Acid Reflux Symptoms In Babies

Your ability to detect acid reflux symptoms in babies will help your baby in terms of the discomfort that the condition brings.

According to BabyCentre, you will know that your baby has reflux if your baby may bring up small amounts of milk (possetting) or occasionally vomit. He may also have hiccups and cough and splutter a little.

This is normal and, as long as your baby is otherwise well, you don’t need to worry. Just make sure you always have a tissue or muslin cloth to hand.

Your baby’s food pipe connects his mouth with his stomach. Your baby has a ring of muscle (valve) where his food pipe joins his stomach. The muscular valve opens to let through milk your baby has swallowed, and closes to keep milk in his tummy. Babies usually get reflux because the ring of muscle hasn’t developed fully yet.

This means that when your baby’s tummy is full, milk and acid can come back up the food pipe, causing discomfort.

Possetting or vomiting could be because your baby:

• Has a short and narrow food pipe.
• Has a slow digestive system, so it takes time for milk to move from his stomach into his small intestine.
• Needs to take in a lot of high-calorie liquid to help him grow, but his food pipe and stomach are still developing.

Sometimes, reflux is related to another condition that causes a baby’s digestive system to work more slowly. In these cases, food stays in the stomach for longer. This could be because of an allergy or intolerance to cow’s milk.

Source: Baby Centre

There are certain things that you can do to prevent acid reflux symptoms in babies. Heartburn.About.com has provided some specific instructions that you can do. This would include the following:

• If the baby is bottle fed, add up to one tablespoon of rice cereal to 2 ounces of infant milk (including expressed breast milk). If the mixture is too thick for your infant to take easily, you can change the nipple size or cross cut the nipple.

• Burp your baby after 1 or 2 ounces of formula are taken. For breastfed infants, burp after feeding on each side.

• Do not overfeed. Talk to your child’s doctor or nurse about the amounts of formula or breast milk that your baby is taking.

• When possible, hold your infant upright in your arms for 30 minutes after feeding.

• Infants with GER should usually sleep on their backs, as is suggested for all infants. Rarely, a physician may suggest other sleep positions.

Source: Heartburn.About.com

So try to take note of the different symptoms of acid reflux in babies. Once you identify them, try implementing the instructions mentioned above. That way, you will help your baby get rid of the discomfort associated with acid reflux.

Acid Reflux Symptoms In Babies is a post from: Natural Health Magazine