Reflux baby sleeping on his front - can I reduce the risks?

[Charingcrossbun]

My 11week old DS has never been a great sleeper but over the last month as his reflux got worse - to the point where he is now on gaviscon - he has woken for feeds more and more until 1.5hrs sleep for me was a result. Last night I cracked. After feeding him at 2000, 2100, 2230, 0130 and then him writhing and screaming when being put back in his Moses basket, I turned him onto his front. It worked (ish) he slept until 0400, had a feed and is now still sleep at 0730. I have the warnings of doom from the health visitor and the scary SIDS leaflets in my head. Anything I can do to make sleeping on his front safer?

My DS2 has severe reflux and slap slept on his front from early days.

I minimised all other risk factors, eg breast feeding, bedside crib, non smoker, no drinking etc

I hated doing it, but my DS needed the sleep as much as I did.

I would also recommend ranitidine, it really helped

Sleep next to him. Also have naps in the sling. You'll never quite relax but I found sleeping with my babies meant I was alert to them. Ds had reflux and at 12 weeks he stopped breathing (on his back). This was enough for me to put him on his side (a compromise to back sleeping)

I bought a wedge pillow for DS's Moses basket which helped to an extent. It went under his mattress and meant that he was elevated, meaning his reflux wasn't quite a disruptive. Ended up using this as well as putting him on his side (supported by rolled up towel) and it meant we got more than 45m at a time. Not a huge amount more, but alas!

Gaviscon caused more harm than good for DS. The constipation, combined with the reflux, meant he writhed and woke himself up screaming daily. Ended up on ranitidine -which was brilliant for about 6 weeks until it stopped working-and now on losec.

The comfort feeding is so frustrating as it just masked everything worse. Have you tried cutting one or two out and trying to settle with dummy/cuddles? I know your DC is super little and it may not be the route you want to go down but I found that, certainly for my DS, the more he ate, the more miserable he was. We ended up trying to feed only two to three times between 7-7, offering dummy, cuddles and water (only 1-2 oz) to try and resettle. Obviously of he was hungry, I'd feed but, more often than not, a cuddle would get him back down for another short stretch.

It's hell. Fingers crossed it gets better soon

Agree that gaviscon actually made things worse for me however my daughter started on that much earlier is now on omeprazole however still have the odd day where even the car seat isn't upright enough for her. Ended up co sleeping... Always swore I wouldn't and couldn't see why people took the risk. She won't take dummy, won't sleep on front however every night I spend at least a couple of hours trying to get her to sleep any which way in the bednest I spent lots of money on! Obviously it isn't ideal them being on the front however at the minute I would be happy with that. I reached point where I almost fell asleep Sat on edge of bed holding the baby as I was that tired... Had actually Sat there so I wouldn't fall asleep in bed with her.

Sorry think I have waffled but basically if you are trying your hardest to make everything as safe as possible you are doing your best but you can't make them sleep a way in which they don't want to.

Although maybe asking for stronger medication may be better at this stage? My daughter is on omeprazole which really made a difference as she screamed constantly before that. She also likes sleeping on her left side so if I do get her in cot it's usually on her side, but I think it's safer than being in my bed so take it.

Sympathies. We had strong ranitidine and Domperidone here, and it was only time and going lactose free that solved it. Haves look at how much dairy is in your diet and if the levels have changed recently?

I never used one, but what about an Angelcare monitor?

We found a take away swing (fisher price) was a god send. DS managed to turn into his side at 3 weeks, so from them onwards that was how he slept (using two tube like things to keep him on his side)

He would sleep in the sling or the swing.

Good luck.

I was going to suggest the angelcare monitor. We have one and I find it massively reassuring. Not cheap, though.

Another plug for the breathing monitor here. Welcome to the tummy club!

The angel care monitor is on offer at Mothercare at the moment. £65 instead of £100.