Testing for HD

MY daughter is 13 months old and breastfed. At six months old when she started table food she began going two weeks with no poops. She was put on lactulose syrup but it really does not help. She had a barium enema two weeks ago and it showed no obstruction. She did pass meconium when born in 24 hours and had no poop problems till 6 months. It is normal for her to go 14 days with no poop and then I have to manually stimulate and hold her legs up to get her to poop. She does not eat much food but nurses great. I am waiting for an appointment with the GI for a biopsy to test for HD.

skip the GI and get to a surgeon for a full thickness biopsy. Your story sounds the same as my son. No problems at birth or after but once solids came into play at 7 months old he stopped pooping. Then he would go once a month. I went through so many doctors and finally at age 4 he had a biopsy and tested positve for HD.
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Janel

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"Very little is needed to make life happy. It is all within yourself, your way of thinking."~Marcus Aurelius
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— On Thu, 8/28/08, mcat hirschsprungs-cpt10202@lists.careplace.com wrote:

From: mcat hirschsprungs-cpt10202@lists.careplace.com
Subject: [hirschsprungs] testing for HD
To: ajberchielli@yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 6:38 PM

I agree with Tysmom. Find a good pediatric surgeon who is familiar with HD. Full-thickness biopsies are the only way to definitively diagnose Hirschsprungs. In the meantime, watch your daughter closely. Enterocolitis can develop quickly in children who are chronically constipated. My son nearly died of enterocolitis earlier this year. Our surgeon said that he has seen cases of children that go from being (seemingly) perfectly healthy to death in 24 hours from HD associated enterocolitis. If your daughter shows ANY signs of fever, vomiting and/or abdominal discomfort get her to the emergency room immediately. I am not saying this to scare you, but rather to alert you to just how serious enterocolitis can be. I wish I had known prior to my son becoming ill. HD is much easier to treat if it is diagnosed before the child becomes seriously ill. Your daughter is fortunate to have a parent who is persistant in searching for answers. : ) Good luck to you!

would it help to give her senekot in the meantime or another laxative? Entercolitis does sound scary. She has never vomited but had a few fevers.

You might try just a daily dose of prune juice to keep her regular. This worked great for my son most of the time as long as he didn’t miss a day. We usually just gave him 1 oz/day in his bottle. Start with smaller amounts and work up until you have reached an amount that will keep your child regular.