Infantreflux.org | Co-Sleeping For Reflux Babies?

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June 19, 2008 at 11:57 am #52772

Anonymous
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Does anyone co-sleep? I’m wondering how you do it (in bed, Arm’s Reach, etc). And how do you deal with keeping baby inclined? For how long did you do it?

DD is 4 months old and is barely sleeping at all. Gastro specialist mentioned co-sleeping. Something I guess we just never gave much thought to until now.

At night she is constantly waking. Sometimes for “reflux spells”. But sometimes if we just put our hand on her and move her back and forth she’ll go back to sleep. Seems like she just wants to know we are there. (And, no, she isn’tn spoiled like my grandparents keep asking and telling me to let her cry it out ). I do let her fuss for a little bit if it sounds like she isn’t hurting or anything. But I won’t let her cry, cry.

Anyway, I wasn’t sure if co-sleeping was particularly recommended or not recommended for reflux babies?!?

Just looking for opinions/advice.

Thanks!

isabellasmommy2008-06-19 12:51:40

June 19, 2008 at 1:22 pm #52776

Anonymous
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We ended up co-sleeping, against everything I wanted to do in the sleep department, because her reflux was so bad I was going to lose it without any sleep.

She slept upright on my chest for the first 4 months. From 4-9 months she slept beside my bed in an amby bed. She woke up A LOT and I’d had to walk her around and let her sleep for bits with me.

From 9-18 months, I think, she slept in my room on a comfy lift bed.

From about 18 months I moved her into bed with me. Dh had moved out into the guest room, and Hailey became my new bed buddy.

She moved into her own room around christmas.

I don’t know too much about co-sleeping as we just fell into it, and I was always trying to get out. It wasn’t for me b/c I felt like I needed my space, BUT I also needed some sleep, which is why it persisted. I recall reading something about increased risk to the baby recently, but can’t remember details. Good luck.

June 19, 2008 at 1:22 pm #52777

Anonymous
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Some people bought tucker wedges and slings and put that in the bed to maintain the incline.

June 19, 2008 at 6:26 pm #52785

hellbennt
Keymaster

I’ll send a PM to shelby

but to answer your question, this is MY opinion:

you do what you have to do…

you do what works until it doesn’t work anymore…

that’s my , LOL!

June 19, 2008 at 8:38 pm #52793

Anonymous
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I have been racking my brain about this as I looked at the post earlier. We didn’t do co-sleeping per se, but this is what we did to get some sleep.

He was in his crib for the first 3 wks of this life until he started with the actual refluxing. Then he slept in his pack in play right next to me- I usually had my arm over the side to pat him during the night until he was 8wks old and I decided that we were both keeping each other awake and not sleeping. Then we would resort to him sleeping on a pillow in Dh’s arm in the recliner (ironically enough he would sleep 4-5hrs at a time this way) until he was 12 wks old. Then from 12wks until he was 10 months there were many mornings (more than not) that sometime between 3-5 am I would just be so exhausted and needing sleep that I would bring him in bed with us. He slept on a harder pillow between our pillows and we would inch down farther in the bed so we didn’t have to worry about suffocation. And when he had a cold or was really congestion, i would prop myself up with pillows and surround myself with pillows and he would sleep in my chest.. I did this until he was 11 months old.. he was really long and heavy at this point so really he slept and I struggled to breath. in hindsight… we probably should have bought one of those co-sleeping bed things that you attach to the side of your bed so they are in bed with you but not actually in bed with you. But like laura said you gotta do whatever works until it doesn’t work anymore.

June 19, 2008 at 11:22 pm #52809

Anonymous
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Hi there,

We also had a tremendous amount of night wakings and co-slept in order for me to sleep and function during the day. It wasn’t a choice I made ahead of time, but we fell into it out of necessity. I think our son only had about a month in a crib, if that (I bought a tucker sling and had him inclined in the crib during that time as well). He slept on my chest in a recliner until about 6 weeks old, then in a bassinet (which didn’t go well) and then into the infant car seat, whcih worked pretty good until about 5-6 months old when we was growing out of it. From 7 months until 2 years old he and I co-slept on a queen size bed, dh was in “our” bedroom, and I was in the baby’s room. This allowed my husband to sleep, but allowed me to do what needed to be done at night. We started on the queen bed when he was about 7 months old nad I propped him up with pillows. Probably not what any doc would suggest and lookig back I should have invested in an Amby bed or other inclined thing, but we always thought things would improve relatively soon. In our case, it took a long time to get a handle on the night wakings. We were a very unusual case, though.

I agree with the others, that you do what needs to be done, especially in the case of medical problems. No one really understands a reflux baby like their own mother/parents and no one else has to wake up a zillion times a night with your child. A big thing I learned from reflux with my child nad hearing others talk about it, is that when you get miserable enough, you’ll be willing to try anything. True sleep deprivation and misery will eventually probably lead you to co-sleeping, whether you want to or not. It’s keeping it safe and making it work for your family (i.e. husband and that whole thing) that is a challenge sometimes. Many of us on here have co-slept and even those of us with severe cases of reflux and other issues have been able to eventually transition our children into their own beds. For us it was around age two. Good luck with the whole thing and I hope you start getting some sleep soon and that the baby begins to show improvement soon, too!!

June 26, 2008 at 6:15 pm #53073

Anonymous
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I’m so sorry I’m just now getting to this. I just happened upon here and got the pm from Laura.

I’ll do my best to remember what we did. I will say that we were breastfeeding so It may or may not work for you. Basically what ended up working for us was to lay on my back and allow Justice to lay his head on my upper arm. If the baby is smaller there will probably be more of the baby on your arm. Oh, I almost forgot I put a pillow under my arm and his body layed on the pillow and his head on my arm. You could probably do it laying on your side too. For us I let Justice stay latched on all night and nurse. The nursing releases hormones that help you and baby get sleepy. I say all that to say I’m not sure how comfortable what we did really was, but because of the hormones being released I was able to go right back to sleep. Other things I tryed were until he was about 5 months old he slept in a very upright bouncy seat. He was very tightly swaddled so he couldn’t slouch. I never turned the bouncy seat on, but I would bounce it to get him to sleep. With my oldest son who also had reflux I used the swing until he outgrew it. I tryed an amby bed and as much as I loved it, it didn’t really work for us. I think you do what works for you and you just let everyone that is bugging you about it know that they have never gone through anything like you are going through. You are not spoling your baby and my opinion is you can’t spoil a baby. A baby is in you for a little over 9 months and then people expect them to just be fine being away from you when being with you is all they have known. You are doing a great job and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Careing for a baby with reflux is a hard job that not everyone can do. I will add this also. I was told that my boys would never sleep without me and at 7 months for my oldest and 10 months for my youngest they were sleeping in their own beds. Sadly I did do cio for my oldest. I regretted it and swore that I would never do it again. For my youngest I helped him learn how to sleep on his own. So, it can happen. I hope this helps and hope you are getting some much needed sleep very soon.

July 16, 2008 at 12:14 am #54034

Anonymous
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My son is 7 months old and is still sleeping with/on me. When he was a newborn, he slept in his baby papasan chair. When he outgrew that he slept in a bouncy seat. That worked really well until he started having choking episodes in his sleep. I all but stopped sleeping until I tried sleeping propped up on pillows with him on my chest. It worked perfectly. Thankfully, he is on prevacid now, and (knock on wood) has not had a choking episode since April. He is still sleeping with/on me, because I’m still a little paranoid and we both sleep better. I’ll deal with getting him to sleep on his own later. Right now, getting all the rest we can is what matters. I’ve gotten all sorts of unwanted advice from mom’s who have no idea what it’s like to have a child with reflux. I just want to scream at them, NO, HE IS NOT SPOILED!! Like Justice’sMom said, these people do not understand the hell we go through. If you find something that works for you and your baby, then by all means go for it. I am so greatful for this forum. I would’ve lost my mind long ago if it weren’t for the wonderful mommies you can reach out to. Isabella’smommy, keep your head up. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but it will get easier.
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