Infant
GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or acid reflux has become
increasingly common since the 1990s. According to
recent estimations, children aged 3 to 17 years
old suffer from acid reflux symptoms roughly 2% to
8% of the time, whereas among infants the
percentage of sufferers reaches 20%. Those infants
who suffer from developmental or neurological
disabilities are more prone to gastroesophageal
reflux disease.
Causes
of Infant GERD.
Prior to discussing the
causes and risks of GERD in babies, let's take a
brief look at the local immediate cause behind
this medical condition. Acid reflux, in simple
terms, is a malfunction of the digestive system.
The most common contributing factor is the
weakening of the LES. When the muscle called lower
esphogeal sphyncter (LES) is too weak to keep the
gastric contents in the stomach, those contents
move into the throat and sometimes past the larynx
into the upper airway. While reflux may also occur
when there is normal LES pressure, such as after
meals, crying, defecating, and coughing, in the
case of gastroesophageal reflux disease there can
be serious health complications involved such as
pain, infections, ulcers, eating problems, voice issues
, and even
cancer.
GERD
diagnosis could be especially challenging in babies.
Infants are predisposed to "spitting up or vomiting"
more than adults, because of the small reservoir of
their esophagus. Most infants experience some kind of
regular vomiting - mild to moderate spitting up - from
the mouth or nose without pain or discomfort. It usually
happens during or right after feedings. Because of that
fact, GERD can be easily confused with normal
vomiting.
Moreover, clues to what is wrong with the infant
can be difficult to figure out, since newborns do not
have the verbal ability to explain
themselves.
When your infant has GERD
, several additional symptoms usually
appear. For example, since GERD related vomiting could
be painful, babies might have this disorder if they
vomit too often, scream or cry for hours, or permanently
awake at nights. Additional symptoms include adenoid
enlargement, abdominal pain, chronic cough, middle ear
infections, anemia, asthma, hematemesis (vomiting of
blood), high-pitched sound when breathing, repeated
croup, back arching and nose/sinus inflammation.
Neglected
acid reflux in newborns can be dangerous and may lead to
severe complications. If an infant associates feeding
with pain, he or she may refuse breastfeeding, thus
losing weight. Moreover, gastroesophageal
reflux disease can lead
to potentially serious complications such as erosive
esophagitis; that's why early diagnosis and treatment
are necessary to ensure your infant's safety and
well-being. The best way to achieve an accurate
diagnosis for baby acid reflux is by seeing a
gastroenterologist or an ENT (ear, nose, throat)
doctor.
Once
diagnosed with gastroesophageal
reflux disease, the newborn's parents must choose a
treatment for him/her. The treatment options for infant
GERD can be divided into three categories: surgical
intervention; prescribed medications or
over-the-counters; and holistic
therapy.
A surgical procedure called a
Nissen Fundoplication
may be
performed to tighten the juncture of the esophagus at
the stomach. However, surgical intervention is rarely
considered, since its complications may be more severe
and carry a greater risk compared to the acid reflux
condition itself.
Prescribed
medications are also undesirable for the following
reasons:
1.
Medications
are aimed at tackling the GERD symptoms (i. e. acid
production) while neglecting its root causes, such as
the lifestyle, internal and dietary triggers and
factors.
2.
The
use of medications may not be completely safe when it
comes to adults and especially newborns. Several
prescribed reflux medications, such as reglan and
bethanechol, have not been tested for use with babies.
Another medication, cisapride, discovered as having a
serious side effect of heart arrhythmia and has been
removed from the market. Several other common
medications have even more serious side effects, such as
pneumonia and Tourette's syndrome.
3.
All types
of medication can cause a long-term dependency and
compromise
your infant's immune system, resulting in a weak and
vulnerable immune function that can aggravates the
baby's condition.
Did you
know that the optimal way to protect your infant from
the distressing and painful GERD symptoms is by adopting
the holistic approach while focusing on a comprehensive
set of all natural lifestyle and dietary changes?
Alternative
treatments.
Recent
researches provide consistent support to the holistic
all natural treatments of GERD. For example, a research
that was conducted by Ravelli, Tobanelli and Volpi and
published in Journal of Pediatric
Gastroenterology and Nutrition in 2001, revealed
that cow's milk based formula can produce delayed
gastric emptying among infants who have milk protein
allergy. A research by Rudolph, Mazur and Liptak that
was published in the same journal demonstrated that a
change from a cow's milk based formula to a casein
hydrolysate formula might benefit formula-fed infants
who are vomiting. Finally, it was found that for infants
with GERD breastfeeding has significant advantages over
any baby's formula, since breast milk has elements that
promote better digestion and faster emptying of the
stomach.
The
findings mentioned above and many others strengthen the
theory that infant GERD in not a local
condition (concerning the esophagus only) but the body's
response to a set of internal, environmental and dietary
factors. For this reason, the holistic medicine approach
aimed at protecting your baby from gastroesophageal
reflux disease can be not only safe but also the most
effective long-term choice.
