Acid reflux in children is often overlooked: Director of PAGER Association

The Pediatric Adolescent Gastroesophageal Reflux (PAGER) Association has been helping families learn about acid reflux since 1992. The medical name for the disease is gastroesophageal reflux. It means stomach + esophagus + backwash.

“Acid reflux in children is often overlooked,” says Beth Pulsifer-Anderson, Director of PAGER Association. Some clues include excessive crying, ‘colic’, a burning sensation in the throat or chest, tummy aches, spitting up, a sensation of food coming up, poor appetite, poor weight gain, trouble swallowing, night waking, ear infections, sinus problems, asthma, wheezing, tooth decay and bad breath. To see the full list of symptoms, visit www.reflux.org. “Untreated reflux can cause excruciating pain and serious health problems,” added Pulsifer-Anderson.

“A child with acid reflux is often miserable and this affects the whole family. We have been contacted by pediatricians, nurses and even a police officer from NYC who were completely overwhelmed by their babies with acid reflux,” says Pulsifer-Anderson.

PAGER Association has been contacted by more and more Spanish speaking families in recent years. According to studies, about 6 million Hispanics in the US have acid reflux symptoms and most don’t seek treatment. Pulsifer-Anderson says, “It is important for Spanish speaking parents to know about acid reflux so they can be sure their children can get appropriate medical attention. Before we translated our site, we looked for Spanish information about acid reflux on the internet. We only found a few pages within English health sites. Most were not optimized for Spanish search engines.”

An entire site has been created in Spanish at www. ReflujoEnNinos.org. The site contains both detailed and easy-to ready information about acid reflux as well as message boards where people can post questions. “Our trained parent volunteers understand the extreme stress that these families endure. They have practical ideas and stories to share that can help keep children healthy and families sane,” says Pulsifer-Anderson.

Patients, clinics and doctors can download many different informational brochures in English and Spanish at www.reflux.org or www.ReflujoEnNinos.org. The sites are non-profit and supported by donations, grants and advertising. Additional bi-lingual volunteers are being recruited.