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Many of you may be familiar with the problem of your babies occasionally spitting up the breast milk they have taken orr leaking it out of their mouths.
This reflux of the stomach foods ingested in it into the esophagus is called reflux.
Reflux affects both babies and adult but our focus today is how reflux affects baby and what you should do about it.
What is reflux?
According to SexPally magazine, Reflux in babies is when acidic foods in the stomach run back into the esophagus.
It does not really mean when you’ve just taken an acidic food but if your stomach is more of acidic contents.
More precisely, this is called gastroesophageal reflux, gaster comes from the stomach and esophasgus from the esophagus.
The older your child gets, the more the gastric acid content of the stomach increases.
If there is then increased backflow of the stomach contents into the esophagus or the mouth, the acid can attack the esophagus or oral cavity.
This can then lead to symptoms such as heartburn, etc. If these complaints persist in the long term, they can also lead to long-term damage of the cardiovascular system, says Healthpally boss.
But don’t worry if your baby spits a lot in the beginning. This is quite normal in the first few weeks of life their lives.
As the muscle that closes the esophagus is not yet strong enough, reflux is common in babies.
It is important to make sure that your baby is developing well and is gaining weight.
This will be checked at regular intervals by your midwife or pediatrician.
However, if you are still worried that everything is still within the normal range, speak up during the examinations . However, the initial reflux usually goes away on its own in the first few weeks of life.
What are the causes of reflux?
The so-called functional reflux can occur in both breastfed and bottle-fed children.
The muscle ligament that closes the stomach is not yet strong enough.
This allows the stomach contents to easily flow back into the esophagus.
In the first months of life, this muscle ligament becomes stronger and stronger and therefore closes the stomach better. Therefore, the symptoms usually go away on their own.
These symptoms are most common in babies who consume a lot of milk very quickly.
On the one hand, this can result in an increased milk ejection reflex on the part of the mother, but also an excessively large hole in the teat of the bottle.
You should then incorporate many, small breaks in the meals and then take your baby up.
Secondary reflux is when it is caused by another disease. These can be neurological, but also lung diseases.
A malformation in the gastrointestinal tract, such as a gap in the diaphragm, can also be the cause of pathological reflux.
It is only when the reflux lasts so long and is so pronounced that the children experience further symptoms as a result that one speaks of an illness.
This can lead to inflammation of the esophagus as the stomach acid irritates it.
Symptoms such as coughing or pneumonia can also result. But only in very rare cases is this reflux disease so pronounced in children, Healthpally director.
How can you help your child with reflux?
Try to include as many breaks as possible in your meals.
Then take your baby in an upright position so that it can deflate any air that may be present.
A gentle circling of the upper body, in a held sitting position, or rubbing on the baby’s back, replaces the earlier knocking on the back. This can make spitting worse.
Anti-colic bottles are advisable when bottle -feeding your baby.
Also make sure that the hole in the teat is not too big. As a result, the babies often ingest too much milk in too short a time, which can also increase spitting
