Infant Reflux: How to manage it?
What is infant reflux?
Reflux is also know as gastroesophageal reflux or GER. It is when the milk that a baby drank moves back up into their esophagus, and sometimes out ot their mouth (aka “spit up”). Reflux is quite common and spit up can happen often. As long as your baby is happy, growing at a good pace, and healthy, reflux should not be a concern.
Is reflux serious?
As long as your baby is happy, growing at a good pace, and healthy, reflux should not be a concern.
However, there’s also GERD— gastroesophageal reflux disease—which is what happens when reflux is more severe and longer lasting. GERD could impact your baby’s ability to gain weight and can be uncomfortable. Here is what to look for and when to reach out to your pediatrician or medical provider:
Forceful spit-up, also called projectile vomiting
Spits up green or yellow fluid
Not gaining weight as expected
Refuses to eat
Blood in their spit-up or stool
Difficulty breathing
Chronic cough
Crying immediately upon waking
So how we can help manage reflux in our baby?
Use paced bottle feeding (check out a video demo of paced bottle feeding here)
Do smaller feedings and more frequent feedings (ex: 2 oz every 2-3 hrs for a 1 week old baby, vs. 4 oz every 4 hrs)
Use of an air-free bottle feeding system such as the Bare-Air feeding system and bottles
Stop a feeding to burp the baby and then resuming the feeding
Keeping the baby upright for 20-30 minutes after each feeding
If breastfeeding, an elimination diet may be recommended to remove common allergens
If formula feeding a change in the brand/type of formula may be recommended
About the Author: Kathleen Stern is a certified infant feeding specialist, doula and founder of Boston Area Doulas. Kathleen believes in the power of support, connection, increasing access to resources and increasing one’s confidence in parenthood. She and her doula team offer lactation and infant feeding support to families. 📞 (857) 600-1907 ✉️ kathleen@bostonareadoulas.com
