Articles
Tongue-tie, Acid Reflux
and your Baby
by Sister Rentia, Home Grown Babies, Mopani Pharmacy.
The journey through pregnancy might have been hard or even productive, as most moms-to-be will have scoured through every piece of baby-related information they could get their hands on. You might be perfectly well prepared with a list of your own mother’s tried and tested methods for everything from burping to treating a nappy rash – but what you may face now might be something you could not prepare for;
~ Your baby is refusing his feed or is not drinking enough to help him grow
This can be exhausting, trying your best by breast or bottle, to get your tiny baby to drink. The crying never stops. There is an outfit change six times a day. You have barely had time to wash your hair in days. You may even still be recovering from the birth, if you had a C-section.
Chances are, your baby may be suffering from a treatable condition, and you just need to figure out which one it is, and what symptoms to look for.
~ Tongue-tie / Lip-tie
Tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) or lip-tie (maxillary lip-tie), is a condition that is presented from birth.
With these conditions, an unusually short, thick or tight band of tissue will either tether the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth or tie the lip to the gum area too tightly. This restricts proper movement and may cause pain and difficulty latching to the breast or bottle. Inevitably, your baby might refuse feedings, lose weight and struggle with swallowing – ultimately swallowing a lot of air.
When your baby feeds, you may hear a clicking noise or see milk dripping down the sides of his mouth. Unfortunately, this condition is often misdiagnosed as acid reflux. If this condition is interfering with your baby’s feeding, a simple surgery to sever the ties may do the trick.
~ Acid Reflux
Acid reflux, also known as infant reflux, occurs when food pushes back up from your baby’s stomach, causing him to spit up.
This happens because the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES), or in layman’s terms, the “non return valve of the throat”, is not quite mature yet. They will usually outgrow this by the age of 18 months, but it is still at least a solid year of frustration.
Your baby may have a variety of symptoms including but not limited to: projectile vomiting, spitting up bile, refusing feeding or getting fussy after feeding. In more serious cases, your baby might have blood in his stool, develop a chronic cough and spit up blood.
There are causes that contribute to acid reflux – your baby’s stomach contents may be acidic enough to irritate the lining of the oesophagus, or the valve between the stomach and the small intestine is not allowing the stomach to empty fast enough.
Often, the reflux may be caused by an allergy, a blockage or simply something you may have eaten that could have affected your breastmilk. Once you have figured out the cause, there are some things you can do to try to soothe your baby’s reflux….
