PLEASE PLEASE HELP! I am So Lost.

[2sweetgirls]

I REALLY NEED SOME HELP

I have hit rock bottom, i have nothing else.

I may seem weak, but the past 6 months has been torture, my life has been tipped upside down and shaken.

My 6 month old DD has had silent reflux since about 2 weeks old.

She screams, she doesn't sleep. I rock her, i try controlled crying I dont know what else to do, i just dont want to hear anymroe screaming.

She pinches and pulls at my skin when i try rocking her, she wakes every 5 minutes. I never get more than 5 hours sleep, and thats not solid that broken up into about 10.

Where do I begin with getting her to sleep. I want her to just GO TO SLEEP AND STAY ASLEEP! IN HER OWN BED ON HER OWN!

PLEASE HELP

[mumofcuties]

hello luvy :wave:

have you asked your doc about sleep clinics for you and your dd, i have a friend that was at her wits end with her ds and she ended up going to one of these clinics for a week and after that her ds was the perfect little sleeper. have you got anyone that can help you out when she does wake up just so you can get that extra bit of sleep?

[ZooKeeper]

:iagree: sleep clinic might help for you because they help with DD and you get to catch up on sleep -- your community health should be able to refer you.

also I think other BH mummas with silent reflux bubs found it improved a bit with solids (rice cereal mainly as it's bland but helps the tummy be more settled) but hopefully one of them gets on this thread and shares a bit about it. is she BF or FF? might need to adjust the formula if the latter and do a bit of diet stuff for you if the former (look at dairy, wheat, and other possible allergens, could be making it worse).

is there a relative or can your Dh take her for a loooong walk in the pram or for a drive for an hour so you both get some sleep (or at least you get complete switched off to bub noise sleep)? she might sleep in the car as she will have her head a bit elevated and be cradled in the seat, give her a comfort toy to have with her for car or pram.

try having a bath with her, that usually relaxes starfish when she's completely bonkers, lots of mumma skin to skin contact and she will then feel able to let go and sleep if she has a feed afterwards.

hope something works out for you soon, sleep dep and crying bubba is a horrible stage of things.:hugs::hugs:

[Nowhere]

Hugs courts I know we chating on MSN now lol but wanted to reply as well

Withmadie going thought what she is unfortunaly sleep is few and far between, if i lived closer then a 4 hour plane ride i would come and sit with her while you have a sleep HUGS

I really think that the drs need to look into abdominal migrains with her, I have only just heard of them lol when mikis new pead informed me that she is almost sure miki gets them, ( hers have reduced thanks to J feeds still bad and alot but not every day )

Have the drs ever tried her on zofran (antinasea med) buscapan or any thing like that

[michellea75]

Hi - big hugs to you as I was in the same situation up until last November.

DS also had silent reflux (and UTI from when he was a week old) and cried almost 24 hours. Having a conversation with hubby when he got home from work was impossible over the crying. At 5 weeks, DS was finally diagnosed & put on ZANTAC and the improvement was amazing even though he still did not sleep through. Then at 3 months, he started screaming again. We found out his med had to be increased with his weight (funny how they don't tell you that when they first prescribe it). At 6 months, he still wasn't sleeping so the paed changed his med to LOSEC.

I had friends/ family who kept offering to help. It was great to get relief every now and then if you accept those offers and it's a blessing to be surrounded with those people, but the thing with that is it is only a short-term temporary relief, not a solution. Even if hubby or someone looked after bub for a night, your own sleep pattern is so screwed up that you won't sleep anyway.

By 7 months, at our wits end, I asked my GP to refer me to TRESILLIAN. I was getting up every 2 hours and had also resorted to co-sleeping and was really struggling (I had punched his matress one night out of frustration). Sleep deprivation is a real torture, isn't it??? We went to Tresillians within 2 weeks (I was lucky enough to be listed as a high priority), and by the 2nd night, he was sleeping through!! We basically let him cry out (checking & comforting him every 5-10 min) for 1 night and 1 morning nap and that was it - he learnt to self-settle. As for the reflux med, I was advised to slowly wean him off even though they thought he probably did not need it anymore. He has been off Losec and had been weaned to the bottle since Christmas. He had also dropped his 10pm by then.

I don't think I could've done controlled crying without Tresillian. The difference there is you have nurses/ professionals there to help & advice you the whole time; you are out of your normal environment so you can relax & not worry about chores; there are parents & bubs in the same situation & you may even get a 'time-out' where they look after bub for the night (although I still woke up every 2 hours).

I have listed websites below you can check out. If I were you though, I would go straight to the GP/ Paed and ask for referral.
http://www.tresillian.net/
http://www.karitane.com.au/

After DS learnt to sleep through, it took me weeks to learn to sleep myself and would still get nervous he would revert back to the old ways but my precious, joyful DS is now sleeping 12 hours straight, has 2 naps a day, 3 feeds a day (solid then bottle) and I can finally say I am enjoying motherhood.

Please remember you are not alone and this will pass. You are doing a wonderful job.:hugs:

[bronwynmc]

You should contact Tresillian or Karitane. They offer a residency type program where you and bub stay at one of their centres and their staff are there to help and monitor you and bubs to help with your sleeping/settling problems. I think it costs like $35 a night to stay there, but you may find it very helpful to have some professional support in a practical way so that they can help you when you need it most.