REFLUX:
the ten most common signs
MOST BaBIeS WILL exPerIence reFLux aT SOMe POInT. aLThOugh The cOnDITIOn IS Very cOMMOn anD uSuaLLy geTS BeTTer On ITS OWn, IT can cauSe exTreMe DIScOMFOrT anD PaIn FOr a BaBy anD DISTreSS FOr a ParenT…
a
s a pharmacist, you’re more than likely to be used to young mums – particularly first-time mums - coming into the pharmacy distressed because their baby is experiencing pain in its tummy. In most cases the pain is caused by reflux and it’s estimated that more than half of all infants will experience reflux to some degree.
Baby reflux is the regurgitation of the stomach’s contents and painful acids due to an immature muscle, which connects baby’s stomach and his esophagus, or to a reaction to something in his diet.
The esophagus is the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach. at the bottom of this tube – at the point where it joins the stomach –
20 - ScOTTISh PharMacIST
there is a ring of muscle, which in most cases opens when a baby swallows. This ring is called the lower esophageal sphincter or LeS. When the LeS doesn’t close completely, the contents of baby’s stomach and his digestive juices can come back up into the esophagus, causing pain. It’s thought that infants are more prone to reflux because their LeS may be weak or underdeveloped.
The condition tends to appear shortly after birth, usually peaks around four months of age, diminishes at about six months and, in most cases, will have disappeared completely by the age of one.
reflux is more common among babies who are born prematurely and babies with low birth weight. It also tends to be more common in babies
or children with some impairment of their muscles and nerves, such as cerebral palsy, or those who experience intolerance to cows' milk protein or other allergies.
Silent reflux
Sometimes babies don’t spit out what comes back up, but swallow it instead. This is known as ‘silent reflux’. Babies with silent reflux might gain weight normally but show some of the same symptoms as reflux. Silent reflux is very similar to ordinary infant reflux but means that the baby doesn’t actually cough or spit the food up because he has been able to swallow the stomach contents. and that’s where the problems start! a baby’s stomach contents are acidic, and so they burn on the way up and back down, causing the baby double
the distress and discomfort. unfortunately, since baby doesn’t spit up, this type of reflux is more difficult to diagnose.
Diagnosis
Silent reflux is notoriously difficult to diagnose and is often mistaken for colic. If you suspect that a patient’s baby may be suffering from silent reflux, you must advise them to have the condition diagnosed by their gP or midwife. That’s because it’s important to try and have the condition diagnosed as early as possible since silent reflux can lead to complications. The almost constant presence of stomach acid in a baby’s esophagus can lead, for example, to redness and irritation and, if left untreated, can also result in a bleeding esophagus.
>
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
