Awful reflux vomiting at night

[WLmum]

Dd is 4 months and has reflux which is reasonably well controlled in the daytime with infant gaviscon before feeds (she is ebf). At night however she is so sick after her feed that I often have to change her cot sheet, sleeping bag and my pjs! Am too tired to change my sheets which are also often puked on.

We get into a feed/sick cycle as she needs to be fed to sleep so last night we were up 2.5 hours.
I think the problem might be that she generally sleeps from about 8 til 3 by which time her little tum is empty so she guzzles loads which is triggering the vomit.

Am going to try getting her up for a feed about 11 tonight to see if shorter gaps helps.

Just wondered if anyone has experienced similar and found anything that helps.

Thanks!

[WLmum]

Anyone?

[roundtable]

Sucking a dummy seems to have help my ds. He's nearly four months and I've just given him one, even though I wasn't that keen.

Taking him off and burping him frequently through feeds too although my sisterfound her baby just got angry if she did that.

Also bfing him in a more upright position helps too, so he sort of straddles my thigh. He now will sometimes burp whilst feeding.

He is still sick a lot and gets tummy ache but it helps.

Good luck!

[CognitiveOverload]

Has she got any kind of sleep support to keep her jead higher? Maybe try different meds or keep her upright a bit longer after a feed before lying her down.

[KatOD]

Yep we had similar, bad reflux but guzzling didn't help. We did what you're proposing and introduced a dream feed (though she often woke up) at about 10:30pm and it helped a bit. Also kept her upright while feeding and for quite a while afterwards.

Have you tilted her bed? Tried getting her to sleep on a wedge of foam so she's slightly more upright while sleeping?

It's exhausting but it does get better. Good luck.

[WLmum]

Hi all, thanks for your help. Yep, her cot is tilted and I try to keep her at an angle while she feeds. I have tried a dummy on and off since she was born but she won't take it.

I tried a dream feed at 12 last night (the pain of setting my alarm!) which helped with the sick but she still took over an hour to settle each time with some little sicks.

I'm trying to get an apt with the dr to discuss alternative meds - I was thinking domperidone - any experiences?

Thanks so much!

[silverangel]

Sounds like you definitley need more medication to keep it under control.

DTs were on Gaviscon (which is essentialy a thickener), Domperidone (which means the milk passes through more quickly) and Ranitidine (which is Zantac for children and neutralises the acid so it doesnt hurt as much on the way back out).

Can you increase the Gaviscon - we did it by volume which must be harder when you are BF (we were FF), and do all the obvious stuff, propping up the cot / keeping upright / cot wedges etc? One DT slept in her bouncy chair for a few weeks as was the only way she could settle.

Also, I used to keep a stak of muslins over the cot wedges we used which meant after sick inthe middle of the night I could just whip a couple away which meant I didnt have to change all bedding in the middle of the night.

[WLmum]

Thanks silver I didn't think I could increase the gaviscon as there's only 2 doses cited - under and over 10lbs. Will talk to the dr about it when our apt eventually comes round (stupidly hard to get an apt here - was told yesterday there is a month wait to see the practice paed, and at least 2 weeks for other drs).

[WLmum]

Dd sleeps on her tummy so the whole cot is tilted