Toby Gish sent me this tidbid from the newspaper today:

Q: My 4 month old son spits his food up regularly . I breastfeed him most the time, but he gets bottles of formula when I am at work.. His pediatrician says he 's healthy but has given him a special rice formula that he says will work to relieve the reflux.  How does this work? Will the condition go away as he grows older? 

P.M. Arad

Prof. Emanuel Levinthal, a pediatrician and expert in child nutrition at the Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem replies:

A: "There are many babies who spit up their food - not because of a disease, but because their development
is not ripe enough to control the sphincter between the stomach and the small intestine, so it backs up.
Reflux is more common in premature babies, but it also occurs frequently in full-term infants. It can happen in babies on formula or those who are breastfed and usually passes by itself between ages of six months and a year.
    There are various treatments. One can give formula that helps the stomach to empty out into the small intestine faster so it doesn't sit in the stomach and is not regurgitated.  Special rice formula makes the digested food thicker so it is less likely to rise into the esophagus.  There are drugs that open the pylorus valve and relax it so it allows the digested food to flow into the small intestine.
    Serious reflux - judged by volume and frequency - should be treated, because reflux may cause lung infections. In addition, food with stomach acid rises into the esophagus and may, in rare cases, change the cells in the food tube.
    We sometimes also give an anti-acid drug to reduce acidity. In adults, constant reflux can cause serious problems to the esophagus, but in infants it is rare."

Anybody ever hear about formula aiding the stomach emptying faster????????
Thanks from us Holy Landers.
Ellen Shein, IBCLC , Tel Aviv

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