Nothing is of more concern to a parent than a sick baby. When we take our children to the doctor we want them to make our baby feel better – immediately if not sooner. Unfortunately, experts agree that it is this parental demand that is partially responsible for babies being prescribed medications they may not need.

"At times I think I am overmedicating my daughter," says Cindy Balog, a Quakertown, Pa., mother of one. "At her daycare, mothers keep a bottle of Motrin on hand to dispense every time a child is 'not acting herself.' We assume, once their basic needs have been taken care of, that they're teething or coming down with something and need pain relief. It's hard because babies can't speak for themselves to pinpoint the problem. And because my daughter is in daycare, she's sick more often than not, so I'm not sure it's wise to keep doling out the medication every time she isn't acting normal."

A study, conducted by Dr. Vikram Khoshoo, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the Pediatric Specialty Center at West Jefferson Medical Center in New Orleans, illustrates one way that infants are being over medicated. The study, which tested infants prescribed antireflux drugs, found that the majority did not meet the diagnostic criteria for gastroesophageal reflux disease. It is possible that four out of five of the infants didn't need the medications, and may have been experiencing a common digestive occurrence such as spitting up.

Dr. Khoshoo says spitting up (GER) is a normal occurrence for infants and usually resolves itself by the time the infants are 18 months old.

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