Maintaining good gastrointestinal health is important throughout an individual’s life cycle. However, it is especially important for children since functional digestive system and eating a healthy diet are critical factors in ensuring children grow and develop properly. Good digestive health helps to set children up for success by enabling them to reach appropriate physical and mental developmental milestones.

 A Pediatric Gastroenterologist manages digestive health in children by evaluating and offering treatment plans for any problems that affect the entire gastrointestinal tract which include diseases affecting the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, liver, biliary ducts, gallbladder and pancreas as well as nutritional disorders in infants, children and adolescents.

Because gastrointestinal disorders can have effects well beyond the digestive tract, we collaboratively draw on expertise from several different disciplines, including dieticians, speech therapists, psychologists, endocrinologists, pulmonologists, otolaryngologists, surgeons and radiologists.

The first visit will include a complete history of your child’s illness, family history of illness and a physical examination. Our focus will be on understanding the cause of the symptoms and creating a management plan.

To help diagnose and treat your child’s condition, we will talk with you about the best approach. Additional tests and procedures like blood tests, X-rays, endoscopic procedures or tissue biopsies may help with treatment. If this is the case, we will schedule these investigations for another time. Sometimes giving your child a diagnosis takes more than one visit. 

Your first visit is usually 30 minutes but could last shorter or longer while review visits usually take about 15 minutes.

If your child needs follow-up appointments or tests, you will be guided to schedule them before you leave the Centre.

Diarrhea; vomiting; gastro-esophageal reflux; bloating and gas; obesity; abdominal pain; failure to gain weight; feeding problems; food allergy; constipation; and fecal soiling of underwear.

Alarming symptoms that require an immediate visit to a healthcare provider:

• Bloody vomit, green vomit or persistent vomiting
• Bloody diarrhea
• Extreme weight loss
• Foul smelling stool
• Yellowness of the eyes
• Abdominal swelling
• Blood/mucus in stool