My son(3 mos.) has had a rattle sound in the back of his throat since shortly after birth.
We're new to the reflux thing(as of now, he's not even on meds.),but is this rattle reflux related.
My ped. said it's normal for all babies to sound congested like that because they can't clear their throat,but I don't think it is. I think it has to do w/the reflux. Am I right?

Thanks,
Rachel

Congestion goes right along with reflux. And no, most babies do NOT sound like that. (Anecdotal evidence, I know, but this is one of the things my #3 kiddo did that the older ones didn't do... guess which one has reflux????) Their airways are irritated from the refluxing yuck coming up and going down. There's not much you can do, but it does go with the territory.

One question: how's the air quality? Last year our state had a HUGE wildfire that dumps tons of smoke and ash for miles and miles. I remember posting here for about a month about Ian's asthmatic like issues... but as soon as the fire was out, his breathing improved. So now, on bad air quality days, I make a big effort to keep him inside.

Your ped is right -- babies can't clear their throats, and a lot of them do sound congested especially during the first few months. It could be reflux-related but is just as likely not to be. Lucy raised a good point about the air quality. Despite what most say, infants can have environmental (for example, pollen) allergies. My daughter suffered horribly her first spring.

The rattle will likely go away as your son matures and/or the seasons change. Another thing just to keep in the back of your mind is that wheezing in infants is extremely difficult to detect without a stethoscope. There is so little distance between an infant's throat and lungs that rattles can sound like they're in the lungs but they're almost always in the back of the throat.

My DD2 who is 5 months still rattles. I am waiting for it to go away. I do believe that it is from her reflux but the dr is disagreeing with me too! Crossing fingers that it stops soon!

I have the same situation. My son Anthony is now 6 months he has been having that rattle sound for about 2 months now. The ped keeps telling me the same thing that it is normal and he will eventually grow out of it. I'm about to have a second opinion, lets see what happens. This cannot be normal like the doctor says!