10 months old and still not sleeping through the night

By Bridget Friday, September 05, 2008

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Hi. My name is Bridget and I have a 10 month old baby who has been diagnosed with GERD and being treated with 15mg of prevacid daily. Since starting the medication at about 7 months old my son has done well-he has doubled the volume of milk he gets and sleeps better . . . However doubling the volume means he has gone from only 6-8 ounces during the day to 12-14 ounces. He used to feed every 1-2 hours at night, now its every 3, which is better but still pretty exhausting. My pediatrician says I need to contiue feeding him at night because he is still not getting enough fluid during the day. My question is if I continue to do this will he be 15 months and I will still be getting up at night? We also rock him to sleep and I have thought of strating some type of sleep training to get him to fall asleep on his own-I just think that if I continue to feed him at night, forcing the issue of sleep training at nap and bedtime will give intermittent reinforcement and just confuse him. I've also heard the cry it out method can provoke symptoms. I guess I'm looking for any advice, suggestions or clues to help. I am nursing, but I supplement with formula as well. I know poor sleep habits are part of GERD, but if the GERD is being controlled what should I do???

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Jan Gambino, Health Guide

9/ 6/08 5:13pm

Hello Bridget,

You are asking many good questions about sleep and reflux. I nursed my refluxers for a long time and it allowed them to grow despite the pain of reflux. It also meant that I was up with them at night.

I have heard other parents report great success with sleep training. If your baby is indeed ready to sleep through the night, a little training may be ok. My daughter cried until she refluxed and then vomiting. After a few nights of finding spit up on the sheets and floor, I abandoned the sleep training. She just wasn't ready. I did spend a lot of time moving her gradually toward day time feeding and less night waking.

-I gave her a transitional object (blanket or stuffed toy) so I wasn't the only transitional object.

-Timed the feeding and only gave her a specific time on the breast. Over time, I decreased the amount of time. This allowed my supply to adjust and her stomach to adjust.

Express some milk and let someone else feed her while you get some rest. There is certainly a correlation between my level of fatigue and the amount and quality of my milk. You want to make sure he isn't waking up because there wasn't enough to eat during the day.

Some doctors recommend adding solids to boost calories and decrease the amount of liquid sloshing around in the stomach. I am not sure if your little one is ready for solids yet.

I bet some other parents will have ideas for you too.

Jan

The Reflux Mom

Bridget

9/12/08 1:22pm

Hi Jan! Thgank you so much for your response! I just have a few more questions . . . So did you daughter naturally just start sleeping through the night once you stopped feeding at night? Did you just gradually wean or decrease either how often or how much you fed her? When she woke, if it wasn't feeding time would you console her? We try to limit my son's feedings to every 3 hours at night and my husband now gives one bottle which is a big help, but we still need to rock him back to sleep and sometimes he is wide awake but happy-not crying-at 3 am!! We let him play alone for up to 1 hour then I usually cave and go in to nurse him back to sleep because I know he needs his rest. I just don't want to create baed habits that will be harder to break down the road! Thanks for all your help.

bridget

mona

9/27/08 10:05pm

Hi Bridget. I don't have much advice but I am going through a similar situation. My 4 month old has been on all the reflux meds you can mention. He is currently on pepsid and pumped breast milk (since he chokes on the breast) He had an upper GI and will have a PH probe in two weeks. He used to love drinking milk early on, even if he was choking but lately I have been force feeding him to get him to drink at least 25 oz in a 24 hour period. My little one does not have a sleeping pattern. Sometimes he will go for a 5-6 hour stretch at night (when I'm lucky) and then sometimes he will wake up every hour. I know that when he is awake it is not because he is spoiled or has bad habits but because he is in pain from the reflux (otherwise he wouldn't sleep on some nights). Sometimes he is wide awake at 3 am and I think it's because the discomfort wakes him up. I rock him (sometimes for hours) until he falls asleep. If he doesn't want to be rocked, I simply let him play in his crib or pack n play next to my bed. One night he fell asleep on his own, but most nights I have to put him to sleep by rocking and dream feeding. I know my baby is not manipulating me. He unfortunately has reflux and that is what is keeping him up.

Conserned Mom -Go with Your Heart...

10/21/08 1:33pm

Hi All. Reflux is not a disease or a condition. It is a word used to described a serious of problems. The main issue is not how to treat the reflux but what is causing the relfux and to stop it there. I highly recommend you have a stool sample done to determine if there are any pathogens such as an imbalance in gut flora or a possible parasitic or bacterial overgrowth. One very common issue arising is a CANDIDA aka YEAST OVERGROWTH. This can cause relfux among other symptoms, such as eczema and allergies. I had a child who, after 7 months of refluxing and "spitting up" was cured with a course of NYSTATIN, an antifungal. Within 2 days he stopped "spitting up" and within 1 month we never had another episode nor does he have gas or bloating or anything else. We give him a calcium supplement to strengthen his lower esophageal sphincter and probitoics to make sure his gut flora is just right.
God bless and I hope your child is healed.

Anonymous

3/14/09 6:21am

I am going through pretty much exactly the same. My daughter is 11 months, on reflux meds. Waking 3 times a night to feed and other times from discomfort/ burping. I want her to sleep through the night so that she'll suffer less discomfort but dont' want to let her cry it out. We tried that and she screamed until she vomited. Not nice. If you've found any answers, I'd love to hear!

All the best

Elizabeth

leah

9/ 1/09 6:09pm

my son is 9 mths old has gerd which id love never to here of again my son use to at 4 mths seem to sleep fine once started gaviscon odd wake but odd reassurance back to sleep he went, hit 6mths and started with these symptoms normally gose to bed at 9pm and is awake continuously through the night stretching an cramping moaning and groaning crying and also is in a different position every 30secs which seems to be he is in discomfort, i am assuming, i have seen a specialist who wants to see me again in 4 weeks over this and has now gave me zantac, which is to help with the burning sensation reflux which he seems to think is keeping him up at night i am exhausted i have to work through the day on 3 to 4 hours sleep which is broken cause he is always in my bed as he wakes his self up during the night in pain so i can keep putting him back in an up right position is only way i get bit of sleep otherwise i am up down every 10 min and comforting him back to sleep as he hits his head on cot him moving into different positions and swallowing, if pick him up after a while he will do a wet burp during what he does he is still very sleepy and floppy so i no his waking isnt for attention doctors thinks all this is part to do with the burping and colic reflux he is waking an to grin an bare it till he grows out of it apart from racking my brain day and night dreading to go to bed what night will bring wondering what to do next they seem reluctant to help an over caring mum.i am to keep him on gaviscon in his water other wise spits it up and in his milk and take zantac i am starting to lose faith my son is in pain and clearly in discomfort and i dont no what else to do can i demand further tests plz hope anyone has advice thanks...

10 months old and still not sleeping through the night

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