Is There a Safe Option for Infant Reflux?
Today I want to tell you about something that is near and dear to my heart. That is the care of infants, particularly the care of infants who have reflux. Is there a safe option for reflux? You’ve seen babies who have reflux, also called infant GERD, hiatal hernia or esophageal insufficiency. The poor babies spit up a lot, they are in a lot of discomfort. They may be quite cranky and upset.
Now, one of the standard approaches to treat reflux is to give them medications. There’s a class of medication that’s being used more and more with infants. Actually, a study said that between 2000 and 2003, their use quadrupled! Imagine what today’s stats would show… That is very troublesome to me. That class of medication is called PPI, Proton-pump inhibitors. And it’s very troubling to me, because there are studies showing that these drugs have long-term side effects.
A new study came out in May of 2018 in the Journal of Pediatrics, looked at the records of 900 000 children. They found that the infants who had received that medication for treatment of reflux were much more likely to have bones break, fractured bones.
That is the first study that investigated the safety of this family of drugs in children. But there was a precedent. Another study came out last year, in 2017, that showed the same result in adults. Adults who are on Proton-pump inhibitors, like Nexium-Prilosec-Protinix-Omeprazole, for longer than a couple of weeks are more likely to suffer bone fractures. So the evidence is really solid that there are serious long-term side effects.
Let’s put this in contrast with what we do in this office, what chiropractors do, what Doctor Linda in particular does. What she does is utilize a very gentle, safe, expert approach that is non-invasive. The goal is to help the baby heal and resolve the problems, without the use of medication. It works, it is safe and it makes babies and families happy. I wrote about chiropractic’s track record of safety here.
If you know a baby or a family who has someone who has problems with reflux, regurgitation, throwing up, spitting up, have them come get examined. See if we are a potential solution. If we can help them in a safe conservative way before they have to resort to medications. If we can help, we’ll let you know. If we can’t, we’ll let you know too.
See you soon!
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Sources:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/1_MeetingAbstract/598.full