4 month sleep regression/reflux or both?

[Scarlett175]

After a sleepless night I am looking for help/advice please

DD has been in a loose routine since 5 weeks old (is almost 14 weeks now) and had been sleeping thru from 8pm until 3 or 4am which was heavenly.

Over the last fortnight all that has gone haywire. Firstly she has become more sicky than the usual posset, sometimes sick 3-4 times after a feed, arching her back and fussing during feeds and waking up in the night with a scream. she also has lots of clear bubbly spit up which seems to cause her discomfort. Some days are worse than others with all these symptoms... but she generally seems grumpy although not crying constantly. I have been typical worried mum and googling this think its silent reflux or reflux- DH thinks I am a mad hypochodriac and the sleep disturbances are just the usual we can expect from a baby. I would accept this but she used to stir, toss, wiggle and wake up gradually for a feed, not with an almighty scream!! I have lifted the head of her moses basket slightly to see if it helps- am I going mad???

Please advise

x

anyone...

Hi scarlette, trust your instinct. The discomfort, screaming, clear spit up all point to reflux/silent reflux. My DS has this and it sounds very similar.

I wasn't confident at first and he had a choking incident where the acid came up and he couldn't breathe as he was on his back. That made me go to the docs. Does your DD ever have incidents where she's on her back and goes red and catches her breath? Sorry to scare you - DS was fine once we picked him up and cleared his nose but it scared me.

We got infant gaviscon from the gp. It made little difference so I went back four times and finally was prescribed ranitidine, which neutralises te acid. It made a huge difference.

I'd suggest you see your GP and see if they can help.

I forgot to say - his symptoms got worse at 12 weeks old. I think reflux peaks around 3-4 months which might be why you're seeing things get worse. It doesn't help that there's the sleep regression too!

Are you BF or formula? I ask because some babies are intolerant to cows milk which can cause reflux or make it worse. You can cut out dairy if BF (takes a couple of weeks to see improvements) or ask your GP to prescribe hypoallergenic formula.

Hi Igglybuff

thanks for responding, am EBF so will try to cut our dairy and am going to take her to the docs this week. We have had a similar incident to what you describe actually- I thought it was due to us co-sleeping at the time and the fact that she was feeding a lot lying down which seems to make things worse so we have stopped this the last few nights (the feeding lying down), whats annoying about all of this is DH thinking I am making something out of nothing and that all babies vomit/cough etc like this. Oh well...

My DH used to tease me for over reacting and being overly concerned etc etc. However he was there for the choking and realised that was not normal.

My midwife convinced me DS's behaviour was normal (although she didn't see it).

I was very unsure especially as being a new mum. It's hard not to be when we've not done this before! However, over the months I've learned to trust my instincts.

Your GP might need convincing too (my DS went on nursing strike as he was in so much pain and still they didn't take me seriously!) so be prepared to push.

Also I spoke to a BF counsellor who gave me great tips on making DS more comfortable. These were:
Keep upright for 30 mins after a feed
Keep the nappies loose and don't dress baby in trousers or anything cutting into the waist. I bought DS dungarees.
Wind by patting not rubbing.
Use a dummy! I was anti dummy but this helped. After a feed I'd give DS a dummy as it helped keep everything move in the right direction. Especially when he was in a carseat as they out pressure on the tummy.

I also put DS to bed on his left hand side (when co sleeping and in his cot). On the left is better as the oesophagus (sp?) is slightly above the stomach

Anyway I hope that helps. It's horrible seeing them in pain and not being sure what it is.