Baby Acid Reflux: PROTECT Your Baby from Symptoms of Acid Reflux

Infant acid reflux is a condition that doctors have not yet completely researched and that is often a little misunderstood as well. From recent statistics, one fifth or so of the eight million babies born each year in the US suffer from acid reflux, and babies with handicaps that are developmental or neurological are even more at risk from this condition.

In simple, physical terms, acid reflux is a problem in the digestive system, which can be corrected. In a healthy person, the lower esophageal sphincter (the name for the circular muscle acting as a valve at the junction of the stomach and the esophagus) stops stomach acid from flowing back up the esophagus. Acid reflux happens when that sphincter cannot maintain the acids in the stomach so that acids move into the throat sometimes attaining the larynx. Numerous symptoms can result from acid reflux leading to complications like pain, infections, ulcers, problems in eating, voice disorders and even cancer in the long run.

Baby acid reflux can be particularly difficult to diagnose and treat. Because an infant cannot give verbal expression to his or her feelings, it is difficult to determine if he or she is suffering from a medical problem. In addition, reflux condition is easy to confuse with usual vomiting in babies. For the first 3 to 4 months of an infant's life, frequent vomiting happens in half of all cases, with a peak at 4 months. Vomiting is both painful and distressing when caused by acid reflux.

To correctly diagnose infant acid reflux, it is necessary to identify several further symptoms of acid reflux. Besides sporadic vomiting, these infant acid reflux symptoms include: infections of the middle ear, enlargement of the adenoids, pains in the abdomen, anemia, asthma, crying non-stop, awakening at night without reason, vomiting of blood (hematemesis), continual coughing, a high-pitched sound when breathing, repeated croup, resistance to feeding and inflammation of the nose and the sinus. The best solution for correct diagnosis of infant acid reflux is to have a specialist diagnosis performed by an ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor or a gastroenterologist.

Possibilities for treating acid reflux can be: medicaments, surgery and holistic approaches. For infant acid reflux, neither medicaments not surgery constitute safe solutions. Even for adult acid reflux patients, surgery is rarely considered under normal circumstances. Medicaments may be undesirable in particular for infants for the three reasons that follow:

1. Medicaments for acid reflux target the acid reflux symptoms but neglect the deeper cause of the condition.

2. Medicaments for acid reflux can cause multiple secondary effects that are difficult to identify in infants.

3. Medicaments for acid reflux can interfere with an infant's immune system, meaning a weakened and vulnerable immunity, possibly leading to different health complications other than acid reflux as well as the aggravation of acid reflux.

The best solution to baby acid reflux is a holistic one while focusing on a global set of changes in lifestyle and diet. Strong support is given to this concept by recent research. One such research for example demonstrated that moving to soy-based formula from cow's milk based formula gave a 40% recovery rate in infants. Other research showed acid reflux symptoms being aggravated when infants received juice products. Modifying feeding and sleeping position was also seen to be of benefit in treating infant acid reflux.




Jeff Martin is a medical researcher, certified nutritionist, health consultant and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Heartburn No More- Open The Door To an Acid Reflux Free Life". Jeff has written dozens of holistic health articles and has been featured in ezines and print magazines, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide.

To Learn More About Jeff Martin´s Unique 5-Step Holistic Acid Reflux Cure System Visit: Heartburn No More.

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