Reflux is the spit-up reaction babies sometimes have after feeding. In this process, the milk comes back up from the stomach.
In most cases, spitting up does not hurt and usually goes away by the time your baby is one year old. However, reflux is annoying and may mean the baby is stressed somewhere else in the body. Which is expressed in this way. Needless to say, stress in young children is not a healthy situation. This is where a chiropractor can help.
What is reflux and can it hurt?
So reflux is the excessive giving back of food and, in most cases, can do no harm. However, it is important to keep an eye on whether the spitting is not accompanied by other things.
For example, if your baby is very restless or does not want to drink anymore, it is a good idea to contact the consultation center. It is also possible that your baby is not getting enough nutrition due to reflux, in which case it is also wise to have this looked at by a chiropractor, for example.
So in addition, reflux is sometimes a signal that your baby is stressed. This is an important signal that you cannot simply ignore.
What causes reflux?
There are several causes of reflux. Because milk is naturally liquid, it comes up easier than solid food that adults take in. Dit is dan ook one of the reasons babies spit up more than adults.
It may also have to do with babies lying on their backs a lot which then allows milk to flow more quickly from the stomach back to the mouth. In addition, a baby has a higher pressure in the belly than in the breast, this automatically pushes the milk up a bit.
There are also personal factors that can aggravate reflux. When a baby ingests too much milk at once or when too much air comes along with it, reflux can occur. This happens, for example, when the baby drinks voraciously. Reflux can also occur when the baby is too busy right after the feeding time.
But so stress elsewhere in the body can also cause reflux. Then the direct cause is harder to find, but this is where a chiropractor has more experience.
What can a chiropractor do?
So there are many different reasons why reflux occurs, and sometimes the cause is difficult to determine. As chiropractors, we take a holistic approach, which means we consider the body as a whole.
For example, your baby may also exhibit other symptoms such as restless sleeping, balling fists, or crying a lot, which at first do not seem to be directly related to reflux.
With this holistic view, we look for blockages in the nervous system in which nerves have become pinched. Such a blockage can manifest in a variety of ways and weakens the nerve’s communication, reducing the body’s ability to repair itself.
This can cause (muscle) tension, as well as reflux. For example, the muscles around the diaphragm are often excessively tense in babies with reflux symptoms.
Chiropractic care for babies
Chiropractic care for babies can seem exciting because the cracking does not sound pleasant. However, these techniques are used with infants and young children. For this, a chiropractor has other techniques at his disposal. These are completely safe and not stressful for the children.
These techniques are also aimed at correcting disruptions between nerves. This allows communication within the body to run smoothly again.
So with these techniques we create an environment in which the body can recover properly and as a result the symptoms that have arisen, such as reflux, will also decrease. In most cases, this recovery is quite rapid.
Schedule an appointment at TOPCHIRO!
At TOPCHIRO, we have extensive experience treating babies with reflux. If your baby suffers from this or if you have any questions about how such a treatment works, don’t hesitate to call!
We will gladly schedule an appointment and help you as soon as possible!