Raechel and Lizzie’s story

One of our admin members, and RISA librarian, Raechel McLucas, shares her reflux journey. My name is Raechel. I’m now a mum of 3 primary school aged children, work 2 days a week as a research officer at Autism Queensland, and I’ve just started a research Masters...

Baby won’t eat – is reflux the cause?

Pain associated with untreated acid reflux can cause babies to display long periods of inconsolable crying, wakefulness leading to sleep deprivation, and distressed and avoidant feeding behaviour resulting in poor growth.

Reflux and Sleep

This article should probably be titled ‘Reflux and Lack of Sleep’, as many refluxers experience both day and night time sleeping problems. Indeed lack of sleep is one of the main causes of distress for parents of refluxers and can put immense strain on your relationship with your child, partner, family and friends. It is helpful to start by clarifying what is ‘normal’ sleep behaviour and I use that term quite loosely, as every child is very different.

Eustachian Tube Irritation

I have spent much of my working life seeing children only in General Practice. For about 10 + years I have been especially interested in the relationship between distress in early infancy and ear problems. For some years I have been talking of the condition I call Eustachian tube Irritation [ETI], which I believe is a common cause of infant distress and is an early manifestation of ear problems in some infants. I have now seen 500 + infants presenting with distress who I believe have this condition.

Jody, Dylan and Cate’s story

Cate was born when Dylan was just 15 months old. Cate screamed and screamed. She comfort fed so much (in between the screaming and not sleeping) and was so on/ off my breasts that they used to bleed all over her face while I was trying to feed her. I thought I had an attachment problem so hired a lactation consultant who tried so hard to help me, and when in sheer frustration (and with people telling me it was my milk and to bottle feed) I weaned her at 4 weeks.

Common Characteristics of Reflux

Parents describe some of the behaviours and characteristics that may be displayed by babies and children who have gastro-oesophageal reflux. Keep in mind that all children are different and the listed characteristics may not be indicative of your child’s condition.