Sleep & Reflux

[Isabella's Mum]

Hi

I'm a 1st time mum and my 8 wk little girl has reflux. She is on Losec & is now on Karicare AR - she is a much happier baby but is still in pain.

Can anyone tell me how I can get her to actually sleep during the day. Unless I am holding her she won't sleep which means that I carry her around all day every day!! My arms are killing me and I just don't get a break not even to eat!!

She has no problems going down at night (in bed by 7pm) but during the day she just won't let me put her down the minute I do she cries & cries & cries. Isabella can not fall asleep on her own so I hold & pat her to sleep. I've read all the books but nothing seems to work.

Can anyone help as I would love to be able to eat at least lunch during the day.

[lil monkey]

Hi there,

tayla had reflux really bad and we had to introduce the dummy for sleep time so we could get some peace. Can cause problems later on though when you try to get rid of it but it is really hard listening and watching a reflux baby suffer!

Apart from that, we got a foam wedge and place it under her mattress so it was on a slope to help ease the pain.

I'm not much help here if you don't want to use a dummy!

[AM]

Hi

I'm a 1st time mum and my 8 wk little girl has reflux. She is on Losec & is now on Karicare AR - she is a much happier baby but is still in pain.

Can anyone tell me how I can get her to actually sleep during the day. Unless I am holding her she won't sleep which means that I carry her around all day every day!! My arms are killing me and I just don't get a break not even to eat!!

She has no problems going down at night (in bed by 7pm) but during the day she just won't let me put her down the minute I do she cries & cries & cries. Isabella can not fall asleep on her own so I hold & pat her to sleep. I've read all the books but nothing seems to work.

Can anyone help as I would love to be able to eat at least lunch during the day.


Have you tried using a sling or a wrap during the day to give your arms a rest, but still give your daughter the feeling of closeness, and the good upright positioning to help with the reflux.

The hug-a-bub is really good for young babies.

Have a peek at their site

http://www.hugabub.com/

[Ky]

Hi

I found that my son settled better during the day if I put him in one of the old fashioned net covered bouncinettes. I would put a couple of cloth nappies on it to catch any spills and then put him in there, spend a little time gently bouncing him and then he would drop off into a peaceful sleep! The good thing with a bouncinette is that it can be bent to any angle you want and I had mine almost in a sitting position as lying down was no good for him.

Hope you find a solution!

[Caitlin's Mum]

I have found that if I put him in one of those battery operated swings he will eventually doze off for a while so I can get things done. You could give that a try??

[mariafresnel]

Hello Isabella's mum!
Reading your note bought me back to when Sophia was only as tiny as Isabella. The tears I cried, mostly of not knowing what to do, and through sheer exhaustion. I want to share my experience, and in doing so, I want to say that what you are doing is wonderful, it's also a learning curve which is quite steep, so try (I know people woudl say this to me) and remember that in the grand scheme of things you will move through each day, week and month, and it will slowly get better. It's the here and now which is very tough, and somewhat of a culture shock. If it's any use, I've jotted down some things that we found/and still find useful for Sophia as she continually vomits. As a matter of interest, because her vomiting got to a high point approx 8 weeks ago (i.e. 30 times in one week because i changed her formula to normal formula), we got a referral from our paed to see a gastrointerologist. HE suggested we organise a barium swallow (it's a drink they syringe into the mout of the baby, so that they can see where it goes via x-ray). As a result of continued vomiting Sophia's oesophagus is enlarged - it will, in time go back to normal, but to do so we have to ensure she doesn't vomit. Sophia is on 20 mg (10+10) of Losec per day now, and only drinks Karicare Sensikare HA/AR formula, we haven't looked back since (except when I changed it recently). The HA means hydrolized, which means that the milk protein particles are partly broken down, to help with much easier digestion - it's light on their tummy, as well as being thick. Since having her back on this, she hasn't vomited as much (5 times in one week), but I'm holding her for a lot longer after her milk feed before I put her down.

ANyway back to you....

* We found that a dummy helped, even though we were adverse to it pre-baby, it was a great help, and we knew that we'd have to deal with the weaning at some stage, but it helped for that point of time.
* as well as wrapping her, she never slept unwrapped, as she'd wake herself up and felt insecure with her jolting jumps
*once wrapped, we put her in the middle of safen'sound cylindrical bumpers, to give her the sense of being snug.
* We put a radio on softly in her room for some distracting noise/sounds, this soothed her
* her cot was elevated by a foam wedge under the mattress
* I also bought the bouncer with a motorised vibration, it didn't swing, but it just vibrated - unfortunately she wouldn't sleep in that (maybe once). But i could put her in it, and elevated position, anywhere I was in the house, and I'd just talk to her...until she cried hysterically......

Sophia also just wanted to be held, she didn't go to sleep by herself, what I found at that age ie. 6 weeks onwards, was I'd hold her, she'd fall asleep, and then she'd wake up when I'd put her in the cot, so we had to start from scratch, so i then started to wrap her for her feed, so that I could just put her in the cot. This worked, and i'd stay and gently pat my hand on her chest, more so a tap with my fingers, so that she could feel that i was there. My suggestion, is, only because I have been where you are, is to give yourself a goal, let's say, we know she will cry putting her in her cot, but what if you just said I'm going to try this for an hour or even two, let's see what the outcome is? It's worth it, because, you may not know what she may end up doing, outside of the first horrendous 15 minutes of crying....which I remember, I'd pick her up.....oh the pram, putting her in the pram and going for a walk? you've no doubt tried that too!

The dummy became an issue when she started to loose it during the night, at about 5 months - at which stage, I weaned her off it and it took 5 days. I understand from my paed that it takes 5 days to create a habit (with babies) and 5 days to break it, so it was about being consistent and persistent.

Isabella's mum, I'm really feeling for you and want to help you.....so like the other mums, i've put down what my husband and I did, somethings may or may not help....but I just want you to know that we are here for you, anytime, because it is hard, and trying, but it is incredibly rewarding......

Kindest regards
Maria

[Natasha'smum]

Reading your post brought back all the trouble I had trying to get dd to sleep both during the day and at night.

She also had severe reflux and colic. I ebm so added thickner to her bottles which helped, I also raised the cot to help with the reflux.

It is a really tough time believe me I understand. I was advised by my peadeatrician to introduse a dummy for sleep and it did work apparently the sucking eases the reflux by helping keeping it down. I really did not want to give my dd the dummy but I guess you just put your feelings aside when ot comes to what is best for your child.

All I can say is that eventually in time it does get better she want have reflux for ever. My dd is now 15 months and reflux has long gone, thank god.