Problems With Acid Reflux In Infants
We've all heard about adults suffering from disease, and it is in fact fairly common, but reflux is actually commonly suffered by babies as well. Of course, the image of a baby puking all over the parent holding him is all to familiar, but believe it or not, this is really a very natural thing as most infants experience regurgitation in the first three months after their birth; in fact, this is common amongst more than half of all normal infants. This reflux can occur during the various actions that a baby will experience such as coughing, straining, burping, or crying.
Let's look at the details involved in problems. Gastro-esophageal reflux is caused when stomach contents come back up into the esophagus during or after a meal. This means that food is coming back up through the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. When we swallow something, a ring of muscle or sphincter around the bottom end of the esophagus opens and closes to allow the predigested (if you don't chew your food properly, it won't be pre-digested and you'll be more prone to indigestion) food to pass through into the stomach, and this sphincter opens to release gas (burping) after meals in normal infants, children, and adults. When the sphincter opens in infants, the stomach contents often go up through the esophagus and out of the mouth, hence all those cleaning bills when it happens as you're "burping" your baby!
This "spitting-up" is quite common, and most infants with gastro-esophageal reflux grow to be perfectly happy and healthy babies, even though they may frequently puke up or vomit, and you should only consult a doctor or your child's pediatrician with unique cases of acute bouts of reflux. With gastro-esophageal reflux, an infant may experience a variety of symptoms such as vomiting and spitting up, but also other symptoms like irritability and poor feeding. Blood in the stool is also not uncommon. Only a small number of infants have severe symptoms due to the esophageal reflux, and most infants will stop spitting up around twelve to eight months of age.
Nevertheless, a small percentage of babies with gastro-esophageal reflux may suffer symptoms that you should be concerned about, such as poor growth due to an inability to hold down food or refusing to feed due to pain. They may also suffer difficulties in breathing or blood loss from acid burning the esophagus.
However, it's important to remember that these problems are only found in the extremely rare cases where severe symptoms have occurred. The vast majority of occurrences of gastro-esophageal reflux is completely natural in newborns and infants up to a year old, so please don't get too concerned about it. The truth of the matter is that probably the most serious consequences of in infants is the damage done to your clothing furniture and carpets!
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