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Severe reflux - could a professional sleep consultant help?

4 replies

sotiredicoulddie · 06/01/2016 09:48

I am close to breaking point. My DS is 7 months and has had terrible silent reflux from birth (his older sister had it too but not this bad.) He has never really slept for more than 1.5hrs at a stretch and its generally closer to 20-40mins. The exception to this is if he's upright in the sling and he does most of his naps like this so that I can get some rest but obviously not practical in the night. He is seeing a paediatrician and on a max dose of Omeprazole plus Neocate formula due to a number of allergies. I just recently stopped breast-feeding as my milk was clearly making him uncomfortable - despite cutting out milk/egg/soy for the past 4 months. Since he is now well established on solids and finally moving up the centiles instead of down I have also managed to more or less cut out the night feeds and he has never fed to sleep as the feeding just aggravates his symptoms. But the night weaning hasn't really seemed to help. Even if he self-settles at the start of the night he still wakes every 20-30mins at least for the first few hours and though I try to feed him a good 45mins before putting him to bed he is horribly windy for hours and I'm pretty sure his uncomfortable stomach is preventing him from settling.

My question i whether this is all physiological (and a matter of waiting until his system matures) or if we'd benefit from a professional sleep consultant to help us commit to a plan. I know they're very expensive but I'm supposed to start work next month and just don't know how I'm going to survive. (Plus its really affecting my daughter's sleep and all our family relationships.) I'd really rather not go down the CC route - especially if its not just behavioural - but I equally wonder whether the gentle methods would work... I've weaned him off his dummy a number of times but always end up giving it back to him when he seems in pain from the wind...

Any advice or recommendations would be really welcome (we're based in north London...)

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FATEdestiny · 06/01/2016 13:11

I wonder if a post in the infant feeding section may help - CMPI in your title. I can offer lots of advise on baby's sleep, but you need someone who understands CMPI and reflux to advise you better.

There are a few posters who pop onto the sleep board every now and again with experience of allergies like this, but not all that often.

The only thing I know is that the NHS recommend a dummy for babies with reflux. It might be a bit late to introduce a dummy successfully at this age though.

I wouldn't want to suggest any sleep training method that involved crying just incase the reason for the crying is pain rather than tiredness.

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sotiredicoulddie · 07/01/2016 09:04

Thanks FATEdestiny - that's really helpful and I'll try the other board. We do use a dummy but I wonder whether its doing more harm than good. But also feel strongly about avoiding any full-on sleep training if he might still be in pain. Its so hard to tell though sometimes...

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ScottishDiblet · 07/01/2016 09:09

I'm so sorry for your poor little one. Silent reflux must be awful (and hard for you too). Try contacting "the magic sleep fairy" Alison Scott-Wright who specialises in reflux and sleep training. She has written an excellent book which we used to sleep train our baby (who did not have reflux). She is currently helping a friend of ours who has a child with terrible reflux. Good luck and best wishes.

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Sharons86 · 27/07/2021 13:52

@sotiredicoulddie hi 👋🏽 this is years on from your post. But I am in the exact same boat as you. Did you get any help to improve sleep? How did your lo get on?

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