I'm new here and this is my millionth post today--lots of questions!

My 11 month old was diagnosed with GERD a couple of months ago. Since birth, she has been a terrible sleeper, awakening about every hour to hour-and-a-half every night. (You can imagine the bags under my eyes).

I have a wedge in her crib that raises her head about 4 inches, but not sure if this is enough.

She started taking Pepcid in early Sept and I noticed some improvement in sleep (3-4 hour stretches); however, after a few weeks on the medicine it stopped working. She just started Prevacid yesterday and I'm hopeful that things will improve. In the meantime, she goes to bed around 7:30 and will sleep until about 9pm. Then, she's up every hour to hour-and-a-half until around 7am. Nothing , aside from putting her on my shoulder or nursing will get her back to sleep. I assume that she's waking up because she's uncomfortable.

Anyone else been though this? Is there anything I can do?

She probably is uncomfortable! Hopefully the prevacid will help you guys out more :D We got a late diagnosis too, it was so awful not treating the right problem for the first year!!

Hi! We've definitely been there. I still have the bags to prove it. :? You may need to raise the crib mattress more than 4 inches. I have heard that ideally it should be at a 30 degree angle. Can you try elevating the mattress more -we always just changed the mattress height setting on one end but not the other. Also, until the Prevacid kicks in, can you give her some Mylanta before bedtime, and see if that helps?

I so wish I could say something that would help but my daughter is 3 and stilldoesn't sleep through the night. For Kat, posistioning helps a lot. The first year, she slept on my chest and I had to be elevated. She has always slept on her stomach. I know it is for comfort but when they are young, you worry about stomach sleeping.

Thanks for the suggestions--dh and I are going to raise Bethany's crib this weekend to see if this helps. (have no idea how we'll keep an active 11 month old from rolling, though...)

A question--someone suggested giving her some Mylanta before bedtime (along with the Prevacid). My ped is out tomorrow, so can't ask him...how much do you give? does this come in children's doses?

It does come in children's doses. There is even a children's Mylanta. I have never given it to Kat though, so I am no help on the dose.

Towels under the mattress work great for elevating.

Most GIs will tell you not to use Children's Mylanta (our's said it will make reflux worse). Just use regular Mylanta Supreme (cherry tastes pretty good :wink: ) and we were told to give 1/2 tsp every 4 hrs as needed (he was 12 lbs at the time). Also, try not to give the Mylanta within an hour of the Prevacid since it can inhibit absorption. I hope it helps!

At 11 months old, part of the waking *could* be attributed to learned behavior. She is *used* to waking up and hasn't learned how to stay asleep. Every kid does it when they're ready, though some do need help to learn they can do it.

BUT GERD kids are critters of a different sort, in my experience. I know that my non-GERDlings were able to sleep 10-12 hours solid through the night (even when nursed vs bottle fed) by sometime around 4 months old. My 11mo GERDling sleeps from about 7:30pm to 10:30pm, has a half-asleep feed, and then sleeps until around 7am. So he can go about 8-9 hours. I don't know if it's partly because of the formula he's on (good start) - he was on nutramigen before and could sleep about 4-5 hours - but when we were still nursing, he was up about every 3 hours once we got him on meds.

If you think the waking is due to pain, try anything and everything to solve that - you BOTH need to sleep! (I think I'm still operating on a sleep deficit from the first 6 months, :lol: .)

Egads, I can't go another 2 months, lol! Sorry to hear there's someone else here as totally sleep deprived as I am! :(

I wonder why Chidlren's Mylanta would make the reflux worse...? I will go get the regular Mylanta Supreme and see if this helps.

As for the night wakings, I am not totally sure she's always in pain--I think that it may be partly learned behavior, as someone else said. If so, how can I tell the difference? I don't want to let her cry it out (partly bc I can't stand to hear her cry, party bc I'm afraid she actually is in pain). Any suggestions?

Oh, on a better note--she only woke up 4 TIMES last night! Woo hoo!!

Yes, the regular mylanta cherry flavor helps over here too!

Yes, the regular mylanta cherry flavor helps over here too!