PROTECT Your Infant Against the Dangers of GERD
Jeff Martin
Recent statistics show that children from 3 to 7 are victims of acid reflux symptoms between 2 and 8% of the time, and that for infants 20% is the real percentage that suffers. Since the 1990s, there has been an increase in infant gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Infants challenged on a developmental or neurological level are more likely to be prone to GERD.
To put it simply, acid reflux is when the digestive system does not work properly. The weakening of the LES is most often the reason for this. The LES is the lower esophageal sphincter. When it is too weak to shut off all the stomach contents in the stomach, then those contents flow back into the throat and even up past the larynx to invade the upper air passage. Reflux may also happen under normal digestive backpressure, for example after feeding, coughing, crying, and going to the toilet. Before getting into the causes and menaces of GERD in babies, we'll look quickly at the cause that is local and immediate for this medical ailment. Note that there may also be serious complications of health involved such as infections, ulcers, pain, feeding problems, problems affecting the voice, even cancer.
In babies, diagnosis of GERD can be especially challenging; Because of the small reservoir in their esophagus, infants vomit or regurgitate more than adults. Many infants are prone to this kind of vomiting on a regular basis as mild to moderate "spitting up", happening without distress from the mouth or nose. Because of this GERD and normal vomiting are easily confused. To compound this, indications of something wrong may be difficult to identify, especially as infants are too young to be able to explain.
Further symptoms can include belly pain, enlargement of the adenoids, chronic coughing, infections of the middle ear, asthma, anemia, spitting up of blood (known as hematemesis), a sibilant breathing sound, croup that repeats, arching of the spine and inflamed nose and /or sinus. When your infant falls victim to GERD, a number of further symptoms such as these appear. For instance, as GERD vomiting is inherently painful, babies who vomit too often will often cry or scream for hours on end or lie awake unable to sleep, a strong indication that they might be suffering from this.
Early diagnosis and treatment is justified, and they are prerequisites for your infant to return to safety and good health. An appointment with a gastroenterologist or an ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor is the best solution for an accurate diagnosis for your infant. The threat from ignoring acid reflux in infants is that it may evolve into further serious complications as well. An infant who comes to believe that feeding will be painful may stop breastfeeding and lose weight. Inherently serious conditions such as erosive esophagitis can also be the result of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
If the doctor's diagnosis is of GERD, then parents have to choose a treatment. There are three possibilities of remedies for an infant with gastroesophageal reflux disease: surgical; medicaments (over the counter or prescription); or a holistic remedy.
Surgical solutions are rarely implemented, because of the threat of serious complications exceeding those of acid reflux itself. A surgical procedure called Nissan Fundoplication is one option, the goal being to reduce looseness in the channel between the esophagus and stomach.
Prescription medicaments are also to be avoided for the following reasons: 1. Medications try to address the GERD symptoms (such as production of acid) but neglect root causes, such as lifestyle, dietary and internal triggers and factors. 2. For adults and therefore even more so for infants, medications have certain risks. Reglan and bethanechol for example have not been testing for babies as prescribed reflux medications. Cisapride with its severe secondary effect of heart arrythmia had to be removed from sales. Other common medications have even more serious secondary effects, including pneumonia and Tourette's syndrome 3. Any kind of medication can cause dependency, and infants are particularly at risk concerning their autoimmune system that is still growing with the baby.
Studies done recently show the benefit of all natural holistic treatments of GERD. For instance, studies done by Ravelli, Tobanelli and Volpi which appeared in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition in 2001, showed that formula based on cow's milk can result in delayed gastric emptying in infants with allergy to milk proteins. Studies by Rudolph, Mazur and Liptak also published in this journal indicated that changing from cow's milk formula to a formula based in casein hydrolysate could be better for infants who vomit. And also, for infants with GERD, breastfeeding turns out to have significant advantages compared to any formula for babies, because milk from the breast is better for the digestion and gives faster digestive transit.
Therefore, the holistic solution offered by holistic medicine, which adopts as a priority the protection of your baby from gastroesophageal reflux disease can be the best choice in the long term for safety and for effectiveness. The conclusions above as well as many others, reinforce conclusions that infant GERD is not just a local ailment (going further than just the esophagus), but in fact that it is the whole human body which is affected by elements that are concerned with the environment, diet and internal factors.
Were you aware that the best way to protect your infant from discomforting and painful symptoms of GERD is to choose a holistic approach in conjunction with comprehensive changes towards a natural lifestyle and diet?
About the Author:
Jeff Martin is a certified nutritionist and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, Heartburn No More . To Learn More About Jeff Martins Unique Holistic Acid Reflux Cure System Visit: Infant GERD
|
