RICHMOND, Va. -- Many children struggle with digestive issues. Dr Gisela Chelimsky, Chief of Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU answers these four questions about the most common gastrointestinal issue pediatricians treat in young children.
What gastrointestinal issue is the most common reasons a parent would take their child to their pediatrician?
Probably the most common complaint is constipation. Constipation is very common in pediatrics, and it can start very early. For example, when kids start adding baby food, they tend to get constipated, but it can also happen during potty training. We are teaching them to hold their bowel movements and that can lead to constipation. Another time in life that may trigger constipation is when they start school. They don't want to go to the bathroom when they are in school.
When does this go from mild discomfort to a bigger problem and more pain?
I think that everybody, kids and adults, may skip a day here and there. It gets to be a problem when it’s painful for the kids to go to the bathroom, when we see blood in the stool or when they're withholding because they're scared to go to the bathroom. We also need to seek attention when they're not growing well, or they stop eating.
What is the most effective way to treat constipation in children?
We give diet a lot of credit. Diet is a very important part of our lifestyle, diet itself often won’t fix constipation, but it's very important to increase the amount of soluble fiber like in the form of prunes, kiwis, psyllium husk and to increase the amount of fluid and water we drink. But many times, we need to add medications, either over the counter or prescription.
CHoR treats other types of GI issues. What are some of the other more complex conditions you see in patients?
We see a lot of fussy babies with reflux, we see failure to thrive - kids that are not gaining weight well that have difficulty feeding. We also have a feeding clinic that helps us to do a very comprehensive evaluation in treatment of kids with feeding difficulties. We see a lot of inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and eosinophilic esophagitis. We see liver disease, kids with jaundice and liver involvement. We also see a lot of patients with disorders of gut brain interaction called GBIs. Those are the disorders that in the past we called functional disorders, like irritable bowel syndrome, chronic nausea or dyspepsia. We also see kids that have short gut syndrome, which means that part of the gut is missing, and
they have difficulty getting their nutrition, so we need to supplement their nutrition intravenously.
Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU is located at 1000 East Broad Street.
For more information, give them a call at (804) 828-2467 or you can visit the website chrichmond.org.
This segment is sponsored by Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
