How do you define aspirating?

[Peyton's Parents]

For those of you who have been down this road I hope you can provide more insight then I have been able to get from our therapists. You are the experts in my opinion!

We had been trying feeding trials with Peyton with small amounts of baby food. When I started to see a little color in the trach we decided not to push her until we could get her in for a swallow study. She was scheduled for two - a swallow study and a modified swallow study. The swallow study was to test motility, reflux etc. The modified was to test her swallow. Yesterday was the swallow study and the radiologist decided to have her try a few cc's by mouth followed by 90 cc's through her g tube. She was on her side lying down and we got the cc's in her orally. He said on the video her swallow looked great, no aspiration. However, as I am sitting above her and she is crying (she wants to get up and can't) she coughs up some secretions periodically which had white in it - the color of the barium. So wouldn't that be a sign of aspiration? Luckily, we have the modified swallow study in a few weeks to get more detailed information on the actual aspiration and swallowing with a speech pathologist - but I was confused by what the radiologist said.

[jbromley]

My daughter is actually aspirating right now due to a stent being placed in her airway. It should only be temporary until the stent comes out because she had no problems with this before. If you are getting colored secretions coming out of her trach then most definitely I would think she is doing some aspirating. My daugthter is not allowed to eat anything orally right now, but she is aspirating her own saliva. I put green food coloring in her mouth and sure enough green came out of her trach. The doctors are too concerned because it is very common and temporary, but if I were you I would be very cautious about oral feedings until you know for sure.

Jennifer

[JWorthington]

Sam aspirated for a very long time until he got a proper diagnosis. Every swallow was accompanied by coughing (this only became apparent when he was being weaned, he managed fine with breast feeding). Sometimes he would not swallow everything in his mouth, so it would appear that he had swallowed ok, but there was food still waiting to be swallowed which would spill over into the airway. I would stick with very small amounts and make sure she has cleared everything before offering more. If you are seeing stuff in the trach I would be cautious. Good luck.

Julie x

[SHARGOR]

My son Wyatt just had a modified swallow done. I had thought he was aspirating to because of white secretions. But when we started him on fruit and veggies there was no color change in the secretions. The study said that he aspirated once on his formula but not on the thicker foods but he also held some in the throat that did not clear on the first swallow. So I was correct in a way because he did aspirate the thin liquids. They told me not to change anything because he only aspirated once and he hasn't had any issues with it so far except we have to suction when he drinks or eats. I would be cautious with feeding until you have a definitive answer is there is color in the tube. I hope this helped.:hug:

[Gretchen(Celia's mom)]

Celia has had 5 swallow studies over the years,,,NONE of them showed aspiration,,Didn't show any swallowing either,,however as soon as we left from the swallow studies it all started coming out her trach!!!! When we trialed baby food with color added to it (way back when she was like 3 and we believed the swallow studies) blue baby food came pouring out her trach as well as her mouth because she doesn't swallow. I guess I don't trust swallow studies as definitive proof of anything!! We no longer do swallow studies!!!!!!