No sleep: 10 week reflux edition

[Jinglesplodge]

My second baby is about 10 weeks old and ever since he outgrew his newborn jaundice his night sleep has been practically non-existent. He'll only sleep upright on one of us and although that's fine in the day and I can let him nap in the sling, it's no good at night because I need to sleep too.

I feel like I'm in a pickle: the reason he can't sleep is that he has reflux but it's not the painful screaming silent reflux kind (ds1 taught me all about that...) but the happy as you like sick everywhere kind. I have his crib on an insane angle but even still he'll wake within an hour of being put down, coughing and spluttering and hiccuping. This also gets progressively worse as the night goes on so it's not just a case of resettling for another hour or so: the last few hours of the night are always spent with me holding him wiggling and grunting.

I know they don't advise treating reflux that's not affecting weight gain or causing pain: I tried gaviscon but it just constipated him. The health visitor advised to see the doc for ranitidine or omeprazole but I know from DS1 that these neutralise acid, not stop sick, so I'm not sure if they'd do any good.

Is there anyone out there who can either help me figure out how to get some sleep at night or give me hope by telling me about your own experiences where the reflux resolved itself and the baby was able to sleep...?!

I should say I'm fully on board with the 4th trimester thing: if there's a chance this will just turn itself around in a few weeks I'll persevere but the lack of sleep is really starting to take its toll on me and I'm worried I'll fall asleep holding him in the night.

Hopeful bump. I could really use some advice from anyone who has been here.

Jinglesploiledhe while I cant advice, are you on facebook? There is an amazing support group for parents with reflux babies and there will be a lot more people being able to help!

You might already have received advice but my ds is on ranitidine for reflux and it definitely helped reduce the vomiting. He used to puke considerable amounts after each feed (6 weeks ish) but once on ranitidine it reduced to a couple of times a day max and also helped at night. I coslept with him (ebf) for 5 months as it was the only way we could get sleep with the length of feeds and having to stay upright for 30 mins post feeds etc. He also had the grunting/puking over himself when I tried to lay him in Moses basket in the early days. For some reason although lying flat in my bed he slept much better and puked less -
not sure if it was a comfort thing. He’s now 6 months and I think suffering from breakthrough reflux as dose needs adjusting so just to be aware dose is very much weight dependent & will need increasing with babies weight. He was also much happier in the daytime since treatment started.