Acid reflux in infant is actually a common problem. This article will talk about the basic things you need to know about acid reflux in babies. Get to know just how many babies are affected by acid reflux, why they get it, and how the condition progresses if left untreated.

What Are The Statistics?

In babies with acid reflux, studies show that 50 percent of all infants have acid reflux during the first 2 to 3 months of life. Most of the time, infants experience the condition after feeding. In other cases however, an infant may experience reflux while crying, straining, or coughing.

Generally, infants with acid reflux are not necessarily irritated or unhappy. In fact, many infants who have acid reflux are healthy and happy. Almost all infants will no longer have acid reflux after 12 to 18 months. However, there are a few who may continue to show signs and symptoms of acid reflux after 18 months and so may require medical attention.

Why Do Infants Get Acid Reflux?

The condition is often a natural occurrence. Our body will sometimes produce more acid in the stomach than needed, and this can be caused by several reasons. For instance, when we eat considerably more than usual in one sitting, our body will try to process the large amount of food we just consumed by secreting more acid. Acid may therefore build up in the stomach and cause us to regurgitate. Since babies tend to be lying down most of the time or fall asleep after feeding, some acid may end up in the esophagus.

What Happens If The Condition Isn’t Treated?

The similarity between acid reflux in infant and in an adult is that, in both cases, the condition can worsen if left untreated. Acid reflux can continue to progress especially in infants that experience reflux after 18 months. Constant spitting and coughing often characterize common symptoms of infant acid reflux. Sometimes, your baby may also vomit, feed poorly and become irritated.

Left untreated, accumulation of acid in the stomach may become so bad that he or she will start to develop more serious complications. Since acid reflux involves the acid and enzymes in the stomach and travels up to the esophagus, the areas around those parts of the body can also be negatively affected.

For instance, your baby may start having breathing problems because acid can travel to the esophagus and affect the areas around it such as the breast area. Furthermore, your baby may have a bloody stool and experience blood loss due to poor digestive function. A lot of pain can be caused from infant acid reflux, and your baby may continuously show signs of irritability and develop poorly (mainly because of poor feeding).

If you are panicking as to why your baby keeps spitting up or unable to feed a lot of the time, you’re not alone. Many new parents actually experience this during the first few months of caring for their child. Now that you’re more familiar with acid reflux in infant, observe if your baby is experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned earlier and have him or her diagnosed by a doctor.

Omigosh. My baby is crying and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. Why can’t you talk to me? Well, maybe its because babies don’t talk. Wrong. Babies talk all the time. They just don’t use the English language.

Don’t tell me that when your baby’s eyes are bulging out and she’s turning blue in the face from screaming so hard she can’t even catch her breath that she isn’t trying to tell you something! You’ve been there, Mom. All those baby tears are frustration (hers, not yours) directed your way, and you just don’t get it!

Ah. What we have here is a basic failure to communicate. Two entirely different languages are being spoken here, and you don’t happen to have a U.N. interpreter. You speak English and your baby speaks Bbbfflltt!

What if you both spoke the same language? Here’s a novel idea: Why don’t you teach your baby sign language?

Wow. I thought you were going somewhere with this advice. Okay. I’ll teach my baby sign language. I’ll just squeeze it in between her organic chemistry class and her Vaganova ballet class. Hey, that was a great suggestion. Have a wonderful day.

Hold on there, mom of the year. Wendy Jensen says — Yes! Yes you can teach your baby sign language! She knows because she’s done it (well, she taught her babies, not yours). And she’s taught other parents (successfully, by the way) to teach their babies, too.

You are, naturally, skeptical at this point. But Wendy did it. And so have thousands of other moms out there. And these moms didn’t all go to Yale (or even South Eastern Missouri State). Tell you the truth, these moms, on the whole, are a pretty average bunch. Good people, but not necessarily on a par with Madame Curie or Susan Sontag. In fact, probably not as bright as you! After all, you are reading this article!

And that’s not all. There are many other benefits when you teach your baby sign language.

Imagine being able to talk to your baby, who will no longer have to scream her little head off to tell you, her mother, that her toe hurts because she bit it with her new tooth when she jammed her foot in her mouth! She can just give you a sign.

And hold on there, mama, there are side benefits, too. Long lasting ones.

Sign language helps kids develop better language skills. It’s true. Even kids that have no hearing problem. Why, you ask. Because they communicate better. Turns out they are more interested in what goes on around them. Now who would have thought? But this is true.

Here’s a few reasons why it probably works this way:

Kids are mimics. They want to shave like daddy or wear high heels like mommy (hopefully gender appropriate). Sign language starts them mimicking their parents at an earlier age. Hence they do adult things at a younger age than other kids.

You see, to mimic someone, you first have to study that person. For instance, you can’t dance like Vanessa Hudgens (she’s one of the kids in “High School Musical” — I had to look it up) without first studying how Vanessa Hudgens dances. OK. That makes sense. You also have to study the signer to learn to sign. This develops attention skills. And kids keep focused because they love it! Their little mushy brains are working full speed and its exciting to them.

Your kid will think signing is a form of action game. They love it!

How does your little bundle of joy see all of this? Every kid loves to say: “Mom! Lookamee!” Because they crave parental attention. When she is being taught sign language she is the center of attention. And there’s no “hush now” or “back into the playpen with you.” Note: Kids hate being hushed, and they really hate being dumped into the playpen.

Now, are we saying if you teach your baby sign language she is guaranteed a full blown scholastic scholarship to an Ivy League school? Sure why not. Or at least she will have a jump start on everyone else. Kids that learn that learning is fun, well, now, they are set for life. So when you teach your baby sign language, it’s like the sage old advice: Give a baby a fish and she eats today. Teach a babyto fish and you feed her for a lifetime. Well, kinda like that. The point being, the benefits to your little angel are not just for right now. She will benefit for her whole life.