Acid Reflux or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Infants

Acid reflux in infants is one of the most common ailments among newborns and small children. Both of our children were diagnosed with the condition, and it of course was hard news to hear the first time. Your brain immediately goes into parent mode because you don’t want your child to have any pain or discomfort. You most certainly don’t want to hear that your child or children are diagnosed with a condition. However, our pediatrician reassured us that acid reflux in infants is quite a common condition among babies and with some treatment the condition would improve and eventually subside.

Acid reflux in infants is a condition where the contents of the stomach, including both acid and food, work back up into the esophagus sometimes causing pain and discomfort. It is a medical fact that acid reflux in infants is common, mainly because their muscle closing off the stomach from the esophagus is often not completely formed yet and allows for acid and food to back up quite often, mostly after eating. In babies, it is difficult to tell they have acid reflux, as it is quite common for babies to spit up. If a child spits up or vomits often, and it is accompanied by crying, arching of the back or poor sleeping habits then the child most often is diagnosed with acid reflux.

Acid reflux in infants is usually treated with some medication. Pediatricians often prescribe acid reducers such as Prevacid or Zantac, which reduce the production of acid in the stomach. Since acid reflux in infants is so common, these now come in water soluble forms which can either be mixed with their formula or breast milk, or it also dissolves almost immediately after hitting the mouth of an infant. This makes giving this medication much easier, and it is effective almost immediately.

Once a baby starts to strengthen his or her abdominal muscles, acid reflux becomes less and less of a problem. Our daughter suffered from acid reflux as an infant quite badly. We tried sitting her in a Bumbo chair. This type of chair is ergonomically shaped to help support a baby, but yet allows them to start strengthening their abdominal muscles. This is supposed to help strengthen the muscles that help the little flap close at the top of the stomach, helping to prevent acid reflux in infants. Our pediatrician also referred to it as “GERD” or gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Our children were treated with Prevacid as well as taking over the counter Mylanta. This is also commonly used to treat acid reflux in infants because it immediately soothes the esophagus and stomach lining, reducing the burning sensation and discomfort. By the time they reached one year of age, neither was taking medication for their acid reflux and are now normal healthy toddlers. There were absolutely no ill side effects from taking the medication prescribed, and our lives were almost immediately improved during treatment. The medication helped them to sleep better, spit up less and be more comfortable, leading to a much happier babyhood.