I have a 16 week old little guy with Reflux & asked a few questions regarding it before. We are giving him Prevacid 2 times a day now & for the time being it seems to be helping. We are having a great deal of trouble with nighttime wake ups. Our typical night is 7:30 bath or 7:45 massage (if no bath), 8:00 bottle, 8:15 story, out by 8:30. We cluster feed him prior to that at around 6:30. We can not do a dream feed at 11 b/c of his reflux. He still likes to be swaddled & seems to do better up right in his bouncy seat in his crib. Once we put him down, he will sleep until anywhere between 12 & 1, then he wakes up several times every hour until we feed him at around 3:30. We soothe him with petting his head, rubbing his belly or putting his pacifier back in. After he eats we put him back in his crib around 4. By 5:30 it is a struggle to keep him asleep. We usually let him get up around 7 but he isn't even asking for his bottle. We spoke to the doctor who said let him cry it out. We decided to follow the method by Jodi Mindell, I also read the Sleep Easy Solution & Healthy Sleep Habits books for help.
Last night we tried it. We swaddled him but left out one arm, rocked him until drowsy, put him in his crib which was propped up on phone books. He whimpered quietly for 5 minutes & then was out until 10:45. Then he cried on & off until 2:45. We did the 5 min, 10 min, 15 min check ins but it did not stop. I felt terrible. I don't know if it's supposed to go on for 4 hours. Finally at 3:00 I fed him & then swaddled him, put him back in the bouncy seat in the crib & he slept until 7:30. I don't know if we are trying to switch to many things at once, if he isn't ready, if we are asking too much. I am just wondering if other moms have done the CIO method & have any advice or some pep talk. I had a hard time deciding to do this & am so confused...not sure where to go from here.
Thanks in advance!
We had twins and used the book called "BabyWise" to help sleep through the night by 4 months (from 11 pm to around 6 am), although the twins did not have reflux. By about 6 months we elimited the late 10:30 or 11 pm feeding and had the last feeding at the 8 pm bedtime. I would highly recommend the book and system. I think a 4 month old is too young for the cry it out method.
I recieved your message, and would love to respond to this.....First of all, I have to say that I really do believe that acid reflux is really just a defintion for poor digestion. My Ped told me my daughter had acid reflux, and I did some research and found out so much info.....I found a product call Gripe water (you can get it at a health food store), it is fennel which eases the stomach, and it was WONDERFUL!!!!!I have never heard of the "CIO" expression, so I apploigize if I can not explain that......Continuing to swaddle him is wonderful, and helps tremendously with his discomfort.......What about giving him cereal(just a little) on a spoon before his eight o clock bottle...it may help him with the feeding at eight, and may eliminate the need for him to want a feeding at eleven.....Just some thoughts.....It is god that you give him his bath and or massage before his feedings.....I would try the gripe water, and it is not expensive...let me know...
There's a pretty big sleep regression at about 4 months due to developmental milestones (and another one at 9 months). My 8 month old is still waking 2-3 time per night and eating. It has it's ups and downs and it's frustrating because she's slept 12 hour nights before and once I get used to sleeping, its so much harder to go back to not sleeping.
I have some issues with the cry it out method and don't agree with using it. I have friends who have sat outside their daughter's door and listened to her cry for 12 hours straight, because "the doctor told her it was okay". I don't think that CIO it is effective and I think it's harder on both the parents and the child than the situation needs to be.
On the really rough mornings/nights I remind myself to give my daughter an extra cuddle and kiss and just keep repeating that "this too shall pass" and thinking that someday I'm going to miss how little and cuddly she is.
S.
My son had pretty bad acid reflux, also. It will get better. I just wanted to ask: why can't you feed him before 3:30? Nine hours seems like a long time for a four-month-old to go without eating. Our son got up frequently until he was nine months old when we started him on a second medication besides prevacid. Giving him formula in the middle of the night settled him down, although sometimes he'd wake up an hour or two afterward or go for several hours before waking up again. I think babies who have severe acid reflux don't respond to cry it out methods. I'd let my son cry and he wouldn't stop, even after hours, so I gave that up. Our pediatrician and the nurses in his office often told me to let him cry, but I just couldn't do it. My advice is to hang in there and know that the nighttime wakings will end and you will get a full-night's sleep again.
Whoever said that acid reflux is just poor digestion is WAY out of line. Until you have dealt with a child with severe GERD, there is NO way you can make that judgement
Anyway, as for the night waking. Are you sure its not pain/reflux related? If it is, there is no sense in trying to let him CIO until you get that under control. If he is already well-controlled, thats a different issue!
You are doing so many nice things to help him sleep, and you care so much, it's awesome! The frustrating thing about reflux, is that it has to run its course, and he's going to be uncomfortable and cry no matter what-temporarily-this WON'T LAST FOREVER_probably not even much longer. My suggestion is to tone down the sleeping aids a bit-extended routine and soothing etc, because you'll train him to need all that in order to sleep. If he's waking up from the discomfort-it's a totally separate issue, that unfortunately involves crying it out, because that's what he'll do regardless. You should decide on a routine you enjoy and can do without making it hard for your child to drift off on their own one day without massages etc. You want them to feel secure at bed time, not needy for all kinds of night time attention-for their own happiness going forward. So do affection and love all day long, bath or massage, stories, comfy sleeping environment -and walk away. Console or comfort a few times briefly if there is WAY TOO much crying, but don't work hard all night long-there is nothing you can do about the reflux discomfort. He will learn to sooth himself better when he has to, even though it's very hard to hear him cry. You're doing so much already, if I were you, I'd take some things out rather than do any more. And make a nice consistent choice. Your little guy us very lucky! Blessings to you! Also, cluster feeding at late in the day/evening is not as effective as feeding him as much as possible ALL DAY LONG. Many kids stop needing food at night if they eat more all day long-even at a couple months old. I wish I knew that with my first who didn't sleep through the night until one year (when I learned this) then she did immediately. My 5 month old already gets through the night without eating because I force feed him all day. :) Just an added thought.
Hi A.,
My son did not have the acid reflux issue, but we had to do CIO and it was HORRIBLE--but only for a few nights and then he got it. What can I tell you except it is always darkest before the dawn?! Hang in there. Could you try CIO IN the bouncy seat in the crib? Then work on removing the seat? Good luck!
A.! I know what you are going through and I know it is not easy. My son, now 15 months old, struggled really bad in his earlier months with reflux, and after trying many things, we finally got a system that worked for us. It is so hard not to get any sleep, so I know that you want to do your best to get him to sleep more, but I do not think that the Crying it Out method is a good idea right now. I think that until you get things a little more under control, it is best not to do that. The reasoning behind this, is that I was told by my doctor and I do believe him-that letting Acid Reflux babies cry for long periods of time and get worked up is bad for their Acid Reflux. It causes their reflux to flare up more. If he is struggling enough with it already, I would not let it possibly get worse and that is definetly not going to make him want to go to sleep. My son was also placed on Prevacid and what we did with his prevacid was give half in the am and then half right before dinner. The reasoning for this is because they said that babies bodies can metablolize things faster and although it is supposed to work for 24 hours, it sometimes does not. Two more suggestions I would have. Thickening his formula. We gave our son some pretty thick formula that I thought was way too thick, but it did the trick. You just have to buy the tri cut nipples from Wal Mart and they work perfectly if you are thickening it the right way. Lastly, kids that have an intolerance or allergy to milk can really have some bad reflux that gets worse with milk. Our son has a milk allergy and once we started taking away the milk products is when the extreme difference in his reflux really began to show. I do know that all kids are different. So, I hope that my information may be of some help to you and please hang in there. It does get better- even though sometimes in the middle of the night it does not seem like it is ever going to!!!!! Please email me if you have any further questions!
I tried the CIO method off and on with my son who was a terrible sleeper for the first 10 months! It didn't work at all! I put him in bed with me many nights just to get some sleep because I had to get up for work the next day. Finally when he was about 10 months old, I had been up with him one night probably about 7-8 times and around 4:30 am I'd had enough. I put him in his bed to CIO and in a half hour he was asleep. So from that night on when he'd cry, I'd go to him, hug him without taking him out of his bed, tell him I loved him and that it was night night time and walk out of his room. Over the course of a week the crying sessions got less and less - no longer than 5-10 minutes and by the end of the week he was sleeping through the night without a peep! The thing I realized though was that up until that point I just don't think he was ready to sleep by himself - that's just my opinion based on what happened when I tried to let him CIO before. Your baby will eventually sleep through the night on his own - it just may take awhile. Try to look at it like he needs you and you're the one to make him feel safe and secure. Keep telling yourself this too shall pass and there will come a day when he won't want mommy as much. As hard as it is at 3:00 a.m. just keep reminding yourself that all too soon, these baby days will be gone!
It sounds like you are having a really hard time... it WILL get better. I also had a son with GERD... though in his case it was more of a problem with weight gain than pain. GERD can be worst during the hours you are describing (remember waking up with heartburn then when you were pregnant?) I think it is unreasonable to CIO unless you know that he is not in pain... and I'm not sure how you would do that at this point. I also don't think you should let him CIO in his bouncy seat, since that isn't the safest sleep area-- he could throw him self out of it or get turned around in it. I also think that it is possible he is hungry earlier than you think if he is spitting up a lot of what he his eating in the day--- you can only count calories/ounces that stay in him.
THe things that helped us the most were the crib wedge you can get at Babies R Us ( you may not have the crib elevated enough), and giving meds 15 minutes before bed. If he had a really bad night, we'd put him in the car seat next to our bed (because, again, a car seat isn't the "safest" sleep place. That usually worked. For us, though, the biggest lifesaver was the rice cereal (recommended by our ped/lactation consultant) in his bottles (he gets a couple bottles a day, one always the last feeding). That made a world of difference in the food staying down AND increasing his calories.
Best of luck. Mine is 7.5 months now and the GERD is SO much better.You will get through this.
We did a modified crying it out method, if you search my posts, I described the process we used in response to "9 month, not sleeping very well" on Thu. Apr. 03 2008.
Because you also have the acid reflux to deal with, I suggest you call Dr. Todd Wolynn, he's our pediatrician and he is a pediatric sleep specialist. Pediatric Alliance S.W. Division ###-###-####. Dr. Wolynn assisted us with getting our son on a sleep routine. A friend of ours was also referred to Dr. Wolynn by their pediatrician for sleep problems. He's been rated one of Pittsburgh's Top Doctors by Pittsburgh Magazine for the past 2 years. He's a great person and I think talking to him will put you at ease.
Hi A.,
It sounds like you are trying to do a lot at once - and with a very young baby. What is most important to you? Moving out of the bouncy seat into the crib? Sleeping longer? Moving out of the swaddle?
I would think that you can't really make any of these changes until you are sure his reflux is really under control. Once you know that, then I'd choose one of the above things to start on - probably moving out of the bouncy seat for safety reasons. Once he's sleeping in his crib and not in the seat for a few weeks, then work on moving away from the swaddle, or whatever is next on your priority list. But too many changes all at once it bound to be upsetting for a baby.
Also, I agree with another poster who asked why you are making him wait so long before feeding him at night. That is a very long time for a 4 month old, even with the cluster feeding earlier in the day.
I can't comment much on CIO method, because I never did it - it just didn't feel right to me.
Best of luck, and the most important thing to remember is that this is a phase. Sometimes it seems like the nights last forever when you are tired, but they don't I promise!
