Hi Jan,

Thanks for addressing this, you have put it so well.

May I add a couple of more things--trust 'your' instincts and move on to the next pediatrician or GI specialist if you feel that 'you' are being judged instead of your child getting proper diagnosis and/or treatment.

I wish some doctors could appreciate how difficult it is for a parent of a child who is constantly in pain, it is heart breaking to watch the child.

Sometimes like an old car that gives you lot of trouble, but acts perfectly fine when you take her to the mechanic, babies do the same thing. My son loved it outdoors so he looked fine when we took him to doctor's office--most of our pediatricians were at least 30 mins away from home, his first one was about an hour from home. He would nap in the car and enjoy the drive as long as we fed him couple of hours before the drive. When we reached the doctors, he would see new faces and smile and he could be without food for hours and still smile. 

One day after being frustrated with our communication gap, I waited outside my doctors offfice for 3 hours, went back in, handed the bottle to the doctor and asked her to feed my child. At this point she new that my nine week old child had not been fed for at least 5 hours and he still smiled. She tried but couldn't feed him, her assistant and her nurse couldn't feed him either. Then I gathered all the courage and waited for 1 more hour--they came back from lunch and still my child had not eaten; but now he had finally started crying and arching when the bottle was presented, yet he refused to drink--and kept screaming and arching. Finally, the doctor asked us to wait and got us an appointment with the GI doctor-- first thing on the following morning.

Struggle is constant when you have a kid with reflux--but I changed doctors until I found the right one. Now with his asthma and other issues I don't feel so let down. Until my child became 7 mo old I had changed 4 pediatricians but since his 7th mo (i.e for the past 2 years) we have stuck with the same doctors (group practice). What made me select them? They all accepted that sometimes parents know better and that parents opinion should be respected. Also, I have realized that experienced but younger doctors (approximately 10 years to 15 years of experience) are more open to parental input and know a lot more about GERD than older doctors or those who are very new; but this could be my personal bias.

One more thing to add is: do not be afraid of diagnostic tests such as pH probe. Many parents that I know denied it and as a result their baby did not get immediate help. pH probe is the "only" test that proves that your baby has 'GERD' not the garden variety reflux; without it even the GI doctors will not accept that your baby has reflux and your child will not get any meds. The only bad thing is that your child has to be off of any reflux medication or antacids etc before you do pH probe and sometimes it can be false negative--so

a. the sooner you do it the better it is

b. be prepared to repeat it

c. only do it at one of the well know children's hospitals in your area where they have lot of practice and latest equipment (large funding).

Hope this helps.