What is the difference between common gastroesophageal reflux and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)?
It is not uncommon for normal infants to fuss or cry intermittently for an average of two hours daily. Some normal infants even experience painless vomiting, appear health and experience normal weight gain earning them the common moniker happy spitters. Recurrent spitting up and/or vomiting, known as gastroesophageal reflux, is a common symptom in infants. It occurs in as many as 50 percent of newborns, up to 67 percent of 4-month-old infants, and 5 percent of 10-to-12 month-old infants. Gastroesophageal reflux is generally considered to be a benign condition but a proportion of these children can have complications that are significant enough to be referred to as a disease that qualifies as GERD. It is not uncommon for parents to either not recognize, or simply discount classic symptoms of GERD (recurrent vomiting combined with irritability, disturbed sleep, etc.) and as a result, the childs physician is not notified of symptoms that should be addressed.
