How can I get my baby with suspected silent reflux to sleep?

[beckilg]

My DD is just over 5 weeks old and has been suffering with eating for 2 weeks and so far I feel we've tried everything! HV suggested anti-reflux milk to start which was incredible and we were actually able to get some sleep as parents as well as watching her being comfortable whilst feeding but this made her constipated which resulted in her being even more upset and in pain so we stopped it. We went to the docs and tried gaviscon which again made her constipated and now have ranitidine which I'm not sure if doing much at the minute (it's been 3 days) but isn't making her constipated so I don't mind carrying on to see if it is starting to help.

She's just not eating very much at a time. Tonight she's only having an ounce a time and therefore waking up every hour/ hour and a half and I can't cope because it's reflux she needs to be sitting up for 20-30 mins after eating so by the time she's in her cot I only get about 20 mins sleep before she's awake again. I'm losing my mind.

Any advice or help would be amazing right now as her dad goes to work at 6am each morning so I'm trying to do the feeds from midnight onwards.

Oh love it’s hard! I’ve had two reflux babies and I just want to say it does get better!
But the beginning can be hard graft, both mine slept upright on me for the first 8 weeks of their lives as laying down flat just wasn’t an option. Co-sleeping helped us lots after that, as I could half prop them
Up on my arm. DH can sleep in the spare room because you will make noise during the night!

With the constipation on reflux milk, it normally gets better with time. Maybe give it a longer go? And deffo give the ranitidine longer. Gaviscon was hit and miss for us, but aptamil reflux milk has been a saviour.
Sling wearing also massively helped us and LOTS of tummy time (sling time counts as this too!!

There is no magic trick I can give you except to get through it however you can and however ends up in more sleep for you both. Sleep = growth and growth = better gastro environment usually.

A sling all day until 6 months old.

I’m so sorry it’s very hard. Good luck x

Thank you both! I figured that would be the way but didn't realise how awful I'd be with no sleep! Co-sleeping scares me as I'm quite a deep sleeper but I think we're going to have to try something. You're definitely right with trying the ranitidine for longer but, as I'm sure you know, it's hard watching your baby be upset/uncomfortable/in pain at all so I just want a quick fix for her!

Thank you both xx

Sounds like my baby. As well as silent reflux she had cow’s milk intolerance. We moved her onto special formula and also added a thickener to help it stay down.
She slept for her naps on her tummy with her cot propped at the head end. She had an angelcare mat and I checked on her very frequently.
At night she slept in a side wedge with the cot propped high, 30 degree angle.
Once we did all that she was like a different baby. 3 long naps in the day, slept through the night from 12 weeks.
It is just not possible to lay a reflux baby flat on their back and hope for good sleep.

Here she is in the side wedge. She is swaddled and all wrapped up as it was February (in Switzerland) and snowing outside but you get the idea.

Much sympathy, reflux babies are hard! Ranitidine took about 10 days before l saw an improvement in my baby and until then he slept upright on me or short periods in the cot with the end propped up. As a last resort l had to put him to sleep fairly upright in the baby bouncer a few times when I was at risk of falling asleep holding him.

Give the ranitidine a big longer to work and once it's working make sure to get baby weighed and the dose recalculated to keep up with weight gain.

There is always omeprazole to try if the ranitidine doesn't help

Wow LapinR0se so there is hope! Thanks and I will definitely look in to this. Permanently at the doctors at the moment it feels but I do want to help her to feed and sleep. Your gorgeous girl looks snuggled and very content.

Thanks sundaysunday. I'm going to give it at least another week where she will hopefully improve but it's nice to know there are other things out there too! Can't believe how many babies suffer from reflux x

If you’re bottle feeding try Carobel, it thickens the milk and was the only thing that worked for DD. You poor thing, the sleep issues with silent reflux are awful.

For the constipation when my boy was small he was terrible with it sounds just like your lo his doctor at the time who was very old fashioned but also worked as a top paediatric doctor in great Ormond said to give him 1ml of prune juice to 3ml of water 2-3 times a day every other day and it worked a dream so along with comfort milk and colief he was a different baby sound sleeps and content. Like I said he was very old fashioned but did my boy no harm and worked.

Prop the mattress up, put a book under the end of the cot to tilt it. Also had an angel care mat, we took the side off the cotbed and pushed it up to the side of our bed so it was easy to feed her and just move her over sideways into her own space so I could sleep. All naps where on her front in the same room as us until she was 6 months. She would sleep in the carrycot of her pram for naps and I’d just move it from room to room depending on what I was doing or in her cot and I’d lay in bed next to her either catching up on sleep or just reading/relaxing for a little bit.

It does get better, DD slept through from 4 months and is now 2.9 and sleeps through from 6:30pm - 6:30/7am

It's challenging. After seeing a Paeds Consultant we gave DD1 2 nights a week on a weight based dose of Calpol x3 which meant three, 3 hour blocks of sleep. This was a massive improvement. She was 7 months though not in the fourth trimester.

DH and I managed it up until then by sleeping in the car in a nearby lay-by between 8pm and midnight. We took it in turns. DD1 and I rode the bus during the day as she would sleep in the pram whilst moving. I was too tired to safely drive. I took a pillow and chose circular routes lasting more than one hour.

In reality, I now understand we needed more people. We needed some real life, real people support. Home Start may be able to offer help if your friends and family will not/cannot help.

Thinking of you. 😘

Ranatadine dosage needs to be changed all the time once her weight goes up. You will be getting very friendly with the doctor over the next few months so I’m glad to hear that they are helpful.

Carobel has milk products in it also so no good if there is allergy.

Stick with the Zantac. The thing is you don’t know if it’s actually working unless you stop and then you realise what it has been doing! Don’t stop taking it. Good luck and sorry for the quick reply last night, my battery was going and I just wanted to say something because I knew you had a long night ahead.

Best wishes x

You're all so helpful and have really been through some tough times!! If the ranitidine doesn't work I'll definitely try the prune juice and reflux milk because that was helping her. I'm lucky as I've got a lot of family support so I just need to be a little less proud and ask for their help!

I'm hoping that she will have some relief soon but you've all definitely eased my mind and given me some tips to try. I think I was just overly worried as I work in childcare so focus on lots of risk assessments daily and just want to get this right for my girl.

Thanks xx

Definitely look at a wedge for her crib/Moses basket to prop her up it was a godsend with DD. She also had a bouncer in the day that could be slightly propped up and came with a newborn insert so very secure for her head (Chicco Mia I think it was) again amazing as she wasn’t laying flat and uncomfortable. I switched my DDs milk at 3 months from aptimal to cow and gate and this really helped her symptoms.

I hope things get betttr for you and DD soon, it doesn’t last forever hang in there

Thank you, we're on cow and gate so hopefully it's not as bad as it could be! It's a good job I love cuddling my lovely one. I think we will get a wedge although everything in our house seems to be on an incline at the moment! Thanks x