Ways to help your baby with acid reflux rather than medicine.
I have two children that have and do both suffer from “Acid Reflux”. Most people don’t realize that acid reflux hurts a baby more than it would hurt us. As it may not really be too painful for us, it is extremely painful for a baby. Not all babies suffer from it, and some babies have it worse than others may. Some people may believe that their child has colic rather than acid reflux due to all the crying the child may do.
Ways to determine if Acid Reflux is what your child has:
- Spitting up frequently or vomiting
- Your child may cry a lot and seem to be in pain
- Your child may hiccup more often
- Your child pay be refusing to eat / loss of appetite
- Your child may seem irritable while eating and arch his/her back
- Wet burps
- Frequent coughing
- Difficult sleeping
- Hoarse voice
However, some children show more frightening signs such as spells of not breathing, may seem to be having a hard time swallowing and respiratory problems such as pneumonia, wheezing, asthma and bronchitis. If you are experiencing problems such as these I would contact your pediatrician just to be positive that this is what is wrong with your child.
There are plenty of things to try and do to treat Acid Reflux rather than going right for the medicine as most doctor perscribe Zantac.
- If your child is formula fed you may want to try to switch to a more sensitive formula.
- Hold your baby upright during feedings, and for atleast 30 minutes after feedings.
- When you put your child to sleep, position your child on his back, and elevate the head of the bead. This will keep stomach contents where they belong.
- Do not overfeed your child. Smaller, but more frequent feedings. About every two to three hours when the child is awake will reduce the occurrence of reflux.
- Adding cereal to the formula or breastmilk (you will pump and add the cereal). It makes it thicker and will hold down better in your child’s belly.
- Giving your baby their bottle right out of the refrigerator and cold may help.
- A lot of people seem to think that Playtext drop-ins bottles and liners also helped their baby decrease the amount of acid reflux they were having.
- If nothing that you do seems to work, your pediatrican may suggest something else, such as medicine and such.
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