GERD, how do you know if your baby has it. what are the symptoms?

3 Comments

1. Susan says:

   December 23, 2009 at 5:49 am

   The usual symptoms are spitting up after feeds, not gaining weight, and some crying. The spitting up can be projectile or just a lot, but it happensfrequently. One thing to try it to put the baby sort of upright, in the car seat for instance, after feeds for about 1/2 hour. The other way to diagnose it is a probe that the doctor places, and measures how many reflux episodes the baby has.
   The good news is that the baby can grow out of this…. good luck!
2. Donna says:

   December 23, 2009 at 5:49 am

   You didn’t say how old the baby is, and that may make a difference. It may not be GERD, but lactose intolerance. Many babies, even if there is little to no family history may have intolerance or allergy to regular formula. If the baby vomits or spits up much more than most babies his/her age, if there is frequent diarrhea, colicky-type symptoms, if baby only seems to have these symptoms after a bottle of formula, but not water, then suspect lactose intolerance instead. Now, many of the GERD symptoms are the same/similar as lactose intolerance. I had babies with both. My son didn’t have projectile vomiting, but the formula more just rolled out of his mouth and all down the front of his clothes; he rarely kept it down. He lost weight with the GERD. He had surgery at age 4 months, with no complications. Either way, please take your baby to his/her health care provider asap. The health care provider may order tests, try the baby on a milk free formula (such as soy based), refer baby to a GI specialist, or any combination of the above. Good luck!