Acid Reflux in a 5 week old

My DS has been diagnosed with acid reflux. I just started Zantac yesterday, hoping that it will help.

In the meantime, DS has terrible sleeping habits. He won't sleep unless he is held...if I put him down, he's awake within minutes crying. I've tried EVERYTHING...swing, bouncy, wedge, swaddle,carseat...nothing works.

I usually have to hold him for a good 2 hours before I can place him down...than I may be lucky if I get a 45 minutes from him.

This goes on ALL day & night...I'm exhausted.

Any BTDT moms with acid reflux children who can tell me if this is because of the AR or is my DS just a bad sleeper??

Re: Acid Reflux in a 5 week old

my dd had AR since she was diagnosed at 6 weeks old she was on zantac until 15 weeks and then it got worse and is now on prevacid and axid with maloxx in between after starting zantac she did much better her sleeping habits were awful. She would not sleep for anything but it did get better after a while hang in there

Re: Acid Reflux in a 5 week old

Try a wedge. DS never had a problem sleeping from his reflux most of the time. However, if he is feeling the burn it would make sense that it may interupt his sleep.

Re: Acid Reflux in a 5 week old

DS had acid reflux as well and was put on zantac. We also added rice cereal to his bottles and that helped wonders. He was a terrible terrible sleeper. We had the same problem where I had to hold him in order for him to sleep.

Two things that helped slightly for us were the wedge (its a foam wedge incline positioner) and swaddling. Other than that, I'm going to be honest and tell you it sort of comes with the territory and you have to get used to it for now. They do outgrow it and learn to sleep better (especially once the AR is under better control) but mine didnt until around 5 months. Feel free to FM me anytime. My DS had both Acid Reflux and a milk allergy and I know how difficult those first few months can be. But once you get the AR under control things will get a lot easier

Re: Acid Reflux in a 5 week old

DD2 has AR and was put on Zantac last week. Fortunately I didnt have a sleeping problem with her...shes been STTN since about 5 weeks. But the ONLY way she can sleep is if she is in her swing (not in motion) or the car seat. I tried a wedge but she kept pushing herself over the top edge. I was debating on buying the Fisher Price Rock N Play sleeper because it looks alot more comfortable for the LO's than sleeping in the swing... moms with children that have reflux have said it helped alot. That might be something for you to look in to.
I take DD2 to the pediatrician in the morning to see how the Zantac and change in formula is working....but today she sounded even more congested and nasal than she has in the last week so I dont know if her ped will want to try some other meds.

I hope your LO starts to feel better really soon and gets more sleep so mommy can

Re: Acid Reflux in a 5 week old

In my experience yes! Once I started my DD on Axid at about 6 weeks I was able to set her down in her swing awake without her crying for a few minutes. I think she found comfort in me holding her while she was in pain from the AR. Although you loveholding them it just gets to a point when you have no force to hold them anymore! But yes, it does get better

ETA: Oh, and after reading some posts on here, I've also begun to give her 1/4 tsp of rice cereal in her last bottle. Its supposed to not act up as much as regular milk for reflux. As she is only 9 weeks I'm starting off small and she actually slept for 5 hours last night!!

Message edited 10/21/2010 7:29:31 AM.