My 3 1/2 month old son has reflux and has colic. He was put on nutramigen and prevacid. He started out doing a lil better. He may sleep 10 mins here and there through the day and would go to sleep at 8pm-2am, eat then sleep til 5/6am. However in the past week we started adding rice to his bottle which is helping with the spitting up but at night he has been waking up every 1/2 hour- hour. He seems to be gassy. What can I do? Is it the rice? or is the reflux peaking? does he need a higher dosage of prevacid? Please help!!
Q: My 3 1/2 month old son has reflux and wont sleep!
Answers (1)
9/23/09 6:16am
Hello! So sorry you are on the night shift! I wonder if the rice cereal is causing some digestive issues. Gas and even constipation may result from adding rice cereal to the diet. Ask the doctor if you should give it a few more days for his body to adjust or maybe decrease the amount of rice cereal.
Oh how I wish this reflux treatment wasn't so complicated!
jan
10/11/09 10:59am
Hello again, Thanks for the update. I am glad you are making progress. I wish reflux treatment was like a big on/off switch and everything got better right away. In reality, slow and steady seems to be the trend.
I am glad he is feeling better and responding to the treatment. The goal of the treatment should be to reduce the pain. Do you think he is in pain when he wakes up? I would hope that the medication and diet are helping to reduce or eliminate the pain. If you are satisfied that he is not in pain at night and he is waking up from habit or a light sleep pattern due to previous pain, you can begin to help him learn to sleep through the night. This is a process too. I know some parents use the cry it out method but it was too sad for me or my babies. However, some parents report that after a few nights of crying, everyone sleeps just fine. My approach was to always make night waking as boring and uninteresting as possible. I would decrease or eliminate the night feeding if the doctor says he is getting enough calories by day. Maybe decrease the amount in the bottle over time and then switch to water only at night. My babies thought this was really a terrible idea. When I was nursing at night, I set a timer and only nursed for 10 minutes, then 8 minutes, etc until the need to have a snack was greatly reduced.
I have heard success stories with just about every feeding method and diet. I have concluded that the best diet for a baby with reflux is the one he/she tolerates...so if the Gentle Ease is digesting well, keep going. I am going to attend the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference next week so I will certainly be on the lookout for the lastest information on the best diet/formula options for babies with reflux. Check back next week for a series of Shareposts on the conference.
Meanwhile, I hope you both get some rest. Take one day at a time and enjoy your little guy, even if he wants to see the sun rise every day!
Jan
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By educk26— Last Modified: 12/27/10, First Published: 09/22/09
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Jan,
Thanks for the comments. My son just turned 4 months old on the 6th. Under the doctors advice we switched his formula from Nutramigen to Enfamil Gentle Ease. We are adding the 1tbsp of rice per ounce and he is currently taking prevacid 5mg 2x's a day. Although everything seems to be improving with age (still spits up throughout the day) we can not get him to sleep through the night. He goes to bed at 8pm then wakes between 11 and 2 for a bottle then up again at 5 for a bottle. We do have a wedge in his crib to keep him elevated. Do you have any suggestions as to getting him to sleep through the night. My other two kids never had reflux and slept through the night by 3 months. Any advice would be useful....thanks!! Also we just switch the formula yesterday. have you heard anything negative about gentle ease not working well with reflux babies??