Acid Reflux in Infants Can Be Difficult to Diagnose, New Guidelines Help the Health Issue

A new set of recommendations have been created by the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology for pediatricians to follow when it comes to diagnosing and treating acid reflux disease.

Diagnosing gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can also be complicated when it comes to infants as even in healthy infants and children, bringing up partially digested food from the stomach can be normal. However, this should resolve in most children spontaneously by 1.

New guidelines stress the importance of distinguishing between "GER" and "GERD," and they explain what the difference is, how to diagnose it and how to treat it, according to Dr. Skylar Kalady, a pediatrician at the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital.

GERD occurs in more than two-thirds of otherwise healthy patients.

However, some infants simply have GER - which means they don't have the disease component.

GERD is associated with complications, such as poor weight gain, pneumonias, extreme irritability and vomiting to name a few, Kalady said.

The guidelines stipulate that medications should only be used in treating GERD. If doctors can distinguish between the two, parents and children can avoid unnecessary costs and treatments.

Children who suffer from GER can benefit from lifestyle changes, like changing positions while feeding.

And surgery should be reserved for those who are at risk for life-threatening complications.

Kalady said the new guidelines are helpful.

"If they're having GER, then we can reassure the families and probably those patients really need some changes in their behavior and feeding patterns," Kalady said, "but likely do not need medications, whereas those with GERD - with the disease component - they likely would benefit from the behavior modifications, feeding changes, as well as potential medical drug therapy."

The new recommendations are outlined in the online journal of Pediatrics.