Reflux in babies is tough on the baby AND the mom. There’s no denying it. It’s a topic near and dear to my heart because my son experienced it as an infant. But even though I have personal experience with it, my goal of this blog post is not to provide medical advice.
Instead, I hope to provide you with information about reflux in babies so you can feel empowered to know what to look for and can in turn better advocate for your baby if you suspect it.
Keep reading until the end for a story about my son’s reflux. What worked, what didn’t work and when it started to subside.
What is Reflux?
Acid reflux in babies occurs when food (formula) backs up from the stomach and causes the baby to spit up. Ouch. With reflux, the muscle that is supposed to hold down the contents of the stomach is immature so it doesn’t do a very good job holding things down.
But don’t worry, reflux in babies is very common and is typically something they grow out of as they get older, gain weight and start sitting up.
Baby Reflux Signs + Symptoms:
- Frequent spit up and vomiting
- Refusing to eat or difficulty eating
- Choking or gagging while eating
- Coughing or wheezing
- Arching away from feeding
- Frequent crying and fussing while eating
- Difficult and disrupted sleep
- Poor weight gain or eight loss
Silent Reflux
This is a type of relux where the stomach contents flow backwards but it’s referred to as “silent” reflux because it doesn’t have the typical spit up symptom. This can make it harder to diagnose and is the kind of reflux my son dealt with.
Sleep
Ahh sleep…not the sleep.
Unfortunately baby sleep and reflux don’t mix well. Just think about how uncomfortable it is for you to lay down while you have heartburn…
One of my favorite sleep experts, Taking Cara Babies, has an entire blog post about reflux and sleep. You can read it here.
But what’s most important to know is that babies should sleep on their backs until they can independently roll from back to belly – even if they have reflux.
Baby Reflux Tips + Remedies
While there isn’t a magical cure, there are a few things you can do to help ease the discomfort:
- Feed baby in an upright position and keep baby’s head higher than the stomach
- Burp every few ounces
- Hold baby upright for 20-30 minutes after each feed.
- Offer a pacifier (the sucking can actually help by increasing saliva and downward contractions of the esophagus.
- Prescribed medicine by pediatrician*
*Medicine should be one of the last remedies you try and should be prescribed by your child’s pediatrician. There are many other things you can try first before you result to medicine.
My Personal Experience
I mentioned earlier that my son had silent reflux much of the first year of his life (from about 6 weeks to nine months old). I first began noticing all of the common signs of reflux, except he wasn’t spitting up.
Our pediatrician had us first switch to a gentle baby formula but he was still unusually fussy during feedings, arching his back away from the bottle and usually we both ended up in tears. I knew something wasn’t right.
He was my first baby but my mom instincts told me eating shouldn’t be this difficult and painful for him…
Solution #1 at 6 Weeks Old
Finally, we were advised by the doctor to start adding oatmeal cereal to his bottles to thicken it up. We immediately had to bump to a bigger size nipple for his bottles but we slowly started to see him eat more and be a little more content during feedings.
(I didn’t mention oatmeal cereal earlier because this isn’t something you should try unless directed to by a medical professional.)
This worked beautifully for us for a few months but slowly the silent reflux symptoms started showing up again.
Solution #2 at 9 Months
So I called the pediatrician again. She felt that we had tried everything but ultimately medicine was the next step. I was hesitant about it but honestly, I just wanted my kid to eat without being in pain so I was willing to try it.
The medicine changed. our. lives.
My son started drinking a bottle well again (or as I’d picture a baby to drink a bottle) and it was glorious. It was finally around 9 months or so when his doctor asked us to slowly cut back on dosages and it got to a point where he was fully able to come off the medicine. Hallelujah!
Pease don’t interpret this as me telling you to use oatmeal cereal and medicine. It’s meant to show you that if you suspect your baby might have reflux, advocate for them. Call the pediatrician and then call and call again until your baby is eating comfortably and the reflux is under control.
I hope this blog post has given you the basic information about reflux in babies so you can know what to look out for and have a few initial remedies to try before you resort to medicine or a different formula. You know your baby better than anyone in the world so trust your instincts.
Do you have any questions about reflux or questions about my personal experience? Comment below and let’s chat 🙂
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