should. That's usually the easiest way to give babies medicine, especially that young.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (179752)
• United States
8 Mar 22
I really hope this will be the answer for her stomach issues. It can't be comfortable for her..poor thing.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
11 Mar 22
@snowy22315 I had it until I was in my 20s and it burns. Not good for the esophagus. Hers comes out her nose so makes me worry what more damage it can cause.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (179752)
• United States
11 Mar 22
@shaggin I don't know. I hope it can get solved sooner rather than later.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89741)
• Arvada, Colorado
8 Mar 22
I am glad they did these tests.
I hope that antibiotic helps.
I am sure it will as it is a good one that I know of.
Poor baby, bless her.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
11 Mar 22
@RebeccasFarm I am so glad that they have tests like this now which they didn’t have when my oldest daughter was having horrible acid reflux 17 years ago.
My mother is allergic to the medicine my baby is taking. It almost killed her and what she took was a kind that stays in your system for I think 10 days after you stop taking it after 3 days. She wound up in the hospital. So far the baby isn’t having any problems with it although she is very fussy won’t let me put her down to so anything. She either isn’t feeling well (I get nauseated from antibiotics) or is teething as it looks like her top 4 teeth are going to come through any day.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89741)
• Arvada, Colorado
11 Mar 22
@shaggin I hope it is just the teething.
Oh dear, your poor Mom
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
8 Mar 22
It is always frightening for the parents too when their child has an issue, any issue large or small. Hope all goes well.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
10 Mar 22
@PatZAnthony my oldest child has worse acid reflux and would choke and have trouble breathing so often. I’ve only had one scary episode like that with my baby but it was enough that I bought an owelet for her to wear in case she stops breathing. She wears it at night after her bath at 6pm then the battery charge lasts until noon.
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
11 Mar 22
@marlina when my first daughter was a baby they wanted to put a scope down in to see what was causing her to have such bad acid reflux. I wouldn’t do it. Now I wish I had. I’m glad things have changed and they don’t do that anymore. This scan was way easier.
@Courtlynn (67086)
• United States
9 Mar 22
That's an interesting test. I'd be scared getting any test done as a baby.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72021)
• United States
10 Mar 22
@Courtlynn yes they just don’t understand what is going in at that age
1 person likes this
