Since Christian was born, he has always spat up after his feeds, sometimes more than others. During his 2 week check up appointment, I mentioned it to his pediatrician, but he said there was nothing to worry about and that it was completely normal. Although his pediatrician tried reassuring me that everything was okay, I knew that something was wrong (enters maternal instinct). After several more doctor and hospital visits, Christian was diagnosed with gastroesophogeal reflux.

For those of you who don’t know what gastroesophogeal reflux, better known as acid reflux in babies, it’s basically when a baby spits up consistently, especially after feeds, and this is due to an immature digestive track. Some cases of acid reflux are more severe than others, but fortunately most babies grow out of it. Some symptoms of acid reflux include: frequent vomiting, refusing to eat, persistent coughing, fussiness after a feeding, gas, or belly pain.

Christian’s reflux is a little more on the severe side, and when I tell you all that Christian goes through bibs, HE GOES THROUGH BIBS. He literally soaks his bibs because he spits up so much. Sometimes it looks like he spits up his entire feed, but multiple doctors and pediatricians have reassured my husband and I that it may look like he is spitting up everything he just obtained, but he isn’t (looks can be deceiving).  And the irony of it all is that he is still happy. Instead of being fussy, he actually smiles while he is spitting up.

These are some of the things I do to help soothe Christian:

• I start off by putting oatmeal cereal in EVERY bottle for Christian. This helps to weigh the milk down which prevents a lot of regurgitation. I prefer oatmeal cereal over rice cereal because based off of previous experience, Christian was very constipated when he would drink with the rice cereal.
• I always make sure that I have Christian sitting up while I feed him. I used to lay him down in my arms while feeding him, but I noticed he was spitting up a lot more. Although he still spits up after sitting him up, it is nowhere near as much as when I used to lay him down and feed him.
• You always have to burp your child after the feeding regardless if they have acid reflux or not, but since Christian has acid reflux,  I try to burp him every 1-2 ounces of milk he has taken. Now of course you won’t have to burp your baby for the rest of their infant life, but it is important to do it for the first six months at least.
• After Christian’s feeding, I make sure to sit him up for a minimum of 30 minutes. It’s the same for adults with heartburn: you have to let the food you intake digest, and if you lay down immediately after you eat, you will experience heartburn.
• Since the pediatrician was able to diagnose Christian, he was able to prescribe him the right medicine which made a HUGE difference in the amount he was spitting up.

Before diagnosing your baby yourself, make sure to set up an appointment with their pediatrician, and that way they can give you steps towards soothing your child a little more.