With an infant in the house, it is important for you to know about the common issues that your baby is prone to. This will help you to diagnose the problem early. One such common problem that usually occurs in infants is reflux. Some people also call it GER (gastroesophageal reflux). This is not a serious ailment and it can be treated very easily even with the help of home remedies. In this article, we will tell you more about baby reflux and how you can treat it.
Baby Reflux – Meaning
When your baby starts spitting food, it is known as reflux. In this condition, your baby’s food moves up from his stomach, causing him to spit up. You don’t have to worry at all, because this problem is very common even among healthy infants. In most of the cases, you may notice reflux in babies until they turn about 18 months old. As long as your baby is healthy, content after every feed and is gaining weight regularly, you don’t have to worry about baby reflux issues.
How to treat it?
Often baby reflux can be easily treated with the help of simple home remedies. If that doesn’t work, your doctor may prescribe mild medication for your baby to get rid of this issue. Paediatricians recommend surgery only in very rare cases; however, the good news is that baby reflux is completely treatable.
Home Remedies
- Feed small quantities of food at frequent intervals, so that the contents are able to settle well in the baby’s stomach.
- While feeding the baby and 30 minutes after feeding, ensure that your baby sits in an upright position so that there is no disturbance in the digestion process.
- If you are breastfeeding, you can try experimenting with your diet by avoiding potential allergens such as dairy and eggs. This may help improve your baby’s reflux issues.
- Your doctor may recommend changing the brand of formula that you are currently feeding to control reflux issues.
- Sometimes, you could also try changing the size of the nipple of the bottle that your baby is using. This will help your baby to swallow the right amount of formula.
- You must make your baby burp after every feed. This will help the food settle well in his stomach.
Medicines
Though reflux is not a serious ailment, your baby may require medicines if he hasn’t been gaining weight properly or has been diagnosed with an inflamed oesophagus. Sometimes, he might also have a long-standing asthma ailment, which will require him to take medicines for the reflux issue.
Surgery
In extremely rare cases, your baby’s reflux issue may make it difficult for him to breathe and feed normally. This is when doctors may recommend a surgery. This process involves tightening of the oesophagus to avoid the food to move upwards from the stomach. However, this is not a serious issue and your baby will recover very quickly.
In short, all you need to know is that baby reflux is a very common ailment that shouldn’t worry you too much. Making your baby burp and reducing the quantity while increasing the frequency of his feeds will help you see a visible improvement.
