Parents are increasingly likely to put their newborn children on drugs that keep them from spitting up when they cry.
According to NPR, research indicates that between 2002 and 2009, parents of infants became 16 times more likely to ask their pediatrician for drugs, like the acid-reflux drug Prevacid®, to keep their babies from spitting up as often.
According to the article, the drugs have not been approved for infant use, but doctors are increasingly providing prescriptions off-label for them.
“The great majority of infants spit up and cry,” pediatrician Eric Hassall told NPR. “But very, very few of them actually have reflux disease and deserve medication.”
The consensus among medical professionals is that fussy babies who spit up often can be treated in the same ways that they have for hundreds of years: by changing the child’s diet.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it has limited data about the long-term effects of medicating infants with these drugs, though some reports show increased intestinal problems and risk of pneumonia.