Statistics done recently show that some 20% of the eight million babies born every year in the US suffer from acid reflux. In addition, babies that face developmental or neurological difficulties are even more at risk from this complaint. Baby acid reflux is a condition that has not been completely researched and that is also often subject to misinformation.

In a healthy person, there is a circular muscle acting as a valve at the junction of the stomach and the esophagus (called the lower esophageal sphincter) and stopping stomach acid from flowing back up the esophagus. Gastroesophageal reflux disease happens when that sphincter cannot retain the acids in the stomach. These then move into the throat sometimes as far as the larynx. In simple terms, GERD is a mechanical problem in the digestive system, which can be corrected. Numerous symptoms can result from GERD leading to complications like infections, pain, ulcers, difficulties in eating, vocal 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.

The best solution for the right diagnosis of infant gastroesophageal reflux disease is to have a specialist diagnosis performed by an ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor or a gastroenterologist. To correctly diagnose infant GERD, several further symptoms need to be identified. Besides sporadic vomiting, these symptoms include: infections of the middle ear, enlargement of the adenoids, abdominal pains, asthma, crying non-stop, anemia, waking in the night without reason, vomiting of blood (hematemesis), continual coughing, a high-pitched sound when breathing, repeated croup, reluctance to feeding and inflammation of the nose and the sinus.

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 treat the acid reflux symptoms but do not fix the fundamental 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 optimal solution to baby acid reflux is a holistic one while taking into account an overall set of changes in diet and lifestyle. Strong support is lent to this concept by research done recently. Research demonstrated that a transition to soy-based formula from cow’s milk based formula gave infants a 40% recovery rate. Other research showed acid reflux symptoms juice products as an aggravating factor for infant gastroesophageal reflux disease. Altering feeding and sleeping position was also seen to be of benefit in treating baby GERD.