Confused-Always

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone, This group was a life saver for me when my son was an infant! Now he is 18 months old, drinking whole milk, and loves to eat (everything but eggs)! The problem we have is that he is still not sleeping well. He still wakes several times during the night and seems to struggle to get back to sleep. As a coping mechanism, we have transformed his bed to a toddler bed and taught him to come to our bed at night when he needs us. We have made a BIG bed by placing a twin next to our queen sized bed, so essentially we are now enjoying a family bed. Works for me since I have less anxiety about when he will wake, how long it will take to resettle him, and if he will stay asleep. His little sister is due next month so I need to get some rest! Now, back to the point of this thread, I wonder how I could tell if he is still experiencing reflux. He doesn’t spit up anymore and began to drink whole milk at 13 months of age without any reactions. He has been weaned off of all meds. I wonder if he experiences silent reflux at night which causes him to awaken and would explain his restlessness and frequent wakings. How could I know, he cannot tell me yet. I am waiting for the day when he can tell me what is bothering him. He is also teething his canine teeth. Seems like he has been teething forever. Could this be it and not reflux? I’ve tried giving him a dose of tylenol at night but didn’t really help and I would hate to give it to him often. He had his 18 month old check up yesterday and I mentioned his sleep issues to his doctor and the doctor says that since he is not spitting up anymore it can’t be reflux. Is there something I should do at this point to pin point the true cause of his night wakings ( and early nap wakings) like allergy testing or something? Or should I just ride it out like I have been and hope that developmentally he will be able to sleep better as he approaches the 2 year mark? He is a very happy and smart little boy during the day. My efforts at “sleep training” were not in vain as he runs to his bed for naps and at night when he is tired and wants to go to bed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated…sorry this is soooo long.

Luzaria2009-02-04 09:02:11

[Anonymous]

2 thoughts. It could very well be teething. Have you tried Motrin vs tylenol? The motrin tends to be better for pain relief whereas tylenol works best for fevers. I use the dye free for multiple reasons. Another thought is that it is reflux. The only time I have problems is at bedtime and I usually take a pepcid complete and am fine. You could try by giving him 1/2 a tablet at bedtime( it is chewable) and see if that helps. Hopefully someone else will have some other ideas.

[Anonymous]

I agree w/ Beth- sounds like teething &/or reflux. Another thing you can try for teething (that have worked great for both my boys & are okay to give generously) are teething tablets. For his age I would try 5-8 @ a time & see if they help.

For the reflux I would also try the Pepcid complete before bed. You could also try this: if he wakes up & seems like he’s having trouble settling then give him some Mylanta. If he settles then it’s probably reflux.

I might also consider doing some allergy testing w/ an allergist.

[Anonymous]

Thank you ladies. I appreciate your advice

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with the others. Also, you say he likes eating everything but eggs. Just throwing this out there for you…the allergist we saw with Landen said kids will actually avoid foods that bother them or things they are allergic or intolerant too. Some are so bad they will spit it out after chewing it for a few mintues. Landen is this way with pork, he would chew pork roast or bacon and then spit it out on his plate and we caught on…he KNOWS it’s going to kill his stomach!

Could you be feeding him things with egg in it that is bugging/flaring reflux? I’d def push for skin prick or patch allergy testing to be sure!

Good luck!

jilly782009-02-06 12:35:04

[Author]

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