I hope nobody minds me posting this here! I have a two and a half month old daughter who is suspected of having Hirschsprung’s Disease. She had a barium enema done three weeks ago. The barium enema was negative; however, they are sending us to a gastriontologist next week due to continued problems. She was switched to Good Start Formula, which has made a difference in the consistancy of her stool. It’s now soft and normal when she poops. The problem is that she will won’t poop on her own. She had two bowel movements without help last week and I thought great, she’s straightened out. No such luck. She hasn’t pooped since Thursday and is spitting up a lot again. The dr. did a rectal exam and the poop was close enough to the opening to get on his finger. It was soft like it should be. He thought she would poop due to the exam but didn’t and still hasn’t. I’ve given her a glycerine enema, juice, massaged her tummy, given her a warm bath, put a warm wash cloth on her tummy, and done the thermometer trick. Nothing has worked. The dr. told me today that he thinks she may have Hirschsprungs and the enema didn’t show it. He said the GI specialist will want to scope her and do a biopsy. He basically advised me to prepare myself for a diagnosis of Hirschsprungs.
I’m a little confused about all of this. I thought if the enema was normal then the baby doesn’t have Hirschsprungs. DH says he’s read stuff that says otherwise. Do you know if an enema can be negative and a biopsy positive for the disease? Also, when they ask me if she has ribbon like stools what do they mean? Do they mean ribbon like when I see it in the diaper or ribbon like if I witness her actually having a bowel movement? I have one more question—do babies with Hirschsprungs never have bowel movements on their own or do they have one on their own occasionally? Also, do children with this disease gain weight or do they suffer from failure to thrive? I’ve heard contradicting things about that aspect. Some people have told me she wouldn’t be gaining weight if she had it and others have told me she would be depending on the severity of the disease.
Thanks so much if you read this far. I’m trying to find out all I can about this disease before we see the GI specialist next week.
) This is due to the stool going through a narrow