Our 3 week old has been on Zantac and Reglan for a week now for his reflux. Since then, He's been sleep pretty well at night, in 3 hour chunks, in his infant seat. But during the day, he won't sleep at all, and goes about an hour between feedings. He gets more and more fussy, arching his back, coughing, showing the typical symptoms of the reflux. Overall, he gets probably 8-10 hours per day total. This seems low to me (and is driving my poor breastfeeding wife into the ground!) . Is this normal?

Hello, and sorry to hear that your baby still seems to be in pain even on Zantac and Reglan.

At three weeks of age, babies can be nursing every hour. My daughter was nursing about every 1 1/2 hours the first two weeks...I think mostly to ease her throat from her burning reflux.

As far as sleep goes....my daughter was never a good sleeper during the day as a newborn, and still is not a good napper. I would read these books or phamplets sent home from the hospital that would tell how newborns basically sleep from one feed to the next. Not my daughter! She would be up for large chunks of time and then have 4 or 5, 30-45 minute naps during the day...but slept well at night.

8-10 hours is low. You may want to talk to your doctor if his sleeping doesn't improve. It may be the Reglan. My daughter's sleep was affected by the Reglan...it made her very restless and zombie-like. For a baby that age the average is 16 hours....but that average was based on healthy babies that don't have to deal with the pain caused by reflux.

I hope things start to improve. Most meds take about 2 weeks to start working...but I would watch for side effects from the Reglan...

Hi! So nice to see a Dad on here. :) I am sorry that he is in so much pain and not sleeping well. That was our life also for the first few months until we found the right med combo. If the Zantac and Reglan don't seem to help after another week or two, can you ask your doc for another medication? Also, did the sleeplessness get worse after the Reglan? My son was so irritable and could never sleep when he was on Reglan, and so we switched to an alternative that didn't have the same side effects for him. Reglan works really well for some babies, and does bad things for others....

Please tell your wife to hang in there! We all know how challenging it is to have a baby in pain. Things will get better...

Hi there and welcome to the boards! My boys were the same and it was very hard going. Initially they slept all the time (because they were prem) and then around their due date they started crying most of the day- that was the reflux. It took me ages to get them into a good sleep pattern during the day and it really worked as supposedly at this young age they really shouldn't be up for more than an hour. Once I got them to sleepong better and being on the meds they slept so much better and we could 3 hourly feed around the clock. I agree with Sheila about maybe getting an alternative med. It is so trial and error with the meds and what works for one doesn't work for another.
Big hugs to you and your wife.

Hi and welcome to the boards.

I am the grandmother and since mine are grown I forget about their sleep patterns. Just wanted to welcome you and let you know most of these ladies have been there and will have some really good suggestions.

Best wishes
Jean

Hi there and welcome to a dad!

My GERDling was never a good sleeper and didn't sleep well consistently until he was roughly 2 yo. Since your son's sleep patterns changed once he started on Zantac and Reglan, I'm wondering if the Reglan is affecting him that way. Can you ask the doctor about trying a few days without it?