Helping Those Too Little to Help Themselves: Recognizing the Symptoms of acid reflux in babies

One major frustration for most parents is their inability to know what is going on with their very young children. What is bothering infants, who can only communicate through crying, is often a mystery. One way for parents to feel better about their ability to comfort their infants is to learn about issues that commonly afflict infants and toddlers.

Normal or Not? Symptoms of acid reflux in babies

Infants who suffer from acid reflux are not capable of keeping stomach contents inside their stomachs. Unlike adult cases of acid reflux disease, this does not appear to be muscular issue in all babies. Rather, babies’ young (and sometimes underdeveloped) digestive systems are often poorly coordinated, leading to the stomach becoming too full, too quickly. Additionally, infants spend far more time on their backs than most adults, which aggravates the symptoms of acid reflux in babies.

Acid reflux is, unfortunately, a fairly common issue for infants – some sources say nearly half of all infants will suffer from acid reflux within the first few months of life. Quickly recognizing the symptoms of acid reflux can prevent frustration and pain (for both infants and their parents), as well as the long-term negative consequences of the disease, including failure to thrive due to inadequate food consumption and breathing problems caused by esophageal tissue damage.

Common symptoms of acid reflux in babies are actually fairly similar to things experienced by many babies. As any experienced parent knows, spitting up, vomiting and irritability (3 symptoms of acid reflux in babies) occur with most infants on a regular basis. How can parents know if this is normal behavior or a signal of a problem?

The answer depends mostly on the frequency and severity of the symptoms. If a child vomits nearly every time her or she eats, there is likely a problem. If the vomiting is associated with breathing difficulties or frequent respiratory infections, there may be a problem. Any parents who suspect the symptoms of acid reflux in their baby should seek medical treatment from their pediatrician.

Treating the symptoms of acid reflux in babies can range from simple things (like thickening food with cereal) to more intense treatments, like over the counter and prescription medications, and special beds that allow infants to sleep on an incline, which helps reduce the symptoms of acid reflux in babies. Regardless of the causes and treatments for acid reflux, the good news is the vast majority of infants do not suffer any long term consequences of the disease.

Symptom Of acid reflux in infant
There are many things that new parents worry about and sometimes things pop up that you have never considered. If you're one of the lucky ones your baby will sail through infanthood with nothing more serious than a cold. Other parents aren’t so lucky, however, and things can occur that you may not even be able to see. You may not know what a symptom of acid reflux in your infant until your doctor suggests this as a possibility.

Symptoms of acid reflux in infants often don't get noticed for what they are until everything else has been ruled out. For years these symptoms often fell under the category of colic and it'sonly recently that more doctors diagnose acide reflux specifically. acid reflux in infants causes distress and sometimes a lot of pain. It's hard to spot what's going on because it isn’t something you see externally.

I have known a few parents who had infants who suffered from acid reflux and they have told me that it took their doctors a long time to work out what was going on. Their babies had problems with throwing up and the doctors they went to first recommended they change their formula. Some gave medication for gas but the signs were not recognised as sympotms of acid reflux in infants until after a few visits. It is often good practice to go with common problems first but if your infant has acid reflux they can be in a lot of pain while waiting for your doctor to diagnose the sympotms correctly.

If you suspect that your baby mgiht have acid reflux make sure you speak up and mention it to your doctor. Keep track of the times when your infant throws up or show signs of distress. The sooner the sympotm of acid reflux in infant is recognised the sooner you can bring some relief to your baby. Though some babies are just naturally cranky and there are many who cannot tolerate certain food items you don’t want those to be the only things your doctor looks at when you feel your baby is in pain. Finding information online about reflux is a good place to start. Look at the other articles to see what you can do to offer some comfort when your infant is hurting and make sure your doctor considers all the possibilities the symptoms make represent.