What Are Baby Reflux Symptoms
While symptoms may vary, here are some main ones to look out for:
- Crying or uncomfortable after eating
- Coughing or choking regularly
- Resistance to laying on back
- Gassy and/or foamy bowel movements
- Colicky, unhappy or seemingly uncomfortable in body
- Wheezing, apena or breathing difficulties
- Sour breath, burps and hiccups
- Throwing up, usually projectile vomiting
- Failure to gain weight
Acid Refluxs Effect On Infants
Infants are more prone to acid reflux because their LES may be weak or underdeveloped. In fact, its estimated that more than half of all infants experience acid reflux to some degree.
The condition usually peaks at age 4 months and goes away on its own between 12 and 18 months of age.
Its rare for an infants symptoms to continue past 24 months. If they persist, it may be a sign of gastroesophageal reflux disease , which is a more severe condition. While they may vary, the 10 most common signs of acid reflux or GERD in infants include:
Pyloric Stenosis Versus Gerd
If your newborn projectile vomits in the first few months of life, keep an eye out for symptoms of pyloric stenosis, since it can sometimes be confused with GERD in infants.
In addition to forceful vomiting at feedings, symptoms of pyloric stenosis include constant hunger, dehydration, constipation and, rarely, blood in the vomit. While uncommon, the condition characterized by a narrowing of the opening at the bottom of the stomach does require diagnosis by a doctor and surgery to treat it.
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Complications Of Spitting Up
- Most infants are “happy spitters.” Normal spitting up occurs in half of babies. It does not cause crying or colic.
- Normal crying occurs in all babies. Frequent crying occurs in 15% of babies. Crying and colic are not helped by heartburn meds. These meds also have side effects.
- If they develop complications, it’s called GERD . This occurs in less than 1% of babies.
How To Prevent Reflux And Gord
Most children grow out of reflux or GORD by the time theyâre 12 months old, without needing any medical treatment.
In the meantime, here are some things you can try to help prevent or reduce reflux in your baby, and that may also help prevent occasional reflux from turning into GORD:
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Feed your baby smaller amounts more frequently
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Burp your baby more frequently, both during and after each meal
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After a feed, keep your baby in an upright or semi-upright position for at least an hour. Keep in mind that putting your little one in a baby chair or bouncer thatâs inclined at too steep an angle may cause him or her to slump, which can make the reflux worse.
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If youâre formula feeding your baby and your doctor or health visitor advises it, switch to a thicker formula that doesnât come up so easily
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If your doctor thinks the reflux may be caused by an allergy to the cowâs milk in formula, he or she may advise you to switch to formula that doesnât contain this ingredient
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Always ask your doctor before trying any special âanti-refluxâ milk, especially if your baby is already receiving anti-reflux medicine.
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Tips To Soothe Acid Reflux In Babies
Now that you know that reflux medication is best avoided for infants, here are some simple tips to soothe your babys reflux and help your little one calm down.
Try To Change The Diet
If you are using baby formula, you could try a different brand.
If you are breastfeeding, you should try to eliminate certain foods, especially dairy products, as reflux could result from food allergy or intolerance.
Use thickened feeds mix some rice cereal with the formula or breastmilk to make it thicker, which will help prevent the food from coming up from the babys stomach into the oesophagus. However, consult your Doctor before doing this.
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Baby Talk: 7 Tips For Helping Babies With Acid Reflux
August 19, 2018 |
Having a baby with acid reflux can feel like the most exhausting uphill battle when youre a new parent. Having had two babies who both suffered from acid reflux, and after talking to countless doctors and fellow reflux families, we came up with a list of 7 tips and tricks for helping babies with acid reflux , plus a few hallmark signs that your baby does in fact have reflux.
When our first baby girl was born, we struggled for months to get a clear diagnosis as to why she was seemingly so uncomfortable. She cried for the better part of her first eight months, threw up everything we fed her, and seemed generally uncomfortable and miserable. As a new mom, it was heartbreaking. For many months, the best answer we could come up with thanks to a team of doctors who tried seemingly everything, including an endoscopy, which was easily one of the hardest days as a momwas that Scarlett was suffering from pretty severe reflux.
A few months after that, it was our trusted allergist who stepped in, tested her, and determined that she was also severely allergic to milk protein. In addition to all of the reflux precautions, we eliminated all dairy from her diet. Just like that, things got better.* To this day, at six years old, Scarlett still has her bad reflux days and cant have any milk protein at all, but to see our happy little girl thriving is everything.
Palomas Days Of Baby Reflux Are Long Gone
We stopped all the natural remedies for baby reflux when Paloma was about 4 months old and never looked back. She now has the digestion of an ox and can drink pasteurized milk, and any other food with no discomfort. YAY! Im so grateful we didnt use any of the harsher medications and instead found natural remedies for baby reflux. If going through it can help just one other mama not resort to harsh pharmaceuticals, then it was worth it!
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If Baby Goes To Sleep And Wakes After 45 Minutes Crying There Are Usually Two Culprits
How to avoid this? More frequent burping throughout the feeding then really working to burp baby well before putting them down to rest.
How To Help A Baby With Reflux Sleep At Night
Filed under:babocush, babocush baby, baby colic, baby reflux, baby sleep, baby sleep routine, colic, nighttime routine, parenting advice, parenting blog, reflux, reflux blog
When your baby has reflux, it can really impact their ability to get a good nights sleep. As a parent, you want your baby to sleep soundly every night, and when they do, you do. So its in everyones best interests to find a way to help your baby with reflux sleep better. Were going to talk today about some little tricks you can try so read on to find out more.
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Acid Reflux In Infants: Causes & Tips To Soothe
Your baby was up all night spitting up, irritable, crying and refusing to go back to sleep. Worried, you take the baby to your pediatrician who tells you that your little one has GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and prescribes PPIs . You start treatment, but your baby isnt getting any better. And you are more worried and distressed than ever. Does this scenario sound familiar?
Symptoms suggestive of acid reflux are not rare in childhood. It is also common in infants, with studies demonstrating that at least 1 episode of regurgitation a day was reported in half of infants aged 0 to 3 months. However, spitting up and regurgitation is a part of growing up and doesnt necessarily require medication.
Lets understand GERD or acid reflux in infants in greater detail, so that you are better equipped to choose the right diet and treatment plan to help your little one.
Three If Your Baby Is Struggling With Sleep Have Him Or Her Sleep On An Angle
Laying your baby flat on his or her back to sleep tends to make the symptoms of reflux and GERD even worse. Basically, the best and safest sleep position for your baby is also one of the worst positions for his or her acid reflux. We struggled with this one big time.
One of the things that helps a lot of little ones is to tilt the crib or bassinet at a slight angle to keep his or her upper body elevated. This helps your baby to swallow and digest better, especially after nighttime feeds. It was always hard for Scarlett to lie flat after eating in the middle of the night, often this was when she cried and fought sleep the most.
There are great wedges like this crib wedge that help to angle your baby in his or her bassinet or crib at a gentle angle our pediatrician even suggested putting the wedge UNDER the mattress itself so that there would be nothing to impede babys breathing but it put the top of the mattress at an ever-so-slight angle.
Obviously, you should talk to your doctor about this before trying it.
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Use A Thicker Formula
For bottle-fed babies, thicker formulas that help the milk stay down in their stomach can reduce vomiting. They do have drawbacks you should be mindful of, though. For instance, they might make your baby more prone to constipation. Keep in mind also that although thickened formulas are available without a prescription, you shouldnt use them for your baby unless youve been advised to do so by a health professional.
Acid Reflux Occurs When The Stomach Contents Move Upward Into The Esophagus Here’s What Parents Need To Know About This Common Newborn Digestive Problem
Babies often spit up after eating because their digestive systems aren’t fully developed. This conditionknown as acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux rarely causes problems, and it usually disappears as your little one ages. However, extreme acid reflux symptoms may point to another problem, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease .
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Introducing Solids To A Baby With Silent Reflux
It would be fabulous to be able to give you a definitive list of foods that are well tolerated by reflux babies, but of course, when it comes to reflux, every baby is just too different.
Some health professionals recommend using baby rice cereal to thicken formula or expressed breastmilk of a baby with reflux before six months, to help keep the milk down. We would recommend only doing this under the advice of your doctor.
Although fruits are part of a normal starting-solids regime, you may like to tread lightly and only attempt very small amounts of new foods.
Acidic fruit like green apples or tomato and bananas may cause a flare up as well.
Elevate Baby While Sleeping
I did this instinctually with Paloma as she never seemed to settle to sleep when I placed her on her back. When she was very young, we swaddled her and put her in a chair. This is an excellent rocker/sleeper for baby with acid reflux as well. A baby lounger can be very convenient if you need to get things done or need something more travel friendly. A crib wedge would also work well in a crib.
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What Is Gerd In Children
GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, is a long-term digestive disorder. It happens when stomach contents flow back up into the food pipe and cause symptoms or problems.
GERD is a more serious and long-lasting form of gastroesophageal reflux .
GER is common in babies under 2 years old. Most babies spit up a few times a day during their first 3 months. GER does not cause any problems in babies. In most cases, babies outgrow this by the time they are 12 to 14 months old.
It is also common for children and teens ages 2 to 19 to have GER from time to time. This doesnt always mean they have GERD.
Nursing Mothers Should Take Care Of Themselves Too
Breastfeeding is the normal way of providing young infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development.
When you are breastfeeding your baby, you need to give importance to your diet, too. The diet you follow has a direct influence on your babys health and its growth and development.
In fact, breastfed babies may benefit from a change in the mothers diet. Hence, breastfeeding mothers should keep a close eye on their diet to help avoid acid reflux in babies.
- Give up all dairy products immediately, as the protein found in dairy products can irritate a babys immature digestive tract.
- Avoid common allergens including wheat, gluten, citrus, nuts, eggs, and soy.
- Limit high-fat, fried, or spicy foods, as well as carbonated drinks, chocolate, and caffeine.
- Keep away from alcohol and cigarette smoke.
- Breastfeeding mothers should eat probiotic yogurt daily to improve both their own and their babys digestive system.
- As water is a key ingredient in breast milk, nursing mothers should drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep their body hydrated.
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Acid Reflux Medication Is Rarely Needed
Acid Reflux Medication Is Rarely Needed
Its important to understand that most reflux is buffered by frequent feeds in infants and seldom is of acid pH a fact that seems to be largely ignored by doctors. In fact, studies show that a PPI is no better than a placebo for symptoms purported to be those of GERD in infants namely irritability and spitting up.
Over-prescription of acid-suppressing medications in infants is a serious matter, as discussed by Dr. Eric Hassall in The Journal of Pediatrics, who is currently Staff Gastroenterologist at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San Francisco, California, and is an advisor to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration . According to him, We are medicalizing normality. In most infants, these symptoms are life, not a disease, and do not warrant treatment with drugs, which can have significant adverse effects. Dr. Eric Hassall further stresses that gastric acid is an early line of defense against infection and is important for nutrition. By prescribing acid-suppressing medications to infants who dont actually have serious, long-lasting reflux disease, pediatricians are not only putting their patients at a higher risk for infections like pneumonia and gastroenteritis, they are also risking further long-term diseases because PPI use in infants can also lead to deficiency of essential minerals and vitamins, such as magnesium, calcium, and vitamin B12.
Do Infants Outgrow Reflux
Infants tend to outgrow regurgitation as the lower esophageal sphincter strengthens. Most cases GER will disappear by 18 months of age of earlier.
However, around 2-7 percent of parents of children between the ages of 3-9 years report that their child experiences heartburn, upper abdominal pain, or regurgitation. Around 5-8 percent of teenagers describe the same symptoms.
GERD declines until 12 years of age and then peaks between 16-17 years old. GERD tends to be more common in teenage girls than boys.
GER occurs more often in childhood and GERD occurs more often in adulthood.
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What Feeding Changes Can Help Treat My Infants Reflux Or Gerd
Feeding changes may help your babys reflux and GERD:
- Add rice cereal to your babys bottle of formula or breastmilk. Check with the doctor about how much to add. If the mixture is too thick, you can change the nipple size or cut a little x in the nipple to make the opening larger.
- Burp your baby after every 1 to 2 ounces of formula. If you breastfeed, burp your baby after nursing from each breast.
- Avoid overfeeding give your baby the amount of formula or breast milk recommended.
- Hold your baby upright for 30 minutes after feedings.
- If you use formula and your doctor thinks that your baby may be sensitive to milk protein, your doctor may suggest switching to a different type of formula. Do not change formulas without talking to the doctor.
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