An infant or child who has difficulty swallowing—also called dysphagia—will struggle to pass food or liquids down the throat. Swallowing is a very complex, coordinated process involving dozens of muscles and nerves working together. Many different conditions can cause dysphagia. Your ENT for Children doctor can help diagnose and treat these conditions.
What Are Symptoms of Pediatric Swallowing Disorders?
- Painful swallowing or an inability to swallow
- Feeling that food is getting stuck in your child’s throat or chest
- Gagging when swallowing
- Regurgitation
- Heartburn
- Drooling
What Are the Types of Swallowing Disorders?
Dysphagia
An infant or child with trouble swallowing—also called dysphagia—will have difficulty moving food or liquids down the throat. Swallowing is a complex, coordinated process involving dozens of muscles and nerves working together. Many different conditions can cause dysphagia. Your ENT for Children doctor can help diagnose and treat these conditions. Children with dysphagia might show it in one of the following ways:
- Oral Dysphagia—The child will have trouble chewing, sucking moving food or liquid into the throat.
- Pharyngeal Dysphagia—The child will have difficulty swallowing and moving food or liquids down to the esophagus.
- Esophageal Dysphagia—The child will have decreased esophageal motility or contractions.
An infant may also have trouble feeding due to dysphagia. This can cause aspiration, where liquids enter the lungs. Another factor affecting how well infants feed is their ability to breathe.
Symptoms of dysphagia include:
- Stiffening or arching of the body while feeding
- Gagging or coughing when eating
- Recurring respiratory infections and pneumonia
- Hoarse voice
- Irritability during feeding
- Trouble swallowing while breastfeeding
- Frequent vomiting and spitting up
- Congestion during meals
- Difficulty chewing
Evaluation of dysphagia may include swallow assessment, X-rays, speech therapist evaluation or an office endoscopy using a fine, flexible camera. Your ENT for Children surgeon might recommend various treatments or surgical procedures for children experiencing dysphagia.
Drooling
Drooling in infants and toddlers is very common. Children usually stop drooling after age 4. A child with disorders affecting the muscles in the face or throat may drool excessively beyond that age.
Excessive drooling is not caused by overproduction of saliva but by a child’s inability to clear saliva through swallowing. A child with a drooling condition might have trouble swallowing properly. ENT for Children might recommend speech or behavioral therapy, surgery and other treatments for children who drool excessively beyond age 4.
Call ENT for Children for more information or to schedule an appointment.