Probiotics as treatment of acid reflux in babies

While researching various reflux treatments including gripe water and other homeopathic products, we stumbled upon probiotics. These were not foreign to us, and my husband started thinking. Maybe probiotics were what was needed. After all, the faster he digested his food (breastmilk) the less likely there would be acid to come back up his esophogus. We checked with our pediatrician and she said that we might as well try - it couldn't harm him.

So we settled on Udo's Infant Probiotic. It cost us less than the Prevacid. After receiving it, we began to give him a 1/2 teaspoon three times a day in his breastmilk. Within a couple of days, we started seeing a decrease in how much he was spitting up. Within a couple weeks, he was sleeping in a crib! Until then he had been sleeping in his swing. I couldn't believe it. We maintained the regimine for about a month and then started tapering it off to twice a day. By six months, we were down to one time a day and many days we didn't give him any at all. Comparatively, the doctor thought that he would be on Prevacid for 6 months to a year. Yikes!

I do believe that my son did not have a severe case of reflux. I have talked to other moms that go through a really challenging first year trying to figure out the best treatment. While probiotics is not a mainstream treatment for acid reflux in infants, I'm hoping this website can at least give some parents another option that may help their child. I didn't think my baby was ever going to be happy. The probiotics worked for him - and I ended up having an extremely happy and smiling little boy. Who sleeps on his back.