Infant Acid Reflux Tips

Infant acid reflux or gastro esophageal reflux is a condition that appears in more than fifty percent of infants during the first few months of their birth. Most commonly, this problem appears in infants after feeding and occasionally while they cough, cry or strain for some reason.

As many of us take it, it is not a serious health problem and almost all the babies who show symptoms of infant acid reflux appear to be happy and healthy subsequently.

Infant acid reflux generally starts disappearing when the child grows up. You can see the symptoms vanishing when you change the feeding technique or change positions while feeding the baby. Smaller amounts of feed during frequent intervals will help you a lot in saving your child from the discomforts caused by this problem.

The common symptoms of this condition include spitting up. Poor feeding and irritability during feeding are the other symptoms of infant acid reflux. The ring muscles that keep the stomach contents in its place, may take time in maturing babies.

If the muscles that separate the stomach and esophagus are not mature, the stomach content may flow up to the esophagus and the infant will experience symptoms of infant acid reflux. The bubbles in the esophagus may push the liquid out of the infant’s mouth when the baby tries to drink too fast.

Normally IAR will not create any problems in the normal growth of the child. However, if the baby suffering from infant acid reflux is not gaining weight or spitting up the liquids heavily, it is best to consult a good pediatrician to rule out the possibilities of serious health problems.

The symptoms that require medical attention include spitting up of more than two teaspoons liquid at a time, spitting up green or brown fluid and spitting up forcefully after feeding. You should also be careful if the infant seems to be abnormally hungry between feedings and resists feeding for no apparent reason.

Diagnosis or screening for infant acid reflux includes various lab tests such as urine and blood tests, esophageal pH monitoring, upper GI series and upper endoscopy.

Though rare, infant acid reflux may lead to serious health problems such as poor growth rate, breathing trouble or blood loss from the body of the infant.

Normally the symptoms of infant acid reflux will vanish when the mother makes deliberate changes in the feeding pattern of the bay. Holding the baby upright during and after the feeding sessions will help the child to get rid of the problem.

Babies with severe infant acid reflux symptoms may require treatment that includes medication, alternative feeding methods and in some, rare cases surgery.