sleepless again

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I haven’t posted in awhile, because things were actually
improving! Of course, my dark green carpet is still speckled with
the daily array of little white splotches, but Allie has been a lot
happier (he started smiling a few weeks ago, and it is amazing!) and
he’s actually started sleeping in his bouncer (a HUGE improvement over
my arms). He even started sleeping up to four or five hours at
night, which we LOVED. But tonight he has been up screaming, and
we don’t know why. He took THREE naps yesterday (an unheard of
amount of daytime sleep) and I am afraid that perhaps he just isn’t
tired, but aren’t babies supposed to sleep alot? He is still only
sleeping about ten to twelve hours out of every 24. I am so
exhausted I just put him down for a few minutes to scream in his
bouncer. I’m going to try feeding him as soon as I write this
post. I just needed to vent. I don’t think he’s hungry,
he’s just wide awake and wants to play… I don’t think the
reflux is bothering him. He even smiles after he spits up
sometimes now, as if to say “ha ha, look what I just did”. I
think it is cute, and reassuring that the medicines are working.
I just don’t know why he doesn’t sleep at night, and I don’t know whta
to do about it. Any suggestions, ideas, similar stories?
Why do reflux babies have trouble sleeping even when they aren’t in
pain? Could he be in pain and still be smiley?

[Anonymous]

If he’s smiley, then he’s not in pain. Some babies just take longer to adjust to sleeping. How much does he weigh? maube the prevacid dose is to low, mine is just a bit older than yours born dec5th and takes 30 mgs…He went through a period of sleeping huge amounts during the day as well. Reflux usually worsens at night. My son has slept on a wedge called an AR pillow that elevates him so he can sleep without he acid coming up since he was 6 weeks old, and has been sleepig through the night from 9-8 since then as well. There are a ton of sleep products out there for acid refluxers http://www.arpillow.com, http://www.tuckersling.com (the AR pillow is the cheapest and has worked great for us). Get him on a schedule, bathtime,bottle, calm play time, bed. or whatever works for you. He is still very little to be sleeping throgh the night. When they are this little they change their sleeping habits every day. I just got lucky that mine only changes his during the day.

[Anonymous]

My son – to this day – has trouble falling asleep. Instead of “getting sleepy” his bodies natural response it to fight it and become wired. The less sleep he gets, the more wired he his. My son also would only sleep 10 hours in 24 hours at that age. I believe they are supposed to be getting 17 hours in 24 hours when they’re under 3 months of age. Sleep is very important and NO soothing techniques worked for my son, everything just over-stimulated him more. I was forced to let him ‘cry it out’ at 3.5 months (he NEVER would nap during the day before that) and when he finally fell asleep he slept for a long time (unfortunately he was also an extremely light sleeper and I couldn’t even walk across the floor in the other room without waking him up. I read the book “healthy sleep habbits, happy child” by Marc Weissbluth. It really saved my sanity and tought me how important sleep was to a childs development. The benefit of sleeping was a way bigger positive, than him screaming himself to sleep a negative. Also, keep in mind that if you don’t get your child sleeping before they turn 3 months old, they are WAY harder to correct – I can attest to that…..My son also refluxed every few seconds at that age (silent reflux that you could hear), once he finally fell asleep – he refluxed a lot and it never woke him up. So I knew it wasn’t pain keeping him awake, it was adrenalin. Now whether there is a connection to acid reflux and the brain not being able to fall asleep – I’d love to know, but I have not found anything in particular on it yet.

Also, before I let him “CIO” he’d scream when I’d give him a bath, he’d scream when I’d sing to him, he’d scream when I put him in a swing, he’d scream when I put him in his car seat, he’d scream when I held him. After I let him “CIO” the screaming greatly diminished AND he would actually smile when he was awake!

RULE #1: The more sleep your child gets – the better and easier they will fall asleep. (if your child skips a nap, they probably will be to wired to fall asleep at night)

lansima2006-3-14 9:56:48

[Anonymous]

I love that book also, and it has helped me get all my children to sleep fairly well. My little guy is an early riser and doesn’t sleep as well when he’s teething, but otherwise sleeps very well. Marc Weissbluth’s book is excellent. Another trick I used with all of my babies is white noise. A fan running in their room works wonders to lull them to sleep and to drown out sounds that may otherwise wake them up. I suggested the white noise idea to lots of friends and most said it worked very well.

[Anonymous]

yeah, i’ve got the book. practically memorized it i’ve read it so
many times. also read ferber’s book and babywise and a book by
the american academy of pediatrics… we’ve tried white noise,
which seems to help some, and swaddling, which he can’t sleep without,
and he sleeps in his bouncer with sides (if we didn’thave that bouyncer
he’d wiggle right out of a regular bouncer since we cannot strap him in
when he’s swaddled. since he needs swaddled, we cannot put him in
a crib with an elevated end cause he slides right down, even flips
upside down (that’s not good for the reflux…) he also loves his
pacifier. but most of all, he just wants held. and there is
nothing to do for that but hold him. i used to swear by
weisbluth’s book, but his problem is that just when we think he’s
catching on, he’ll have another bad night or three, and just when we
decide to let him “cry it out” or whatever, he’ll have a good night or
two and not cry at all… so we never know what to do. same
goes for his daytime naps. they come and go despite my best
efforts at consistency. it’s so frustrating. and i’mso
exhausted…

[Anonymous]

as for his weight, i’m not sure, but he was 13 13 a month ago.
yeah, big fellow. he’s eating rice cereal now, too, even though
he does not hold his head up well, because he literally ate ALL DAY
until we added the rice.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to let you know that my son always was head down in the crib (feet elevated above his head) whenever he woke up. I figure, not the best for reflux, but at least he slept. I considered using duct tape to strap him into bed….JUST KIDDING!

[Anonymous]

the ar pillow is a wedge that you strap them into so there is no way they can slide down….it velcros on to the crib rails

[Anonymous]

does the ar pillow work while the baby is swaddled? because if
his arms are free, he flails about and startles himself and cries
mercilessly. he needs swaddled…

[Anonymous]

ahh nope does not work when swaddled…Aidan flails too, but by letting him cry and wimper for a bit he has learned to soothe himself to sleep..

[Anonymous]

My second child would only sleep swaddled for the first four months of her life. I used to swaddle only her arms as she got bigger because the blankets were no longer big enough to swaddle all of her like when she was a newborn. With just the arms swaddled you may be able to put the crotch strap through baby’s legs and strap him into the bouncer seat. I looked at the airpillow, and it looks like it may work with that too, as long as the legs are free. (I may get an airpillow if my little guy keeps waking at 4:30 am.) Eventually, though babies get so big that they don’t stay swaddled because they are stronger and they unswaddled themselves squirming around. Then you have to find another way to get them to sleep. I learned this the hard way!! I had to let my daughter cry a little (I hated it!!) but she learned fall asleep sleep unswaddled. (First, I tried just swaddling one arm for a few nights, so there was less flailing, but some freedom of movement for her, then I started putting her to bed unswaddled). For now though you just need some sleep, and so does he. Maybe swaddling just the arms will help. Maybe someone who’s used this pillow could tell you if they think it would work with arms swaddled. Good luck. I hope you and your baby are sleeping better soon.

[Anonymous]

As long as the legs are free, I don’t see any reason why the ARpillow would not work with just the arms swaddled.

[hellbennt]

I would look at diet. What has changed? the rice? what brand rice cereal? anything else?

for sleep, why not try:

The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night
Elizabeth Pantley

or Good Nights : The Happy Parents’ Guide to the Family Bed (and a Peaceful Night’s Sleep!)
Jay Gordon, Maria Goodavage

[Anonymous]

i never thought about the brand of rice cereal… now that you mention,
i think we did switch. we just bought whatever they had at the
store. we’re using gerber now, but i’m not sure what we had
before. until this morning i didn’t even realize we’d changed
brands but i asked my husband because i noticed it was dissolved better
the last few days, and he said it was because we’d switched to a new
box. i had no idea a new brand could bother allie. lindy
was so easy going, she would eat anything without problems, brand was
never an issue, not even for formula… wow. he slept
better last night (only up twice, and actually went back down after
eating and being soothed!) so maybe he just needed to adjust.
that’s what i am hoping. if not, do we need to cut back on the
rice or try to find the first brand? thanks for the
suggestion. never thought of that…

[Anonymous]

Gerber has soy in it – Beechnut does not. Yes, Gerber does mix better
but many babies seem to have problems on it. I’d try to stick with
Beechnut if you can.

[Author]

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