Acid reflux and the countless medications that treat it is a common theme on television and the subject of many commercials and advertisements these days. Those commercials usually feature middle-aged people, with lots of hot dogs or other generally bad-for-you food just covered, and then the need to turn to medicine to treat acid reflux. So the general conclusion is that only older, more seasoned, let’s say, people experience acid reflux. Parents of babies certainly don’t expect their precious bundles of joy to suffer from acid reflux, but it happens more than you might think.
I first realized what was wrong with my newborn son when she always nursed him all the time. I breastfed my child without any problems so I didn’t understand why he was struggling so much. I asked every mother for advice, I even called my grandmother in hopes that she could give me some tried and true advice about this ever-increasing problem I was having. Probably for each person I asked, I got a different answer, but the question remained, every time I wanted to feed him, as soon as I sat him down, every ounce he had consumed would fly away. I will also make one thing clear here by the way. When I say he threw, I literally mean he threw it, like he threw it 4-6 feet. I used to spit up the baby, that cute little stuff that comes out when you spit out your baby. There is a huge difference between spitting up a baby and throwing up a baby. You’ll know when you see it, believe me, but I digress. And so, like most mothers, I accepted that this problem was with me, I did not breastfeed the child, leaving my milk to say that it must be bad. I asked my doctor and searched all the baby formula on the market to find one that is as mild and as close to breast milk as possible. . I went to the grocery store, bought the sacred formula, as little as possible with the most expensive price, and continued to feed my son. I thought this would definitely do the trick. You threw it down, drank it like manna from heaven, sat down and vomited it all up again. I was not happy to say the least. Ok, back to the old formula. Mix the formula, feed the baby, throw the baby. After all, I had four types of formulas! I made a short trip to my Pediatrician with Kleenexes and son in tow. I told her everything until I tested this point and she advised that I need to have my baby tested for acid reflux. Also in my head was a picture of a very large man, middleold, his face covered with chili- cheeseburger; Never in my head did I see a 3 month old baby with acid reflux problems.
The “test” was a test of Barium. Let me tell you how this test will go for you as a parent. It is advised not to feed your baby for at least 6 hours, and then when you finally feed them, there is a chalk-like substance that you will have to force feed them while lying in a very large x-ray machine. I was afraid. As bad as it sounds, when your new baby goes 6 hours without eating, they will lie in that machine and drink whatever you give them so that part isn’t so bad. In this test, your eyes look at your esophagus, stomach, and upper part of your small intestine. Barium dye highlights these areas as doctors look for any abnormalities in your child. They may also do a test called an Upper GI Endoscopy which involves looking down your baby’s esophagus. I don’t want to do that to my baby. He had already spent quite a few months on this Earth. The Barium test concluded that my son did, in fact, have a slight problem with acid reflux in that the little “door” that is supposed to close after you eat and the food stays in your stomach, was not closed for him. The door baby put rice cereal in his formula to start. Now, as all new mothers know, baby books say you’re not supposed to start cereal or food in general with babies until much later they were older but the doctors thought they would do it. I gave it a try and it was hard at first. The babies have small holes in the nipple so I take a knife and split each nipple so that the formula “milk” comes out he began, because his belly was full. However, one problem we encountered is that it started to look like a baby Michelin, it got a little chunky, which we will soon stay.
Since he was able to keep the food down, I thought our acid reflux problems were over. When he reached the age of about 12 months, he constantly got ear infections and started having symptoms that resembled asthma. I had ear infections so I put him just “after” and we want to have relatives in the family with my sigh so well that I thought my baby had gotten worse from everyone in the family. they increased until he had to have tubes in his ears and used allergy/asthma on a weekly basis.The doctors suggested him to put him on a high of care to concentrate. No one can imagine why he stayed so badly.
Finally, one day I remember sitting crying in the Pediatrician’s office and I just explained to him everything that had happened to my child in the 4 years of his life and he said, Well, there is one last thing that we will try. Now let’s remember, this son of mine was taking allergy-medication, steroid nasal sprays every day. nebulizer treatments and a second set of ear tubes and it still stayed bad, I was at the end of my rope. The doctor suggested putting him on 15 mg of Prevacid per day to see if it helped in any way. I agreed, what else could I do? Why didn’t we experience everything that way? The pill was to be peeled and sprinkled on applesauce every morning, simple enough that we gave it a try. Here’s the thing, it worked. He had gone to cough constantly, without ceasing, night and day, never sleeping, never eating, as a child was wont to do. It turns out, acid reflux in the stomach is not only in ears at night when sleeping causing an ear infection but there was also a reflux into his lungs, that wheezing sound, which the doctors thought signified asthma. Two days after he started the acid reflux medication, I couldn’t get the kid to take another 5 medications. He is 7 years old now, and he has never taken drugs since that day.
The thing is, after the barium tincture test when I was a baby, doctors claim that once I sit or stand every time, my acid reflux problems go away. They were wrong. His acid reflux problem was always there and mimicked other illnesses. In some children, acid reflux, or GERD as it is called in children, does not go away with time. It just depends on the child. It should also be noted that if your child has a stomach bug or virus, the acid reflux will worsen for weeks and work it is like a dose of them. Check with your doctor on that.
To this day, every time I go to the pediatrician, I thank the doctor who helped us that day. My son is a wild, crazy and STRONG Boy now because of him and that pink hat. I hope this article has helped you in some way and maybe your child won’t have to go through what my little boy did. Check out the links below for more information on acid reflux and good luck.
children.webmd.com/infants-children
heartburn.about.com/od/infantschildrenandreflux/qt/childgerdsympt.htm
www.gerd.net/Basics/in-children.html
