Gastroesophageal reflux in infants is a common and common condition occurring in more than 50%. Signs of gastric reflux in infants cause the child to spit up or vomit food from the stomach back up into the esophagus. What are the causes of gastric reflux in infants? What treatment methods can be used to intervene promptly to prevent complications?
Learn about symptoms of gastric reflux in infants
Gastroesophageal reflux in infants is quite common but not dangerous. But this condition can completely lead to complications or signs of other diseases. Therefore, when a child shows signs of gastroesophageal reflux, it is necessary to know how to handle it and the best care.
Signs of gastroesophageal reflux in infants are when food flows back from the stomach into the esophagus, causing the child to have symptoms of vomiting after eating. However, parents do not need to worry too much, because children can still gain weight and develop normally.
The main cause of this condition is that the stomach is pushed up to stimulate the child’s esophagus in the throat. This is a common symptom in most newborns, not a sign of a disease such as food allergy, gastrointestinal blockage, etc. This phenomenon does not only occur for a short time, occurs rarely, and is not dangerous to the baby’s health.
Signs of gastroesophageal reflux in infants
Children with gastroesophageal reflux in newborns have the following signs:
- Children vomit or vomit milk mainly through the mouth or nose;
- Children often tend to lose their appetite, cry, and do not sleep well at night;
- Heartburn or sternum pain in older children;
- Slow weight gain or worse, malnutrition or prolonged anemia;
- When there are respiratory complications, there will be signs of wheezing, or signs of the child turning blue. At this time, the child needs to be hospitalized because it can cause respiratory arrest and be dangerous if not detected promptly.
Causes of gastric reflux in infants
So, the cause of gastric reflux may be due to the digestive system In addition, some objective reasons when a child lies down immediately after eating are also warning signs of gastrointestinal diseases, specifically:
The child’s digestive system is not fully developed. The gullet plays a role in keeping food in the stomach. Furthermore, this muscular ring always closes tightly except when we swallow food.
However, the immature digestive system of children is one of the common causes of gastric reflux, most commonly when children are born prematurely or have physical conditions. weak.
Lying babies after eating
Letting babies lie down after eating is also the cause of babies having reflux, especially on their backs after eating reflux.
In addition, babies’ diet is mainly milk, or liquid food. This causes babies to reflux if they drink too much.
Suffering from gastrointestinal diseases
Parents need to pay attention when their babies reflux too much if the condition persists. If the baby does not gain weight, is lazy to drink milk, etc. This can be a sign of dangerous diseases such as allergic esophagitis, pyloric stenosis, or food intolerance.
Is gastric reflux in infants dangerous?
Caring for children with gastric reflux is very important. If parents do not take care of it properly can lead to many dangerous complications such as:
- Digestive complications: When children have esophagitis, there will be different levels, this will affect eating activities, the most severe of which is Barrett’s esophagus, which can lead to cancer letter.
- Respiration is affected: Children have cough,Wheezing lasts a long time. Furthermore, applying conventional treatment methods does not help children overcome these symptoms. Children are likely to have hoarseness or asthma.
- Diseases related to the ear, nose and throat such as sinusitis, ear infections, tooth erosion,…
- Children tend to have slow development such as slow weight gain and malnutrition. In the long term, it can affect the child’s behavioral development.
How to treat reflux What is the stomach like in newborns?
Excluding signs of digestive diseases, the remaining cause of gastric reflux in newborns may stem from improper care. Parents should apply the following measures to limit this situation:
- Do not put your baby down right after he has finished eating, hold him in a standing position for about 30 minutes and gently pat his back to stimulate burping. Thanks to that, it speeds up the digestive process.
- For children drinking bottled milk, parents should choose a bottle nipple that fits the child’s mouth. Avoid choosing nipples that are too large in size and avoid fast, strong milk flow.
- Divide your child’s milk ration into meals throughout the day by increasing the number of times your child drinks milk,
- Help children perform some simple exercises such as moving their arms and legs, massaging their abdomen for better digestion. But you need to be careful not to practice right away when feeding your child.
If the child’s symptoms of gastric reflux do not improve, parents need to take the child to the doctor as soon as possible. Ask doctors to provide an accurate diagnosis of symptoms and medical history to provide appropriate treatment.
For more serious cases such as children with frequent abdominal pain and discomfort. You can ask your doctor to perform some tests.
Through the above information, we hope to help mothers and fathers find signs of gastric reflux in infants as well as the cause of regurgitation in children. Thanks to the support of experts, we will give advice and guide parents on appropriate care to limit reflux. For tea expressiono gastroesophageal reflux in infants due to illness, doctors will provide a suitable treatment regimen to help completely treat the reflux condition and develop healthily and comprehensively.
Kim Dung
