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A Fact Worth Knowing
You can expect a baby to lose weight within 24 hours after being born. They will most likely lose 2 - 3 ounces as thier skin starts to dry out and they pass their first stool. This is perfectly acceptable and natural as nature gives time for mother's milk to come in.

Once a newborn gets on established on regular feedings, a daily weight gain of 1/2 - 1 ounce is typical. Since the brain grows 180% by weight in the first year, this huge need for energy drives the appetite of a small baby way up. As a result, babies usually double their birth weight by five months of age and triple their birth weight by 12 months of age.

A Quote Worth Reading
“We do children an enormous disservice when we assume that they cannot appreciate anything beyond drive through fare and nutritionally marginal, kid-targeted convenience foods. Our children are capable of consuming something that grew in a garden or on a tree and never saw a deep fryer. They are capable of making it through diner at a sit-down restaurant with tablecloths and no climbing equipment. Children deserve quality nourishment.”
~ Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty

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Your baby May Have Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER)

Author: Melissa Lahti

August 29, 2013

Is your baby cranky, spitting up, or irritable? They may have Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER)
Poor baby, she’s been spitting up constantly. Enough that you have to keep a bib on her just to keep her clothes dry. She wakes up screaming and crying in the middle of the night way too often and seems to be in pain. She doesn’t like to eat much and she’s cranky a lot of the time. We know something’s wrong but what could it be? I don’t think we ever actually have all the answers. Luckily babies outgrow most things by the age of two but for now we have to look at the signs and symptoms and try to guess what could be the best possible solution to “fix” this baby.

More than half of all babies have a disease we call Gastroesophageal Reflux, or GER for short, during their first three months of life. There is a ring of muscles at the base of the esophagus called the lower esophageal sphincter, or LES. The esophagus is the tube that connects your mouth to your stomach. The LES opens and closes to allow the food to go into the stomach and to stop it from coming back up. Sometimes this muscle is weak and it allows food mixed with the acids of the stomach to spill back into the esophagus, causing the baby to spit up or vomit. The acids from the stomach burn the back of the throat causing pain for the baby. There are a small number of babies that have symptoms severe enough that you would need to contact a doctor.

Common signs and symptoms of GER include: spitting up more than normal, vomiting, coughing, irritability, poor feeding, and bad breath. Complications can arise from the GER and develop into GERD if the baby starts having problems gaining weight, respiratory problems, esophagitis, or spitting up or vomiting blood (The blood is caused from the esophagus bleeding when it gets burned by the stomach acid). GERD is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and is a little more complicated since GER will normally go away on its own by the time the child is about 18 months. If your baby starts showing signs and symptoms similar to GERD, you should probably take them to the doctor.   
Most babies do not need to see a doctor for GER as the symptoms can usually be managed by a few simple changes in feeding habits.

• Try feeding smaller more frequent meals, to avoid overfilling the stomach and preventing the food from coming back up.
• Keep the baby in an upright position before and after feeding, this will also help to keep the food in the stomach. 
• Stop in the middle of the feeding to burp the baby. 

Sometimes GER can be a sign of an allergy to the protein in milk. If you suspect this, you can try eliminating dairy completely from the baby’s diet for two weeks and see if all the symptoms go away.  To read more about this see my article: How I found out about my baby’s milk protein allergy.

The first two years are hard with all the ailments and problems that will arise with a baby.  When in doubt, always contact your doctor. Good luck and happy health to you all!

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