Changing your baby on their side to avoid any discomfort caused by lifting their legs up towards their stomach.Keeping your baby upright for a bit after feeding.Keeping your baby’s head higher than their bottom during feeds.Giving your baby shorter but more frequent feeds.Gently burping your baby regularly throughout feeding.If you're bottle feeding, you could try to have a responsive/paced feeding approach. Make sure your baby takes breaks during a feed.Continue to breastfeed, if possible, because breastmilk is easier to digest.If you talk to your midwife or health visitor about it, they might suggest the following: You can help ease your baby’s reflux by making small changes to the way you feed them. This is known as ‘silent reflux’ and treatment is similar to that given for GORD (Today’s Parent, 2018 NHS start4life, 2019). In severe cases babies may have symptoms similar to GORD. Even though there isn’t any spitting up, they may show other symptoms similar to reflux, such as crying or being unsettled after feeds, or having a cough or hoarse voice. Sometimes babies don’t spit out what comes back up but swallow it instead. (NHS, 2019 NICE, 2019 Raising Children, 2019) Silent reflux in babies Green or yellow vomit (may be bile), or blood in vomit.Frequent projectile vomiting (forceful vomiting that lands some distance away).Spitting up feeds frequently or refusing feeds.But if vomiting becomes more forceful, starts after six months of age, continues beyond a year or if your baby has any of the problems mentioned below, it's best to contact your midwife, health visitor or GP: When should you seek medical advice?īaby reflux isn’t usually a cause for concern if your baby is happy and is gaining weight. It’s also common in babies or children with some impairment of their muscles and nerves, such as cerebral palsy, or those with a cow’s milk allergy (Patient, 2018). Reflux is more common among babies who were born prematurely and babies who had a low birth weight. (La Leche League GB, 2019 NHS, 2019 Raising Children, 2019) Are some babies more likely to get reflux? Signs of pain or discomfort when feeding.Choking/gagging or coughing during a feed, or seeming to have a sore throat.Crying for long periods and becoming irritable during and after feeds their crying may sound hoarse.Pain or discomfort in your baby's chest or abdomen.
A baby arching their back and turning their head.Being mildly unsettled, crying or needing to burp after feeds.Spitting up milk during or after feeds several times a day, which may upset them.
Symptoms of a baby having reflux that does not need medication are: So it’s good to remember that while there are some recognisable signs of baby reflux, this isn’t necessarily a disease that needs to be medicated. Many of the common signs of baby reflux can also be signs that a baby is distressed for any number of reasons for example, they’re hungry, need a cuddle or they’re cold. Is reflux ever a problem?īaby reflux is different from gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), which is defined as reflux with 'troublesome symptoms or complications' (NICE, 2019). That’s because over a baby’s first 12 months, their digestive system naturally develops and they spend more time upright as they start to sit up (Tighe et al, 2014 NHS, 2019 NICE, 2019). Almost nine out of every ten babies affected are better by the time they're 12 months old (Kwok, 2018 NHS, 2019 NICE, 2019). Some symptoms of cow’s milk protein allergy can be similar to reflux symptoms, especially in babies who have eczema or asthma, or a family history of eczema or asthma (NICE, 2019).Ībout half of all newborn babies get reflux and it isn’t usually cause for concern (Kwok, 2018 NICE, 2019). This means food or milk can travel back up the food pipe (NHS, 2019). Reflux can occur because the ring of muscle between the oesophagus (food pipe) and stomach is not fully developed. Posseting is common in babies under six months old for completely normal physiological reasons and doesn’t need medication. Posseting is when babies bring up a small amount of milk (usually a teaspoonful) without seeming to mind (NHS start4life, 2019).
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