How to make my son sleep better

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

My name is Carol. My son Matthew is close to 8 week old. He was
diagnosed having reflux on his fourth week. On that day, he refused
feeding and we had to take him to hospital. After that, things
are getting little better.

Now he takes opposite direction, constantly asking for feeding even we
fed him one hour ago. The biggest problem is that he could not
sleep well, he wakes up frenquently. Is anything I could do to
make him sleep better. I know there are lots of sleeping product which
could help reflux babies sleep better, not sure they really do what
they claimed.

I also found a very strange situation, my son always doing sucking
motion if not in the feeding,and always put his hand into his mouth,
does that indicate anything?

Thanks a lot,

Carol

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!

sounds like maybe hes comfort feeding? the formula (breastmilk?) feels good on his burning esophogus as it goes down…

does he show he’s unconfortable or in pain in other ways?

what medications is he taking and what doses?

When you have a moment, please go to the ‘Introduce Yourself’ forum and click on the top (‘stickied’ ) post called ‘Groupie Intro’– just to read it & to come back to it, as it contains a lot of info to help you

glad you found us!

~laura

[Anonymous]

Hi Carol,
Welcome! Have you tried putting your son to sleep in an inclined position? What I do, is put a pillow or rolled up blanket under the head of his mattress. I didn’t buy any of the sleeping products products because I just couldn’t afford them, but this works just as well. It really helped my son sleep, even before he got on the right medication. Good luck with everything!

[Anonymous]

hi there! my son always sucks on his hands. eveyrone tells me its because of teething….

is your son on medication?

[Anonymous]

My son’s PD did not prescribe any medication, since he is still gaining weight nicely. The problem is that he could not sleep. In daytime, he could not sleep more than half an hour. And he constantly seeks for feeding, even after we fed him one hour ago.

I purchased a crib wedge for him, but it does not help. And sometimes, he fell of the wedge.

His symptom includes whezzing, choking during feeding, back arching, stiff legs, gagging.

I’m not sure whether I should insist PD to presribe any medication. Last time, I spoke to him, he said if I really want put my son on medication, he could prescrible Zantac, has anyone used that that medicine, does that really help?

[Anonymous]

first of all, just because your son is gaining weight doesnt mean he
doesnt need medication. if he is in pain and is having all those
symptoms, he probably does need medication. some doctors make me so mad! the acid is damaging his
esophogus. there are many complications that can occur from that.

zantac is an H2 blocker. these work for some, but not many. zantac has
a terrible peppermint taste and has alchohol in it. my son would scream
when i tried to give it to him. i smelled it once and it made me sick.

if your doctor is going to start you on an H2 bloker- ask about pepcid
or axid. these medications dont have the disgusting taste like zantac
does.

many people find no succes with H2 blockers. that is when they move on
to a PPI, like prevacid, prilosec, or zegerid. these are usually much
more effective-because they shut off the acid pumps in the stomach.

you can read about all the medications at marci-kids.com

nataliachick72006-8-30 13:20:57

[Anonymous]

Yes, I agree with Natalia. If he’s in pain, he needs meds whether or
not he is growing. The “do nothing unless they are not thriving” thing
is old fasioned but unfortuntely many doctors still treat reflux that
way. It’s sad and very frustrating.

I’d push for a PPI because the H2 Blockers are not nearly as effective for most babies.

Good luck and keep trying. I had to pester Myles’ doctor for six weeks
and fax her the http://www.marci-kids.com information before she finally gave
Myles the dose of Prevacid he needed. Then his pain finally stopped.

[hellbennt]

my welcome/intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853&am p;PN=1&TPN=1

[Anonymous]

I agree with everyone else. Zach was originally started on
Zantac and we quickly moved on to Prevacid and then we had a different
baby. As for sleeping, he always seemed to startle so easily so
in addition to putting his crib mattress at an incline, we also
swaddled him and that helped him sleep better. Welcome and keep
us posted!

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for your answers.

By the way, how do you elevate your mattress, by how many inches? How do you prevent him slipping off?

[Anonymous]

tuckersling.com has a sling to keep them from falling.

[hellbennt]

You might want to try tummy sleeping?

This is from the American Academy of Pediatrics & how they recommend that tummy sleeping is best for GERD babies. http://www.aap.org/new/sids/question.htm (thanks Sherry & Christine!)

There’s a monitor that you can use called the Angel Care Monitor that many of the parents on this board have had great success with. Jonah was sent home with a monitor from the hospital, so I don’t know firsthand about the Angel Care monitor, but here’s all about it: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=angelcare&am p;SM=2&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

BEANIE BABY: for day time naps I suggest this: Try putting him on his tummy & put a beanie baby on his back for 2 reasons- to see that he’s breathing (the beanie baby will go up & down

)

& for the weight- put your hand on his back & then slowly leave it & the beanie baby is there instead…

For sleeping, there’s also the Tucker Sling that people rave about: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=tucker&S M=1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

as well as the Amby Hammock: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=amby&SM= 1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

~laura

[Author]

Posts