Overwhelmed!

[pastrygirl]

Hi everyone... I'm overwhelmed, and probably have that in common with many of you! My son will be 9 weeks old tomorrow (5 weeks adjusted age) and his reflux is keeping him from sleeping well. My older son was on Zantac for 6 months and it helped; he was tough to put to sleep, once he was asleep he was zonked. How I miss those "tough" days!!! I wish that was my only problem now.

Caleb's first two weeks were blissful. Then he woke up and started nursing constantly, just like my older son had done. He was diagnosed with posterior tongue tie, just like my older son. Got it clipped at 4 weeks, thinking it would solve the constant nursing issue... but then came the screaming. Oh, the screaming!! I waited two weeks to see if the tongue tie clipping/re-learning to latch would be the miracle cure, but it wasn't. Finally, about three weeks ago, I told my pediatrician that I suspected reflux.

We have gagging, drenching spit-up, waking every two minutes during naps, screaming when asleep, curling up, all the good stuff. At least the gas issue has gotten better; he doesn't writhe around for hours at night anymore. The pediatrician prescribed Zantac and it helped for a couple of days, but then things got worse. We moved onto Prilosec, and things are worse than ever. Ped doubled the Prilosec dose and we are on day 3 of that... still no improvement. I started dairy elimination yesterday.

I co-sleep (not really by choice) and still don't get much sleep. Co-sleeping was a lifesaver with my older son. But Caleb wakes up a lot, and even when sleeping, he grunts, groans, snorts, etc., all night long. The first few weeks, his long stretch was 6 hours. Now it's 2 hours if I'm lucky. Naps are just catnaps while nursing, or longer naps if I'm wearing him in a wrap. Though that doesn't always work; sometimes he fights the wrap and roots the whole time.

My ped said to call again on Monday to let him know how the higher dose is going. I need to figure out what the next step is, since this really isn't working and we both need some SLEEP!

[Miori]

My son was a terrible sleeper too. My husband and I took shifts at night b/c he would only sleep while being held. He'd work all day, and I'd get in bed about 8 pm. He would hold him until about 1 am, then hand him off to me. *yawn* Occasionally he would sleep in his bouncy chair or swing for an hour or so. We did this until he was bout 5 months old and his reflux was finally under control.

You might need a week or so to really see a difference in the Prilosec. It is the liquid suspension form? I think it has to be kept in the fridge and only lasts about 2 weeks. You might consider changing to the Prevacid Solutabs. Even a young one can handle them. You can dissolve the tablet in their mouth or with some water and pour it in their little mouth.

You might also need to eliminate soy, chocolate and caffeine from your diet. :hugg My son didn't nurse but my daughter did. I had very little milk, no coffee and no chocolate until she weaned herself at 9 months. Oh, the things we do for them, right?

[Katey]

Hi and welcome to IRD! I am so sorry you are having such a hard time with Caleb. I think cutting out dairy is a very good idea. You may also need to cut out soy. Actually you should keep track of everything you eat. My dd had problems with dairy, soy, chocolate, apples, watermelon and peanuts.

It took a while to figure out all the foods that caused her problems, but once I did she was a much better sleeper. She also slept much better on her tummy. I worried about the saftey of tummy sleeping, but after being up 9 times a night for 5 months with her big brother, I had to do something.

Like Miori said, it may take a little while to see a difference with the new dose of Prilosec. Good luck, I hope things get better and you are all able to get some much needed rest soon.

[Mary]

Oh boy. My dd was one who screamed (SCREAMED) constantly and did not sleep. The first time she slept a 5-hour "through the night" clip was when she was 2 years old. It is a nightmare.

First, as Miori said, it can (and likely will) take up to a couple of weeks to see any improvement with the Prilosec. It takes time for the esophagas to heal and not be completely on fire every time the reflux comes up. This will not stop the reflux/vomiting, but it will be much less acidic, thus causing less pain.

Secondly, how is he sleeping? I know you're co-sleeping, but is he propped at all? If you have him in an actual co-sleeper or Pack & Play, you should consider propping the head of the mattress with a wedge, a phone book or a couple of tightly-rolled receiving blankets...or try having him sleep in a bouncer chair or swing. Don't worry right now about getting him started on a "bad habit" of doing this--right now, you just need some sleep, and so does he. Keeping him in a semi-upright position will use gravity to your advantage and can help keep some of that reflux at bay.

Lastly, in addition to keeping the dairy/soy out of your diet (this, too, will take awhile to see some results), kudos to you for keeping up the b'feeding! If you're able to do it, it's one of the best things you can do for a little refluxer. If you really don't see any improvement at all between the diet and the Prilosec, you might really want to get in to see a pediatric GI to see if anything else is going on and/or to see about putting him on (in addition to the Prilosec) an H2 blocker (Zantac, Pepcid, etc.) to keep any breakthrough reflux at bay.

In the meantime, do you have any help? Anyone you trust who can walk the floor with him while you grab a nap or throw in a load of laundry for you?

[AvasMommy]

Hi, Cristina! I am so glad you found us...just having someone to talk to is such a huge help in keeping sane.

Like Mary's dd, Ava screamed and NEVER slept. She was also 2 before she slept through the night, and looking back now, I really don't know how I survived. She was up literally every 45 minutes!

I hope the med increase works! It can often take a full month to really see the true effect of a PPI, so you may want to ask about using Zantac for the "in-between" times...it may also be a huge help to give a dose of Zantac right before bed. You could even ask about Mylanta/Maalox. Mylanta at least calmed the burn and bought me a good consecutive 2 hours of sleep on occasion.

Hang in there! We all know the frustration/anxiety/exhaustion!

[pastrygirl]

Thanks, everyone! Do you think I should continue with the Prilosec for now, or switch to the Prevacid Solutabs? I don't want to continue and have it not work and not know if it's because of stability issues, dosage issues, or that it just doesn't work for him. There are so many variables! We've already had this Prilosec solution for 2 weeks.

I do give him Mylanta a couple of times a day, and this weekend I gave him Zantac at noon (he has the Prilosec at around 8am and 8pm -- and I have to space the Zantac 4 hours from those, right?) It's only half the daily Zantac dosage he would get if he were only on that.

We co-sleep in my bed, so he's not elevated. He won't sleep in the co-sleeper inches away, much less a swing or bouncy. I did miraculously get him to take a 1-hour nap in the crib a few days ago on his belly with white noise... but that was after he was so exhausted from crying.

Last night he woke up gagging and refluxing every hour or more, but fell asleep quickly and didn't cry out. He snorted and made other noises, though.

[andrea]

Yeah, keep the Zantac a good 4-5 hrs from the Prilosec. Did the Mylanta and Zantac help him?

Personally I would stay with the Prilosec for a bit longer. It can take awhile for it to kick in, and if you switch now you will have to "start over" with the new med if you know what I mean. As for stability... what color is the compound? If its pure white, you have a better chance of it staying stable longer. If its purple or some other color, you will for sure want to have it compounded every 2 weeks.

I hope things improve!

[littlemissmuffit'smommy]

We noticed right away that our daughter did not sleep unless she was being held upright. This led to her not wanting to sleep without being snuggly warm with someone else. She always woke up when we tried to put her down anywhere. Since she needed to be upright, we went with the bouncy chair. Before trying to transfer her into the chair, I put a heating pad in it and covered it with a fleece blanket. Once it was warm I could whip off the blanket and heating pad and put her in the chair. I would immediatley recover her in the fleece blanket to trap in all the heat. This makes buckling her in difficult since I couldn't see with the blankets covering her, but you get faster over time. Then over the next few minutes, I would slowly remove the blanket so she would gradually get used to the change in temperature. In no time at all, my husband & I were experts at this. Over time, we decreased the setting on the pad, so she would gradually get used to a cooler spot. We could also have her sleep in her crib like this until she got big enough for her sling & wedge.