Sleeping a baby with Gastric Reflux

Hi Danielle,
Thanks for your reply, we've always had Gabrielle's cot up on 2 phone books. It helps but some days we still find we need to put her in the rocker in the cot for yet further elevation. She's now 6mths old & loving her solids. We are about to run out of Zantac & will see her paed. 1wk after so we'll have a really good idea whether she'll cope without it. I think that she will still require some sort of medication as she's back to vomitting & being generally unsettled as we're only giving her the Zantac in every second bottle & she's now dropped back to 4 feeds most days, so therefore she's getting Zantac only twice.
We've tried going back onto normal formula but it was a disaster & we had a very sad little chicken for a week after we put her back on Karicare AR. We also tried soya formula but it had the same result as the normal stuff & she began to vomit again & then would scream before every feed as she was well aware of the pain she was about to be in. It got to the stage we couldn't even entice her to take the bottle at all & would then proceed to have a screaming child until she was starving enouh to go through the pain. It was a horrible time.
I haven't seen a homeopath or naturopath yet but I also haven't ruled it out either. I've been living between 2 houses while we renovate ours & it's getting to the rediculous stage now. You've probably read through all my traumas above. We still have a small hole (50cmx 50cm) in the wall as the gyprocker hasn't come to finish his job even though we've been supportive & patient with his heart attack recovery. He's back on the job full-time but my patience is starting to wear thin as he says one thing & does another. We're obviously a low priority as our builder has finished all he needs to do & isn't riding him. The builder actually paid him up before the job was complete so, quite frankly, I think he doesn't give a hoot about finishing something he's been paid for. We'd just be happy if he would keep in phone contact with us so we could work out when he's coming. He luckily called on Sunday 2hrs after he was due to start to say he'd be here Mon & it's already Wed night & there's been no call. We called his contact # today & left a mesage but again no polite return phone call. People wonder why the building industry has such a bad name for itself when the simple matter of a phone call can't even be made. Anyhow, due to my 10wk extension now hitting it's 17th wk I've got so much on my plate that I haven't had the time to look into a homeopath or naturopath & plan to do so when everything settles in the new year.
I just want to put the Xmas tree up for my 2yr old & Gaby's first Xmas yet I'm being robbed of the fun of it as the gyprocker is eluding us & he has a huge mess to make yet. He has until Sunday before I blow my cool over it!
Thanks for your help,
Peta

i used to put a pillow under my daughters mattress and use a wedge to sleep her on her side and stop her slipping down, during the day she would sleep on her tummy on a pillow in the lounge (i know your not ment to put baby to sleep like that) but it was the only way she would sleep during the day and we could keep an eye on her while she slept.

Thanks for your reply,
We still need to sleep Gaby (9mths) in an upright position & thankfully she doesn't scream any more but the reflux is still a great bother to her. We head off to the paed. again on the 18 Mar. & he spoke to us last time about barium meals etc if we still were having problems with the reflux. I gather that this will now be the road we will be heading down. We will try her off the Zantac starting Mon but we lasted only 12 days without it last time so it'll be interesting to see the results this time round considering she is still refluxing quite badly. I'm beginning to get tired of the vomitty smell and the umpteen changes of clothes as the bibs just never seem to catch it all.
Keep your chins up everyone,
Peta

I had tried zantac with Mia when she was four weeks old and at that time my husband and I felt that it was actually making her worse so we stopped. We were giving it to her twice a day.
It took four months of trying just about anything and everything including the chiro. I don't think that the chiro actually helped Mia but I have heard and obviously read here of some success stories.I found that putting Mia on an S26 Lactose free formula with a Karricare food thickner made quite a difference even though our babies may not actually be lactose intollerant, going through internet sites on reflux there has been mention of this making a difference, perhaps it is a little easier on their tummies. Mia is also back on zantac but of a higher dose and three times a day not two.
since going back on zantac there has been a ninty percent improvement in her happiness, and at first she was getting quite easy to settle and put to bed. She is getting quite difficult to settle now though and whether it is the six month stage or I need to look at the reflux situation again I haven't figured out yet. It seems to me that nothing is a 100% cure for reflux and that the most important thing is to get support from where ever you can rest whenever you can so that if none of the above works you are together enough to know that in time this will actually pass. I write this as much to remind myself as you or anyone else because it has been an extremely hard time.best of luck.

Hi Marti,
My baby likes to sleep on her stomach due to leg problems that she was born with. We always thought this was unsafe - but after discussing with our paeditrician, he suggested the use of a neonatal monitor. It is a little sensor on a long cord that attaches to her stomach, and is plugged into a monitor (the size of a tv remote) that will 'alarm' if she doesn't take a breath for 20 seconds. The sensor flashes a small orange light for every breath, and you can also set it to make an audible sound for every breath (a soft clicking noise).
Using the sensor brings such peace of mind, as a new parent I often woke in the night to 'check she was still breathing', but now she sleeps soundly on her stomach for up to 6 hours at a time, and if I do wake in the middle of the night, I can look across at her bassinet and see the light softly flashing away. During the day you can set it to audible if you are in another room, and she seems to find the clicking noise quite soothing.
We have been using the monitor for 4 weeks now, and it has only 'alarmed' twice, each time a 'false alarm' - false in that she hadn't stopped breathing!
We hire the monitor from the Royal Childrens Hospital, (where our baby spent her first 5 weeks).
This mightn't be an option for everyone, but if you really find your baby sleeps more comfortably on their tummy, it is an option you could explore with your paeditrician. It has definately helped in my case.

Hi Again Everyone,
It's been absolutely magnificant the support we've been giving each other through this site. Gab is now 10mths & we've been back to the paed. We went for the barium meal as she only managed to last off the Zantac for 9days before her carer, my husband & myself thought it was all too much. Gab got so sad with the refluxing that she actually stopped eating & reduced her liquid intake to the absolute minimum. It just wasn't worth the battle & strain on everyone.
Luckily the barium meal showed that she was normal so it's now down to a waitng game. Hopefully she'll grow out of it soon. Before we go to the paed again we need to try to wean her back to twice daily meds or stop them altogether again. Gab's now on 2mL of Zantac as she's still one of those unusual thriving refluxers & she's hit 11Kg.
Reflux is a terible thing but as you grow with your child you understand the condition more & can generally manage the situation better.
I hope you are all keeping your chins up & are giving yourselves time to relax where possible too.
Peta

Hi Ladies,

I too have a reflux baby but this is my second and is alot worse then my first. The only thing that I can add to all the advice that has been given is that I put both of my babies on S26-AR as it is thicker and you make it up as you need it as it gets too thick and you need fast flowing teats so that your baby will not get tired and not finish the bottle. Sitting them upright to feed and also after having a feed keeping them upright for 20-30minutes is recommened. I have been using a reflux sling in the cot and it works a treat! You can get these from VISA or RISA (in queensland) a reflux support group. My mattress is on a 70degree angle as if he was sleeping on my chest. Also on his tummy. He is also on Losec which I found to be the best prescription medication to take for reflux. I dilute it in a little bit of boiling water and add formula milk (or breast) to it and use an eye dropper for him to take it. When they start taking solids it is easier to put it in their food. Also a ml of mylanta before and after a feed works well to keep the stomach acids down. Some days are good and then some are bad but that is the life of a reflux baby.

I hope this helps a little.
Nee