Baby acid reflux is a condition that doctors have not yet completely researched and that is often a little misunderstood as well. From recent statistics, one fifth or so of the eight million babies born each year in the US suffer from acid reflux, and babies with handicaps that are developmental or neurological are even more at risk from this condition.

In simple terms, acid reflux, also called GERD (gastro esophageal reflux disease) is a mechanical problem in the digestive system, which can be corrected. In a healthy person, there is a circular muscle acting as a valve at the junction of the stomach and the esophagus (called the lower esophageal sphincter) and stopping stomach acids from flowing back up the esophagus. Acid reflux happens when that sphincter cannot retain the acids in the stomach. These then move into the throat sometimes as far as the larynx. Numerous symptoms can result from acid reflux leading to complications like infections, pain, ulcers, difficulties in eating, vocal disorders and even cancer in the long run.

For the first 3 to 4 months of a baby's life, frequent vomiting happens in 50% of all cases, peaking at 4 months. In addition, reflux condition is easy to confuse with usual vomiting in babies. Vomiting is both painful and distressing when caused by acid reflux. Baby acid reflux can be particularly challenging to diagnose and treat. Because Babies cannot speak about their feelings, it is difficult to determine if they are suffering from a medical problem.

To correctly diagnose infant acid reflux, it is necessary to identify several further symptoms of acid reflux. Besides sporadic vomiting, these infant acid reflux symptoms include: infections of the middle ear, enlargement of the adenoids, pains in the abdomen, anemia, asthma, crying non-stop, awakening at night without reason, vomiting of blood (hematemesis), continual coughing, a high-pitched sound when breathing, repeated croup, resistance to feeding and inflammation of the nose and the sinus. The best solution for correct diagnosis of infant acid reflux is to have a specialist diagnosis performed by an ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor or a gastroenterologist.

Possibilities for remedies to gastro esophageal reflux disease can be: medicaments, surgery and holistic programs. However, even for adult acid reflux patients, surgery is rarely an option in normal situations. For baby acid reflux, neither medicaments not surgery are optimal answers. Medicaments may be sub-optimal in particular for Babies for any of the three reasons below:

1. Medicaments for GERD treat merely the symptoms but do not fix the deeper cause of the condition.

2. Medicaments can impact a baby's immune system, leading to weakness and vulnerability in immunity, possibly also leading to different health complications other than GERD as well as the worsening of acid reflux.

3. Medicaments for acid reflux can interfere with an infant's immune system, meaning a weakened and vulnerable immunity, possibly leading to different health complications other than acid reflux as well as the aggravation of acid reflux.

The best solution to baby acid reflux is a holistic one while focusing on a global set of changes in lifestyle and diet. Strong support is given to this concept by recent research. One such research for example demonstrated that moving to soy-based formula from cow's milk based formula gave a 40% recovery rate in infants. Other research showed acid reflux symptoms being aggravated when infants received juice products. Modifying feeding and sleeping position was also seen to be of benefit in treating infant acid reflux.