6 months yesterday, I neeeed sleep

[Sunnytimes21]

Hi, my son is only just 6 months, so maybe I'm being premature. My other 3 children slept through from 6 weeks to 3 months though, so it seems a little alien to me. So Jojo is waking every 3 hours through the night for feeds. I've tried soothing him by putting my hand on his tummy and stroking his head. But he's hungry and drinks 4/5oz every 3 hours. He suffers from reflux, is this why he's nowhere near sleeping through? I try to feed as much as poss during the day but it doesn't make any difference. He can't drink more than 5/6oz at a time because it comes back up, so I figure his stomach isn't up for a big feed. I've tried waiting for 4 hours between daily feeds but he screams with no consolidation after 3 hours. Just looking for clues to why he's not sleeping for more than 3 hours. Does reflux do this? My other children haven't suffered from this, so maybe my inexperience is expecting too much from him?

He'll have a 11pm dream feed and then a 3am and 6am roughly, but wakes every half hour or so between 3 and 6am...when I put his dummy in and 'settle' him...we're exhausted 😩

Fellow reflux mum of a 7.5 month old. Yes it's the reflux, as much as they maybe hungry the milk cools the burning sensation in their throat. Have you tried gaviscon etc? Laying them on their left side? Have you started weaning as that should help in time too.

@Sazzlehead amazing, thank you. He's been on gaviscon for months but the reflux is still a huge issue. Funny you should say about the left side as when I can't take any more, we cosleep... on the left side, and this settles him. I'm just relieved to hear that this is probably what's going on. How do people have any more than one child when they've been through this 😅

@Sazzlehead we've just started weaning but he also has a possible lactose intolerance...is on 50/50 sma Pro and sma althera (because he wont drink more than 50% althera, because it's horrible). So is quite sicky...and I'm wondering whether what I'm feeding him is worsening the situation. Feeling quite overwhelmed 😕

Sorry just seen this. I hope you managed to get some sleep in the end. If you read about reflux in adults it says left side sleeping will help symptoms. I'm all out of ideas so I'm trying anything and everything.

I know it really doesn't help now but this is a problem for only a short period. Also if you were to have another child they may well not have reflux. I have a 3.5 year old and she didn't, whereas my son also has cows milk protein allergy as well as reflux.

Have you tried omazeprol

Sorry that posted too quickly. It was meant to say omeprazole? It hasn't helped my son but does other reflux babies.

Also have you tried baby in a cot rather than co-sleeping? just wondered if it would give you a bit of a break?

Gaviscon made DS constipated so we switched to omeprazole.

We saw some improvements in wakeups but in all honesty I think he just needed time. Sleep is developmental and some babies just take longer than others.

At 10mo he mostly sleeps through, and is no longer on omeprazole. We also suspected a link to dairy so I cut out dairy from mine (EBF) and his diet for a while, but we've recently introduced it and he's been fine.

@Sazzlehead thank you for your reply. We have a dietician appointment this afternoon so I'll ask her about trying omeprazole. How did you get your son's cows milk protein allergy diagnosed? The dietician has prescribed us SMA althera because my son screamed for his first few months and they suspected a lactose intolerance. They're reviewing that today and he has settled down a lot since being on it. I just wonder how these things are actually diagnosed.
Re the cosleeping, thats really just a last resort which happens once a week ish. He sleeps in his cot most nights, but not particularly well.

I was breastfeeding but everytime I tried to put him on formula he got really bad upset stomach. I tried pretty much every formula. Docs put him on an amino acid formula as he was so unsettled. So it's really just a guess but his tummy is much better for it

@Calphurnia88 I've just put him down for his nap and lingered in his nursery watching him because he wasn't settling. He definitely looks uncomfortable, he is tired but when he relaxes he also squirms and kicks his legs. Finally asleep now. 🤞 for omeprazole.
@Sazzlehead that sounds like our story, although he didn't agree with breast milk either.
Thank you both, it's reassuring to know that it's all probably just routine baby issues

Yeah breastmilk didn't agree with my boy either but was the lesser of the 2 evils. Maybe ask about amino acid formula?

I can give some advice about reflux/cows milk allergy. My twin girls spent the first 6 months of their lives crying in pain. After continuously trying to get help from GP and health visitor and trying lots of different things we eventually found our solution. Prior to this the girls would often refuse to feed at all due to the pain it caused. And almost ended up in hospital being tube fed due to dehydration.

I'll share what worked for us but obviously every baby is individual. We have cows milk free formula - aptamil pepti (advised by dietician and then prescribed by GP). We thicken this with carobel to reduce the sickness. As I combi feed I also limit the amount of cows milk products I drink/eat. The girls are also on omeprazole, prescribed by GP under the direction of a paediatrician.

Additionally weaning has also improved things, due to thicker meals and less fluid intake I think.