How To: Caring for Infant Reflux

If your newborn has or has had reflux, you know how hard it can be - for both baby and parent. Infant reflux is common, though, says Mark Corkins, MD, chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Le Bonheur Children's. And there are things you can do to help.

"The nervous system controls the valve between the stomach and the swallowing tube," Corkins said. However, the infant's immature nervous system forgets to tell it to stay closed, so every so often the valve just opens up, and up it comes. Studies have shown that the problem is not that the muscle is weak. In fact, it works just fine.

He offers these tips for relieving reflux:

• Avoid feeding more than the baby can handle. In other words, don't feed a baby every time he or she cries. Smaller, more frequent feeds will be less likely to cause spitting up.
• When there is food in their stomach, don't bounce them around. It is best if babies are upright 30 minutes or so after a feeding.
• Proper burping is crucial because air takes up space that is needed for the food, and when that valve opens up, you don't want extra pressure helping push things out.

"Spitting up is very much normal in an infant, but occasionally there are other causes. Then you should seek the advice of your primary care physician. Change formulas with a physician's guidance and allow adequate time after a change to assess if that is actually the problem," says Corkins.

He recommends a referral to a pediatric gastroenterology specialist if your child has worsening reflux, breathing problems or poor weight gain in conjunction with reflux.