You are 16 mo. Why oh why are you STILL such a crappy sleeper?!

[pickledlily]

DD hates sleeping and has never slept well (ticks every box on the 'high needs' checklist). It's been like one long sleep regression. However we thought we'd had a break through last month when she was finally diagnosed with silent reflux again, prescribed Ranitidine and magically her cough and night waking disappeared. For 2 nights. She then went back to waking every 2 hours and getting up at 5am.

I suppose the first couple of wakings could be habit but during the early morning wake ups she is windy with her stomach popping and fizzing away. Any suggestions why she is so windy?

And why the hell she is waking every 2 hours?! She used to self settle 50% of the time (doesn't anymore) and she's getting more and more difficult to get to sleep in the first place. She's also turned into a boob monster again - i've been trying to wean her off but she's been getting very clingy and screams when I leave the room during the day. It's not teeth. Or ears (have checked). Or a wonder week. That's about all the excuses I can think of.

I could cope with regular wakings, or early mornings, but not both. Sorry, bit of a ramble. So many things that seem to be awry, not sure where to start.

oh feeling your pain - and hers too poor thing. omeprazole had same prob here, terrible wind after a couple of days. it was better when the dose was lowered and we've since been told to use as and when needed but I've not as he's 8 months and only just getting into food. plus I don't see the same symptoms we had at 4-5 months when it was really bad, only fussy comfort sucking from 3 or 4 am on some days, so hard to predict. I dealt with it before omeprazole by literally propping him right upright on a pillow and cosleeping. helped at night a lot but not with the daytime symptoms which was a lot of bf refusal. gavisgon helped a bit and I'm wondering whether to try a bit again actually.

I'm not sure this is very helpful as he's a lot younger.

could I ask what symptoms she has had to get the silent reflux diagnosis?

the boob monster thing could be comfort

btw I'm still cosleeping and pillow propping to get through. how old is lo?

Thanks for the reply Clarella, sorry you are having a tough time too. My DD is 16 mo. She was diagnosed with silent reflux at 3mo (wet burps, fussy feeding, not sleeping more than 30mins, arching back, would only sleep upright on me, the list goes on). Prescribed IG (hit & miss as she was a bottle & formula refuser). GP said it would disappear once she was upright/once walking/once on solids/by 1yo (the goal post kept moving) and it did seem to improve slightly.

However the main symptom (didn't realise it earlier on) has been a cough at night, but she has also had every bug known to man since 6mo; GP's response has varied from 'small tubes - coughs always sound worse in babies' - viral - 'could be asthma but we don't diagnose until they are 2' - 'could be reflux but she'll grow out of it when (see list above!!)'. It was only when I realised the cough followed breast feeding and being put down in the cot that an OOH GP immediately said 'reflux' and gave us Ranitidine.

I guess the answer is to quit BF (would have loved to have done this at 6mo but DD had other ideas) but as the BF does appear to be for comfort, am now reluctant to.

Co-sleeping not an option - she's too wriggly. Maybe the reflux is still bothering her - it's so hard to know.

Dosed her up with Nurofen at 4am (having been awake for 1.5hrs) and she then slept until . But I can't feed her Nurofen every night

So mystery solved. She has hand, foot and mouth, poor mite. So much for the HV telling me it was behavioural Fingers crossed her sleep will miraculously right itself once she's feeling better and pigs will fly

Do you think yours might be the 9 mth sleep regression kicking in? I hazily remember DDs sleep being particularly awful around that age.

ooooh poor love I do hope she's better soon.

well, similar to you we regressed at 3.5 months and have never recovered

thanks for listing the symptoms though, I do wonder about the cough from time to time and we definitely had a pretty bad spell of it and occasional slight flares. he also has bladder reflux and takes antibiotics which have always made his tummy funny; if it's not one end it's the other it seems!

I'm happy to continue semi cosleeping and doing gentle sleep training in the hope he'll eventually grow out of it, I worry I'm missing symptoms and he should be on meds but I just don't get the same screaming during feeds or in the morning as I did then.

hope she gets well soon

Just an afterthought but if its reflux and ranitadine briefly worked I'd guess its cmpi and dc needs a dairy and poss soya free diet. No reflux med in the world can work long term if the cause of a dietary intolerance is still aggravating the immune system. If it is this then the change will be remarkable if you do go dairy free.

Interesting Poppet. I had just been thinking about that today. DD hasn't been able to eat because of her mouth ulcers; all she managed yesterday was loads (for her) of cows milk and she was really uncomfortable and reflux-y last night.

How would I go about cutting diary and soya out of our diets without missing out on calcium etc? We both are made of cheese live on the stuff and she doesn't like her greens much. I'll try the GP/HV, but don't expect them to be very helpful.

Where/who else could help?

Hi pickle, both my dc are dairy, egg and soya intolerant. DS1 outgrew it at 1 year. DS2 is 7 months and I am still bfing. I avoid ALL dairy and soya. I'll be honest, it's quite hard. But it is possible. Sources of calcium are from green peppers, parsley, almond milk (google it as there is an exhaustive list) and I take regular calcium supplements. It's very restricting eating out (so I only go to tried and tested places), but it's well worth it as the difference in DS2 is remarkable since I've gone dairy free. You might want to try it (for at least a few weeks for any difference to become apparent). Good luck x

Thanks for the advice. If it has a chance of working, I'm willing to give it a go. I'll have to do a bit of planning (holidays coming up and I'll need to get nursery on board).

I was a bit more organised tonight and gave DD a dose of IG as well as her ranitidine, so let's see if that helps or not.