Subscribe today for more stories, tips, and updates.

Cincinnati Children's Blog
  • Subscribe
  • CincinnatiChildrens.org
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Healthy Living
  • Rare and Complex Conditions
  • Safety and Prevention
  • Heart Conditions
  • Learning and Growing
  • Research and Discoveries
  • ?
  • Blog
  • Healthy Living
  • Rare and Complex Conditions
  • Safety and Prevention
  • Heart Conditions
  • Learning and Growing
  • Research and Discoveries
  • ?
  • Subscribe
  • CincinnatiChildrens.org
  • Contact Us
HOME/How We Do It/Breastfeeding Week: How We Use Breast Milk in Radiology

Breastfeeding Week: How We Use Breast Milk in Radiology

Breastfeeding Week: How We Use Breast Milk in Radiology
August 4, 2014
0 Comments
By: Sarah Kaupp

Breast milk not only provides perfect nutrition for your infant, but it can also play a huge role in some of the studies we perform every day.

1. Nuclear Medicine: In liquid gastric emptying studies, we take pictures of how your child’s stomach empties. To do this, your child eats a meal mixed with a radioactive substance.  The radioactive substance helps us see what is happening inside your child’s body. If your baby is fed breast milk, we mix the radioactive substance with your breast milk and then let your child drink the milk from a bottle.

2. Fluoroscopy: A video swallowing study shows us how efficiently your child swallows. For this study, your child eats and/or drinks a variety of solids and liquids that have different consistencies. For babies, we can create a thin-consistency liquid by mixing breast milk with barium. The barium helps us see the liquid travel from the throat, towards the esophagus and down into the stomach.

3. Ultrasound: A renal ultrasound uses sound waves to show us what the kidneys look like.  If your child is between two months and one year of age, we will ask you to feed her right before the exam. Feeding your child helps to calm her, fill her bladder, and allows our ultrasound technologists to get better pictures.

Baby Breast Feeding

4. CT and MRI: If your child needs a CT scan or an MRI scan, he can be fed with breast milk and then swaddled to keep him comfortable, calm, and still. When little ones move while we are trying to take their picture, the images do not come out very clearly. The feed and swaddle technique allows us to get clear pictures without having to use general anesthesia or sedation.

5. Interventional Radiology: Sometimes your child is given medications that make her sleep through these types of studies. Because of this, she’s not allowed to eat or drink anything for a set amount of time before the procedure, which is referred to as NPO (“nil per os” or “nothing by mouth”). Breast milk, however, is in a category all its own. It can be given up until four hours before a procedure, whereas solid foods and dairy milk have to be stopped 6-8 hours before the study.

 

Subscribe today for more stories, tips, and updates.

Related Articles

Facts About Nuclear Medicine You May Not Have Known 
Facts About Nuclear Medicine You May Not Have Known 
What is an Enterography Exam?
What is an Enterography Exam?
<strong>Prediction of Fontan Outcomes Using T2-Weighted MRI Radiomic Features and Machine Learning</strong> 
Prediction of Fontan Outcomes Using T2-Weighted MRI Radiomic Features and Machine Learning 
<strong>MRI’s Role in Your Child’s Proton Therapy</strong> 
MRI’s Role in Your Child’s Proton Therapy 
TAGS:
  • CT
  • fluoroscopy
  • Interventional Radiology
  • MRI
  • nuclear medicine
  • Radiology Department
Avatar photo

About the author: Sarah Kaupp

Sarah is a Reading Room Assistant in the Radiology Department. She and her husband Keith have been married for 10+ years and have 2 beautiful daughters named Sarhea (Suh-ray-uh) and Kelby. Sarhea has Cystic Fibrosis and Sarah is very involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She is also the parent advisor on the Image Gently Steering Committee.

Write A Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Comments Yet

Topics

  • Cancer and Blood Diseases
  • Child Development and Behavior
  • Childhood Obesity
  • Chronic Care Networks
  • Cincinnati Walks for Kids
  • Featured Faces
  • Fetal Conditions
  • Fitness and Nutrition
  • Food Allergies
  • Ghana 2012
  • Health Care Public Policy
  • Health Care Quality
  • Health Care Reform
  • Healthy Living
  • Heart Conditions
  • Hospital Operations
  • How We Do It
  • Learning and Growing
  • Meet The Team
  • Nurses Week 2012
  • Patient Family Experience
  • Patient Flow
  • Patient Safety
  • Patient Stories
  • Pin of the Week
  • Radiology
  • Rare and Complex Conditions
  • Research
  • Research and Discoveries
  • Safety and Prevention
  • Share Your Story
  • Technology
  • Uncategorized
  • Vaccines
  • Volunteerism
  • What Makes Us Different
  • What's New
See All Topics
See Less Topics

Subscribe

Never miss a post! Sign up to get new blog updates delivered to your email.

Popular Posts

  • 6 Questions to Ask When Your Child Complains of Chest Pain 1.6k views
  • Stuttering In Young Kids: When To Be Concerned 771 views
  • 4 Questions to Ask When Your Child Has Recurrent Croup 552 views
  • Laryngomalacia: Is My Child’s Noisy Breathing Serious? 470 views
  • Is it safe for my child with braces to have an MRI? 364 views
  • 6 Myths About Kids and Strength Training 357 views
About

The Cincinnati Children’s blog features thoughts and perspectives from our experts on all things pediatric health. This blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Learn More »

Contact Us
  • 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229-3026
  • 1-513-636-4200 | 1-800-344-2462
  • TTY: 1-513-636-4900
  • socialmedia@cchmc.org
Connect With Us
  • Subscribe
  • CincinnatiChildrens.org
  • Contact Us

© 2009-2022 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center