In the majority of cases, a doctor will make a diagnosis of reflux, by taking note of the baby's physical signs and symptoms, or the signs described by their parents, without the need for further tests. If it is thought that your baby has reflux, then you may be offered a choice of medical treatments to try. In the past, paediatric doctors often ordered many (and varied) tests for babies suspected of having reflux, with the aim of confirming the condition was present, before starting any treatments. However, a European working group came to the conclusion in 1993 that many tests being performed on babies were often both unnecessary and expensive (besides being distressing for the baby). However, if the initial treatments for reflux were unsuccessful, or a diagnosis of reflux could not be made by the baby's physical signs alone, then it was considered appropriate and acceptable to perform these tests.
The following tests may be suggested by your specialist doctor, to try and assess the severity and possibly other causes of the symptoms (to rule out other medical conditions), or to detect the presence of complications from the reflux, such as a very inflamed oesophagus (or 'oesophagitis'). However, while these tests can provide a little more information for the doctor (and possibly different information with each test performed), there is no guarantee that they will find a cause, or determine for sure that your baby has reflux.
Research so far has shown that in many cases, the majority of tests used for this purpose have shown to be quite poor at finding any links with the symptoms of reflux, and in general, unreliable predictors of how a child will respond to any reflux treatments. You should discuss with your doctor what each test involves, and any side effects from the tests, to determine whether you are happy for your baby to undergo them.
Tests that your doctor may order can include: