Diagnosing Acid Reflux In Children

Acid reflux is difficult to diagnose in children, and as with my first child, it can take weeks or months to find out the reason for their constant crying and vomiting. I was certainly put out when I found out she had been suffering for weeks and we couldn't help! No parent ever wants their children to experience illness or pain, and it's even more difficult when you are a first time parent. The doctor advised us that babies and infants commonly suffer with acid reflux, but thankfully there are medications that relieve all their symptoms almost immediately.

If food, milk or stomach acid manages to make its way up the esophagus instead of being contained in the stomach for digesting, it is painful and very uncomfortable. This is acid reflux, and often it is accompanied by acidic burps and acidic vomiting. Since all babies are known to spit up a lot it's hard to tell if they have reflux. If the vomiting occurs regularly, accompanied by crying and sleeping difficulties, or arching their back and throwing their head side to side, the doctor or pediatrician will usually advise you that acid reflux is the problem. The reason babies tend to suffer with the problem more than any other age groups is because their sphincter muscles at the base of the esophagus haven't strengthened or grown enough to hold the food in.

When acid reflux is the diagnosis, medication will be prescribed. For less serious cases, Mylanta or the like can be purchased without a prescription. For a baby you would use only a few drops to help relieve their pain, and you should do so only on the advice of your doctor. If Mylanta doesn't help, a stronger preventative medicine will be needed. Prevacid, Losec or Zantac are examples of what the doctor could prescribe, and they prevent the stomach from producing any acid, which in turn stops the burning. I do know some families who have taken their child to a good naturopath to resolve their child's acid reflux problem with great success as well. One child was actually dairy intolerant and when the parents changed him to goat's milk instead of dairy the reflux ceased all together.

In most cases such as mine, babies outgrow acid reflux and make full recoveries. When we had another child, we knew exactly what to watch out for and picked up on the signs straight away. As with my daughter, my son also needed a combination of Mylanta and Prevacid to control the problem. As soon as they started taking their medicine, all the symptoms stopped; they slept better, vomited rarely and were much happier. My daughter is now seven and my son is five, and neither has had acid reflux or any other illness since they were about twelve months old.