Infant reflux, sometimes called gastroesophageal reflux (GER), occurs when food moves back up from a baby's stomach when a baby spits up. Reflux occurs in a healthy infant several times a day. It becomes less common as a baby gets older and usually stops at the age of 18 months old.
A muscle named as the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) acts as a valve between the esophagus and stomach. When a person swallows, this muscle relaxes to let food pass from the esophagus to the stomach. This muscle normally stays tightly closed, so the stomach contents do not flow back into the esophagus. In infants, LES is not yet fully mature, which allows stomach contents to flow back up.
The factors contributing to infant reflux are common in babies and often can't be avoided. These factors include: lying flat most of the time, consuming an almost completely liquid diet and being born prematurely.
From Traditional Chinese Medical perspective, the Stomach Qi ensures the food to go down from the esophagus to the stomach. As all organs of infants are tender and immature, the Stomach Qi is not that strong and the reflux happens.
One day I got a call from a new mom. Her five weeks old son had been unable to rest well and easily fussy because of the reflux. The mom said she had read an article saying acupuncture can help the reflux. Because he was so young, I recommended to try massage instead. She brought him to my office. I asked the mom to lie the baby down with his face up, and rubbed his stomach gently. A few minutes later, I massaged his back, squeezing, lifting up gently and then releasing the muscles along the spine, starting from the low back to his upper back while his face down. More few minutes later, I pressed the acupuncture points in the legs below the knees for another five minutes while he was facing up again. While doing this, I taught the mom how to do massage and suggested she do this at home, at least once day. The next day she called me and said excitedly that her son spat less and rested better. He had another two sessions with me and the mom was very satisfied with the results and said she would continue to do massage on her own.
Doing massage in the abdomen and back, pressing the acupuncture points in the legs below the knees can strengthen the infants’ digestive system and improve their immune system.