So you have finally made it to toddlerhood with your little reflux baby. You are hopeful (although possibly doubtful) that she will soon outgrow the uncomfortable condition she has struggled with her whole life. But you’re wondering how you will know if your toddler still has infant acid reflux.
I wondered this very thing soon after my daughter turned one year old. Her pediatrician had warned me that it can be difficult to determine if a toddler still has infant acid reflux.
Although it wasn’t hard to see the effects of her reflux several months into her toddler life, the older she got, the less obvious it became.
As her mom, naturally, I have always been able to identify when she is struggling with reflux more accurately than others who are not around her 24/7. But even I sometimes question whether her symptoms are the same old reflux or a new stage of development.
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If you are wondering if your toddler still has infact acid reflux, perhaps we will bond as you read this post. I hope your child has made it out on the other side of this nasty condition. But if you’re not sure, let me share some signs I have noticed that prove my toddler still has infant acid reflux.
Please note that I am not a medical professional and nothing in this post should be taken as medical advice. Please speak with your child’s doctor about any concerns you have regarding her health.
15 Signs Your Toddler Still Has Infant Acid Reflux
1. Dry Cough
How will you know if your toddler still has infant acid reflux? Well, some of the symptoms will look or sound exactly the same as when he was a baby. Like that dry cough that can’t be tied to anything else and is worse on some days and non-existant on others.
My daughter does not have allergies and does not have a chronic cough. But there are periods of time when she will have a dry cough for a day or several days. This is one of the more obvious signs because it is a very distinct cough.
2. Sounding Congested
I don’t know how many times I have wondered if my daughter was getting sick because she sounded just the slightest bit congested while sleeping.
It has almost always turned out to be her reflux. Health Day explains that this is because children are small and it’s easy for refluxed liquids to travel all the way up to the sinuses which can create inflamation.
Unfortunately, acid reflux can also cause asthma and respiratory infections, so frequent occurances of either of these may also be a sign that your toddler still has infant acid reflux.
3. Frequent Sneezing
Obviously, this is a pretty vague symptom because it can be caused by so many things besides just reflux. However, it is another box to check when tallying reflux symptoms.
Again, reflux can irritate the sinuses which can potentially lead to excessive sneezing.
My daughter doesn’t always sneeze a lot when her reflux is bothering her, but sometimes, she will sneeze quite a bit throughout the day without any indication of illness or allergies. It is on these days that I watch for other signs of reflux.
4. Clinginess
My daughter has always been clingy. She was a high-needs baby, and anyone who visited my house during the first year of my daughter’s life can attest to the fact that I could rarely set my daughter down for very long, let alone be in a separate room from her.
As my daughter has grown into her toddler self, she has become quite independant and is no longer constantly attached to me generally.
However, there are days every once in a while when she will want me to hold her all the time as though she doesn’t feel good. This, along with other indicators, is usually a red flag to me that her reflux is acting up.
5. Screaming
Ah, the screaming. The tug-of-war in your heart over whether you should be reprimanding or comforting your child. The testing of your patience. The heartbreaking cries.
This is a major reflux indicator with my daughter, although it took me a while to figure out if the screaming was truly from the reflux or a way to test out each new stage she was going through.
I now know without a doubt that her reflux is causing the need to scream because the screaming only happens during times when she is exhibiting other symptoms which indicate her reflux is especially painful.
This is a sneaky one because your toddler may not be acting distressed when she screams. She may be playing or just sitting there randomly screaming without looking upset.
I know, this seems weird and to someone who doesn’t have a reflux child, maybe it sounds like making excuses for bad behavior. This is an area where you just have to trust that you and your instincts know your child best.
Find out my top 3 infant reflux soothing tips in this post!
The way I handle the screaming is to gently ask my daughter to use her quiet voice. Sometimes I hold her and try to soothe her or bounce or walk her for a few minutes. I do not punish her for screaming because I know it is simply her reaction to the pain.
6. Growling
This one would be comical if it didn’t hurt my heart. You may notice a lot of growling if your toddler still has infant acid reflux.
Yes, it is normal for kids to make growly bear sounds. But when my daughter’s reflux is acting up, she sometimes excessively growls until she starts coughing.
This is not normal for her on good days. It’s as though she needs to clear something icky from her throat.
7. Sleep Challenges
If you had a reflux baby, you already know all about sleep challenges.
While sleep may improve (just like many other things) as your toddler gets older despite the reflux, there will likely still be some rough nights when the discomfort just won’t allow uninterrupted sleep.
My daughter’s sleep, at least at night, has significantly improved since she was a baby. However, there are nights now and then when she is especially restless and uncomfortable.
Read here why sleep training is not right for every child.
And naps? Well, those are rarely restful when she’s having a flare-up.
8. Hyperactivity
This is another strange way of determining whether your toddler still has infant acid reflux. And once again, only you know your child well enough to be able to tell if his hyperactivity is normal for him or due to another cause.
My daughter is normally pretty calm. Of course, she has her hyper moments when she is excited, overtired, sugared-up, or just has energy to burn.
But when her reflux is bothering her, she almost has a crazed look about her as she bounces off the walls, as though she’s desperately trying to fight the uncomfortable feeling she has inside.
Sometimes she is completely straight-faced and not having fun but will beg me to play an active running or jumping game with her. Sometimes she just wants me to do the work and hold her while running or jumping.
9. Decreased Appetite
Another indication that my toddler still has infant acid reflux is her lack of appetite some days (in conjunction with the symptoms discussed above). I’m not just talking about her normal toddler picky eating. I’m talking about barely touching any food all day long.
I know this may be normal behavior for some healthy children, but this is not generally the case for my daughter.
There are times I’m sure my daughter should be starving, but she will refuse to eat anything. Whatever she does eat during these times is usually dairy or bread-based foods.
A decreased appetite in and of itself obviously does not point to acid reflux. But when it is one of many reflux symptoms, it does add another layer of proof that your child’s reflux is not gone.
10. Audible Gulping
The reflux gulp is difficult to describe and most people who are not often around my toddler don’t notice it. But I recognize it immediately simply because I am far too familiar with it.
I don’t hear a gulp every time my daughter refluxes. There are plenty of times when she is obviously in pain or uncomfortable, but I don’t hear a thing.
But on the average day, I audibly hear her reflux at least ten times. Some days it’s more, some days it’s less.
I’ve tried to point it out to other people, but even my husband doesn’t recognize the sound. It’s another one of those areas where you just have to trust that you’re not going crazy. You know your child best, Mama.
11. Choking
There are two ways in which chocking confirms to me that my toddler still has infant acid reflux.
Choking on Food
My daughter has always been prone to gagging/almost choking on foods that other babies and toddlers can eat with ease. Fortunately, this has gotten much better with time and is actually pretty rare now.
(Shortly after writing that last line, of course my daughter almost choked two times within a 24-hour period).
Just the same, she still cannot eat apple peals and often spits out chewed-up bits of apple that she apparently cannot swallow. This is also a common occurrence with raw carrots, cold raisins, and other hard-to-chew foods.
Educate yourself about how to respond to choking by reading this post.
Choking on Refluxed Liquids
This reflux sign is about as obvious as it gets because there aren’t many other explanations besides reflux for choking during sleep when there is nothing in your toddler’s mouth.
Although by now I know and trust the various reflux indicators my daughter exhibits, if I were ever in doubt, this one would convince me that my toddler still has infant acid reflux.
She sometimes chokes on her reflux during awake times as well. But the most telling moment is when she is in a deep sleep and I hear the ominous rise of refluxing liquid coming up her throat moments before she chokes and coughs, never even waking up.
I always get a little nervous, wondering if she will rouse enough to cough and clear her airway. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen frequently.
12. Aversion to Spicy Foods
If your child still has infant acid reflux, he probably won’t like the feeling of spicy food sliding down his raw and irritated throat. He also won’t like the feeling of having it come back up slathered in stomach acid.
I’m not sure if her reflux is the only thing holding back my daughter’s spicy taste buds. But there have been a couple of times when she has actually screamed while trying something spicy, so I know it is part of the culprit inhibiting my daughter’s exotic taste.
13. Painful Gas
Unfortunately, painful gas and reflux sometimes go hand-in-hand. Which makes for a really grumpy digestive system all around.
There are days when my toddler is so restless during her nap that she can’t seem to stay in one position for more than a minute. She squirms around sometimes for an hour and eventually toots or burps.
Sometimes it helps if I pat her back just like when she was a baby and I would burp her. Sometimes bouncing eases her pain. Other times, nothing seems to help.
14. Refusing to Sit
As all reflux baby mamas know, bending at the torso is a no-no position. This is still often the case in toddlerhood as well, even though active toddlers have the ability to mask it well.
I often look at my toddler, sitting scrunched up on the floor and wonder how that is any different than sitting in her seat for meals or sitting on the potty.
But apparently, somehow, there is a difference, because on days when her reflux is especially acting up, she fights sitting on any kind of seat where she is at all confined to that position.
This has regressed our potty training several times. It also makes getting in the car harder some days, although, thankfully, she normally does not have much issue with her carseat for trips around town anymore.
15. Spitting Up
It may sounds odd for a toddler to spit up, but I can assure you that it is possible. Just as babies sometimes spit up refluxed liquids that come up too quickly to swallow back down, toddlers sometimes spew half digested liquids down their shirt if they have reflux.
Although it is very rare, my 23-month-old daughter still occasionally spits up. This is another indisputable sign that your toddler still has infant acid reflux – straight from your child’s mouth!
What to Do if Your Toddler Still Has Infant Acid Reflux
If you are questioning whether or not your toddler still has infant acid reflux, the first step is obviously to definitively find out if reflux is indeed occurring. I hope these signs give you a little insight into what to look for.
However, this list of reflux symptoms in toddlers is not comprehensive. There are more signs I witness in my daughter that indicate when her reflux is bothering her, but they are so normal to my day that I don’t consciously think about them.
And, obviously, every child is different, so some toddlers with reflux may exhibit symptoms that my daughter does not. Conversely, there may be things I have mentioned here that your reflux toddler will never experience.
This is not a medical post. It was not written by a doctor looking at all the mechanisms contributing to the violent upward thrusting of partially digested stomach contents into the esophageal region. This is just my experience as a mom watching my daughter every moment of every day.
If you suspect that your toddler may have acid reflux, consult with a doctor. However, I highly recommend doing your own research along with talking to a medical professional. Try to find the root cause of your toddler’s reflux before deciding to medicate him.
To get you started, read my post on the real causes of infant reflux here. And if you just need some more empathy, read about my reflux journey with my daughter here.
Please share this information with other mamas traveling the challenging road of reflux via the buttons below. I wish you and your toddler all the best in your search for answers and relief!
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