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Home › Articles › Crying Issues › Infant GERD

Infant GERD

Signs, Symptoms and Treatments of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

By Teri Brown

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Treatment Options
"The primary treatment of GERD in infants consists of behavioral maneuvers," says Dr. Chitkara. "Upright posturing and thickening the feeds with rice cereal may decrease regurgitation. When symptoms of GERD occur, physicians will usually prescribe medications to block stomach acid, which decrease the pain associated with GERD. Occasionally physicians can use medications that increase the gastric emptying (intestinal prokinetics) and decrease the chance of regurgitation to occur. The benefits and risks for treatment should be assessed for each child and discussed with your doctor."

Victoria Latifses from Calabasas, Calif., had to go one step further when treating her sons, both of whom ended up having GERD. "I knew something was wrong after three days of bringing him home," says Latifses. "I noticed he would pull off the breast and cry a few seconds after he began [feeding]. Then he would arch his back and try to re-attack the nipple as if he were desperately hungry. We would replay this scenario for as long as necessary, but I never sensed he fed enough to be full."

It took several weeks for Latifses' baby to be diagnosed, and while she was relieved to finally have an answer, she was afraid of how serious the condition could be. "Our specialist was wonderful and gave me a lot of advice on positioning my son for feeding and sleep, which helped," says Latifses. "We mixed rice cereal into his breast milk and fed him upright from a bottle, which improved his ability to feed. We found he slept best in his car seat, which we placed in his crib. We continued trying different medicines, and I began seeking support from other parents and online groups."


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Re: Infant GERD by Grandma Michelle on 10/28/2008 11:13AM

This article really hit home for me and my daughter. My granddaughter had a similar episode at the age of 14 days. She stopped breathing and did the arching of the back, eyes in the back of her head, etc. We rushed her to the ER and then were transported to a NICU for several days. She too had all the test and the pH probe. She is home now and on Reglan and Pepcid and we are do to follow up with a GI specialist this week. These episodes are scary and we still went to the ER with one the other night. Thanks for the insight and information! It feels great to know that this will get better.

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