What Is Acid Reflux And How Does It Get Manifested In Infants, Children and Adults?
In general terms, acid reflux is a condition that allows the gastric juices and semi digested food from your stomach travel back into your esophagus (food pipe) and cause you acute discomfort and often serious pain that would require hospitalization. Though this is a very common affliction that affects one in every eight Americans, many people still do not know how they could fight it. Be aware though that reflux is a condition that differs in symptoms across age and gender.
What Is Acid Reflux In Babies?
Let us start at the beginning. What is acid reflux in small babies? New mothers-to-be are carefully instructed to feed their baby while keeping it in a slightly reclining position so the milk would not roll up into its nose and choke him or her. You would have seen many times situations when the baby had almost finished the milk bottle when out of blue vomits everything and you would have to start from the scratch with the feeding. This is because while sucking milk they swallow air which causes reflux and vomiting.
When feeding babies you are also advised to "burp the baby". This is another way to combat the reflux condition in babies which would inevitably occur every time they were fed.
What Is Acid Reflux In Children?
When a child suffers from this condition he or she would look like he or she is permanently complaining to you about the sour taste in his or her mouth. The sour taste would usually be the direct result of reflux that ends with a little acid reaching the mouth - depending of how bad the condition is. Neglecting this condition by ignoring the symptoms the child complains to you about would aggravate this condition further and in rare cases even serious complications.
What Is Acid Reflux In Adults?
In adults this condition is the result of the weakening of the LES or lower esophageal sphincter which would then allow the food come back into the esophagus (or food pipe) gastric acid and all creating a terrible burning sensation and pain in the middle part of your chest. This condition is further aggravated when lying down as the lack of gravitational pull further encourages the condition.
Understanding What Is Acid Reflux And Finding Remedies For It
As you can see the reflux manifests itself differently at different age though it is actually the same condition. As expected, you need to use different methods to cure the problem as well. This condition needs very little medical intervention for infants and children as position therapy and regulated diet would be enough to eliminate it; in adults however, it would require specific drugs and antacids to get it under control.
