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Clinical Pediatrics
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What's this?

Observational Study of Children With Aerophagia

Vera Loening-Baucke, MD

Division of General Pediatrics University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, vera-loening-baucke{at}uiowa.edu

Alexander Swidsinski, MD, PhD

Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Endocrinology Charité Hospital, the Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

Aerophagia is a rare disorder in children. The diagnosis is often delayed, especially when it occurs concomitantly with constipation. The aim of this report is to increase awareness about aerophagia. This study describes 2 girls and 7 boys, 2 to 10.4 years of age, with functional constipation and gaseous abdominal distention. The abdomen was visibly distended, nontender, and tympanitic in all. Documenting less distention on awakening helped to make the diagnosis. Air swallowing, belching, and flatulence were infrequently reported. The rectal examination often revealed a dilated rectal ampulla filled with gas or stool and gas. The abdominal X-ray showed gaseous distention of the colon in all and of the stomach and small bowel in 8 children. Treatment consisted of educating parents and children about air sucking and swallowing, encouraging the children to stop the excessive air swallowing, and suggesting to them not to use drinking straws and not to drink carbonated beverages. The aerophagia resolved in all in 2 to 20 months (mean = 8 months).

Key Words: gaseous distention of the bowel • constipation • children • aerophagia

This version was published on September 1, 2008

Clinical Pediatrics, Vol. 47, No. 7, 664-669 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0009922808315825
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