6 Natural Remedies for Infant Reflux

My little one suffered terribly from reflux (and still occasionally has intense bouts of it). We tried just about everything that we could think of to help her when we were going through the worst of it, from pharmaceuticals recommended by our pediatrician to herbal remedies recommended by our Naturopathic Physician. I found that the natural remedies for infant reflux worked the best, and of those, I’m going to share the 6 methods that had the biggest impact on providing our baby with some relief so that she could eat and sleep better.

Infant reflux can cause a myriad of symptoms and none of them are pleasant or easy to cope with. To recap from an earlier post, here are some of the signs that your little one may be struggling with infant reflux:

Excessive spitting up or vomiting
Frequently has hiccups and / or wet burps
Persistent cough or wheezing
Touches or grabs at throat frequently
Unable to tolerate sitting in a car seat
Unable to fall asleep or stay asleep for more than a short time
Unusually irritable during or after feedings
Clingy or “high needs”
Refuses the bottle or the breast
Failure to Thrive, or failure to gain weight

That is not an exhaustive list, believe it or not. If you’re not familiar with infant reflux, you can read more about the symptoms here. If you suspect that your sweet little one has reflux, you are probably wondering how to help them. Let’s dig into the natural remedies for infant reflux that I think are the most reliable.

(1) Change in Diet

We didn’t know it in the beginning, but our daughter’s reflux was the symptom of a bigger problem: MFPI / FPIES. We treated the symptoms of reflux in a bunch of different ways, but the only thing that *cured* the reflux was to treat the cause. I performed a Total Elimination Diet for both myself and my baby (I was still breastfeeding at the time and the baby had started solids) and the reflux stopped. My baby was able to eat again and even started to sleep (!) – a little. She still experiences a resurgence of reflux whenever we fail a food trial, so I still rely on a lot of these natural remedies for infant reflux in our day-to-day routine.

(2) Change in Feeding Methods

There are a few small adjustments that you can make to the way that you feed your baby that may help to make them more comfortable when experiencing reflux. You can try feeding your baby smaller amounts of food more frequently. This will help to prevent their little tummies from getting so full which in turn prevents the contents of the stomach from flowing back up the way it came. You can also stop your feedings every 10 minutes for a good burping. Relieving gas during a feeding will help to prevent air from building up and causing pain after the feeding. You can also keep your baby upright while feeding, which I discuss in more detail below.

(3) DGL Powder (deglycyrrhized licorice root)

This is one of our most reliable natural remedies for infant reflux. Our Naturopathic Physician recommended that we try using DGL Powder (deglycyrrhized licorice root) to help soothe the esophagus and relieve some of the burning sensation (kind of like a natural Tums but with no side-effects). At first I was a little skeptical that it would do much of anything, but it has been massively helpful and it lasts forever (read: it’s an inexpensive option). We’ve had the same canister for over a year and we continue to use it pretty frequently (teething can make reflux worse!).

(4) Baby Wearing

My little one was attached to me 24/7 for the entire first year. She was in so much pain from the reflux and gas (not to mention other MFPI / FPIES symptoms) that it was the only thing that could really soothe her. We tried a few different baby carriers, but the one my baby liked the best was the Moby Wrap, so that’s what we stuck with. In addition to keeping her upright, the close contact with me (or her daddy) helped to soothe her. If she was really suffering, we made sure that the contact was skin-to-skin as this reduces a baby’s stress and boosts oxytocin levels. For more info on the benefits of baby wearing (also sometimes called “kangaroo care”), you can read this.

(5) Infant Massage

This is one of the more fun natural remedies for infant reflux and it has the benefit of being able to do it at any time and any place. The downside is that it treats the symptoms of reflux more than it treats the reflux itself. That being said, reflux can cause babies to have some very painful gas, and very high stress levels. Helping your baby to deal with either one is a blessing. There are several different massage techniques out there, but with some research – and trial and error – you can figure out what works best for you and your baby. Here is a link to a helpful primer to get you started.

(6) Keeping Baby Upright

Your baby’s lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is still immature during infancy which can allow food and digestive juices to flow back up the esophagus. One of the ways to help mitigate this problem is to keep the baby upright as much as possible so that gravity can help to hold the contents of the stomach down where they belong.

(i) While Eating

It can be a bit awkward to keep your baby upright while eating. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but try keeping your baby more vertical than horizontal during feedings (regardless of whether it is bottle feeding or breastfeeding). I used a Boppy Pillow to help me get my baby into the right position without my arms falling asleep, and even then, it took a while for it to feel natural.

(ii) 30 Minutes After Eating

There are a couple of different ways to keep your baby upright after eating. Holding your little one is always the nicest option, especially if you have the time for a cuddle. For those times when you need your hands free, baby wearing is a great option. We used a Moby Wrap, and our little one was so comfy in it that we bought a second one for those times when the other one was in the wash (blowouts happen!). Once my little one was able to sit up on her own, another great option was Baby Bjorn Bouncer. Friends of ours that are physicians have two little ones with severe reflux and they swore by it so I decided to give it a try. My baby girl loved bouncing in it and she was comfortable (and safe), which was really nice.

Helpful Hint

DO NOT use a Bumbo Seats or any other gadget that artificially forces your child to sit up before they’re able to do so on their own. It creates stress on the hips, rounds the back, and wreaks havoc on their posture which is not good for a developing little body.

(iii) While Sleeping

This one might be the hardest of all of the natural remedies for infant reflux. When my daughter’s reflux was at it’s most severe, she could only get comfortable if she was totally vertical while being held in the Moby Wrap. If we walked with her in the Moby, she would sleep for hours. If we tried to lay her down once she was asleep – instantly awake and screaming in pain. It was awful, but baby wearing got us through the worst of it.

Before the reflux became too intense, we had a lot of luck with the Rock N Play Sleeper. She despised the vibration settings but she LOVED the 30 degree incline. Other than the Moby Wrap, it was the only thing she ever slept in before moving to a big girl bed. She never once slept in her lovely little crib, though she did enjoy playing in it on occasion.

If you are luckier than we were and your baby will deign to sleep in the crib, a Crib Wedge will elevate the baby’s torso and head to mimic the angle of the Rock N Play Sleeper.

One Last Thought

Our very first pediatrician advised us to “thicken” some milk for the baby by pumping a bottle of breastmilk and then adding infant cereal to it (either oats or rice) as way of (1) reducing the reflux, and (2) “tanking” up her stomach so that she would sleep longer. This advice was well intentioned but really terrible for a variety of reasons, which is why it is not included in my list of natural remedies for infant reflux. Thickening milk in this way might prevent spitting up, but that is not the same as preventing reflux. The baby still experiences reflux, they just experience “silent reflux” (i.e. when the baby refluxes without spitting up or vomiting – they usually swallow it before it comes all the way up). This benefits no one, especially not your baby. It can also cause a lot more stomach upset, including diarrhea or blowouts which is not a good experience for your little one. Next, it introduces another food into the baby’s system before examining whether the baby has any food issues that might be causing the reflux. Lastly, the baby is even more uncomfortable with all that heavy cereal in their immature digestive system and is even more unlikely to sleep anyway. It’s pretty old school advice, so think twice before giving it a shot.