Can Children Get GERD?

Question: Can Children Get GERD?

Answer: Yes. Anyone can get GERD, even infants.

When to suspect your child has reflux:
  • Poor weight gain
  • Baby spits up frequently
  • Frequent hiccups
  • Baby shows discomfort eating (i.e. refusal to eat, stiffens up, arches back and back during or after feeding)
  • Baby may appear very hungry for bottle or breast, but after their first swallows may become very irritable and refuse to take it again.
  • Unexplained crying
  • Unexplained irritability
  • Persistant Cough
  • Horseness
  • Chronic nasal and sinus congestion (due to aspiration)
  • Frequent Choking episodes
  • Bad "sour" breath
  • Child complains of burning pain in the chest area
  • Complains that eating hurts
  • Sleep disturbance--frequent night waking
  • Nocturnal asthma symptoms (i.e. wheezing)