Infantreflux.org | ARGH!!!!!!!

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June 22, 2006 at 8:09 am #10268

Anonymous
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We had another crappy night with Tess last night. Honestly, when have we ever had a “good” night with her? I mean, really? She is just shy of 6 months old and I can count on one hand the number of times that she has slept more than 5 hours. Most of the time she only sleeps for 4 hours at a time at night (and far less than that for naps – like 30-60 minutes). Here was our night:

7:30pm – Put her to bed
10:30pm – She wakes up, we give her a paci, she goes back to sleep
11:10pm – She’s up, paci doesn’t cut it, we feed her 5oz
1:30am – Up again, try the paci, she doesn’t want anything to do with it, we give her another 5oz
2:30am – Up again, paci works this time
5am – Up again, DH tries the paci and sitting with her for a good 15 minutes but she’s awake and pissed off now. I tell DH to just give her a bottle but he insists that she take her Prilosec now so he has to get up with her. We’re both SO pissed off and he managed to break the light switch in her room because he’s so mad.

This whole thing is just wearing on us. It’s eroding my relationship with DH. I haven’t a good amount of sleep in 6 months. I’m gaining weight because I eat for no reason and I can’t get much exercise in since Tess won’t tolerate. She’s fussy all of the time. Not necessarily showing signs of reflux but fussy nonetheless. If this were colic it should be long gone by now. If it’s the reflux then why isn’t she showing more signs? Her dose of Prilosec is obviously enough to keep her from arching during feeding or gagging or coughing so it’s helping some but maybe not enough??? I have no clue. She might be teething but Tylenol doesn’t improve her moods or her sleeping. I should note that when she wakes up at night like last night it’s not anything like when she would wake up every 30 minutes screaming in pain when her meds weren’t right.

Ok, she’s now crying in her exersaucer. Apparently my 5 minutes of down time are up. Thanks for listening.

Karen

June 22, 2006 at 9:24 am #10271

Anonymous
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Sorry Karen. Hope you get some sleep soon. I don’t have any real advice as we’re in the same boat (at over a year… not to depress you or anything). Hang in there.

Can you try giving her some motrin at night to see if it’s teething?

June 22, 2006 at 9:40 am #10273

Anonymous
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Are you turning the light on in her room everytime you go in? I know we couldn’t do that with Colt. We had to use a very weak nightlight or he would wake up and not want to go back to sleep. But on the other hand Colt still wakes up thru out the night and cries a little but now he puts himself back to sleep. I wish I had the answer for you but maybe its time for some sleep training. I don’t mean CIO. I just quit running to Colt’s bed everytime he woke up but if he started crying to much I would go in and make sure he was ok. But I noticed the less and less I would go in the more he would put himself back to sleep. I don’t mean to stress you out even more but Colt is 15 months and I keep wondering when he will sleep all night without me needing to comfort him. He doesn’t take bottles at night anymore but yes at 15 months he still wakes up. So if you find a answer share it with me too. I would really like a night of sleep without getting out of bed. Good luck.

June 22, 2006 at 9:58 am #10275

Anonymous
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Karen,

I fully understand what you are going through. Ellie never, and I mean never, slept more than 60 minutes, and she was typically up crying every 20 to 40 minutes from 10 weeks of age until she finally outgrew silent reflux at 8-9 months. She was on Zantac and I thought that since her feeding issues had improved that the medicine was working. I knew nothing about reflux, did no research, and assumed our doctor was well informed and thus she was being treated properly.

One night when she was about 8 1/2 months old I put her to bed as usual and she slept all night long, and she has ever since, except for sporadic problmes with illness, teething, or nightmares. Also, right around this time she began to outgrow her constant fussiness, clinginess, and need to be held all day long. She was definitely an intense, anxious kind of baby, with very serious stranger anxiety and an extreme fear of unfamiliar people and places. So, I thought her anxious personality was the cause of all of our problems, but now I realize that it was no coincidence that she became less clingy and less anxious at the same time that she also began sleeping at night. She was probably so miserable from reflux pain all the time that she couldn’t sleep and needed to be held just to keep her mind off her misery.

Based on my experience with Ellie, I would strongly suggest that you talk to her doctor about increasing her Prilosec dose. She may be in more pain than you realize. Some babies use comfort eating to deal with pain. It seems she may be doing this. And sadly, the over eating will only add to her pain and discomfort. 7 mg twice a day is very low. Myles was miserable until he was on the higher dose of 10 mg/ 3 times per day, and then things turned around. It truly was like night and day.

Oh, and Ellie never screamed in pain. It’s was more of a pathetic whining/crying/moaning/ thing. She desperately wanted to sleep and was so tired, but she just couldn’t stay asleep because she was hurting. Some babies are screamers, some are not. Liza was a screamer. She screamed more from a little tooth coming in, or losing her nuk, than Ellie ever did in the 6 months she suffered from reflux.

One other thing…are you still swaddling her? If you are, I would suggest that after you get her meds adjusted, that you try to wean her from the swaddling. As babies get older they need some wiggle room in order to sleep for long periods. They may still need swaddling to fall asleep because that’s what they are used to, but once they’ve been asleep for a while they begin to feel confined and need to move and stretch to get comfortable again. It will take her some time to learn to fall asleep unswaddled, but once she can do that she may sleep better with some freedom of movement.

I know how hard it is. I hope things get better soon.

Christine

June 22, 2006 at 10:40 am #10278

Anonymous
Inactive

I agree with Christine that you should talk to her doctor about the
Prilosec dosage. But it’s also very possible that she’s very overtired
from the short naps you’ve mentioned – overtired babies often have
frequent night wakings. Be happy to discuss in more detail as napping
is sort of one of my specialities LOL – feel free to email me anytime
at [email protected]

June 22, 2006 at 10:54 am #10283

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks, as always, for the support everyone. It’s just one of “those” days I guess.

Lori – I’m going out today to buy some Motrin. I tried some Tylenol yesterday and it didn’t do squat.

Kathleen – We have a small nightlight in her room that is always on and we don’t turn on anything else when we go in her room at night. With my first DD we didn’t even use a nightlight but then we weren’t having to go in her room 3-5 times a night either. We don’t rush in to her room as soon as she stirs, only if she starts crying. I’ve even considered CIO but I’m just not to that point yet. Sigh.

Christine – We have an appt with the GI on Monday and believe me I’m counting the hours until then. I might make my DH come with me as I have a hard time being assertive with doctors sometimes. I’m not trying to be pesimistic but I really don’t think any amount of talking will convince him to increase Tess’ dose to 10mg/3x daily (even though she’s 18lbs now). I will try but I find it hard to be positive about this anymore. We are still swaddling Tess but that’s only because when we don’t she completely freaks out and can’t go to sleep. I would LOVE to get her out of the swaddle so that maybe she could self-soothe instead of us having to go and find her paci. I tried weaning her off of it by leaving just one arm out and it went horribly. I guess we’re just going to have to bite the bullet and do it.

Karen – I hear you on the overtired stuff. My first DD was a terrible napper and was constantly overtired. I read so many sleep books and tried so many things to get her to nap better to no avail. When she was about 3 months old she started napping better but only if I held her. Then she would sometimes sleep for 4 hours straight! Of course, I couldn’t move or make any noise so that wasn’t fun but I suffered through because I knew she needed her sleep. She finally figured out how to nap better somewhere around 6-8 months. However, she was always a good night sleeper. Go figure. I’d love to hear your advice so I’ll be sending you an e-mail shortly.

Thanks again you guys. I just hate this all so much and I’m finding it hard to stay positive or even marginally OK about these days.

Karen

June 22, 2006 at 11:41 am #10286

Anonymous
Inactive

tylenol does jack for us as well..but both Aidan’s ped and the er doc we saw when I took him in a few weeks ago told me not to give him motrin…something about liver function..but they did say after about 6 or 7 months it’s alright as long as you don’t use it very often…so Aidan just deals with the horors of teething, (as do I!!!!) and sucks on a lot of frozen stuff and ice in the baby safe teether.

June 22, 2006 at 1:05 pm #10290

Anonymous
Inactive

Jill – Since Tess is only 5 days shy of 6 months I just went ahead and gave her Motrin. I knew about the 6-month-rule. We’ll see if it does anything for her. I can’t get a good look in her mouth to see her gums because everytime I put my finger in there she sticks out her tongue.

Have you tried Hyland’s teething tablets? I’m not a big fan of the homeopathic stuff but I know a lot of moms who swear by those things. Just a thought.

Karen

momtotess2006-6-22 13:10:28

June 22, 2006 at 1:39 pm #10293

Anonymous
Inactive

Karen,

My doctor was very resistant to increasing Myles meds for many weeks. Please try printing the marci-kids info and faxing it ahead of time, so he/she has time to read through it before your appt. That’s what I did and it really changed my doc’s mind and she finally gave him the dose he needed. I’m not usually the assertive type either, but like you, I was desperate and I simply could not stand to see Myles suffer anymore. If you don’t want to fax it ahead of time, try bringing it with you. And bringing dh is a good idea if he’s more comfortable being assertive. Make sure dh knows the marci-kids info so he can be an informed advocate for Tess’s needs.

Also, maybe email Joel and ask him to explain to you the safety of these PPI medications….how they act only on very specific cells, have little to no side effects, and are very non-toxic. (That’s sort of what convinced my doctor, not so much the ppi dosing research they are doing, but the fact that these drugs are so non-toxic it’s almost extremely unlikey to over dose on them). I know Joel explained this once but I don’t remember the thread. You could print his email and bring that along with you, too.

The swaddling is a big problem, but I understand why you’re not willing to wean her off right now. You need to make sure she’s not in pain before you change anthing. I had this dilemna with Ellie for a long time, but it eventually resolved itself. I started swaddling her more loosely at first so she had some wiggle room, but was still swaddled. Once she got used to that, I tried leaving one arm out, and then finally was able to put her to bed unswaddled which was a great relief.

For now, have you tried giving her Mylanta Cherry Supreme at bedtime or when she wakes up crying?

Have you considered MSPI? Is she breastfed or formula fed? I don’t know much about MSPI, but I’m sure Laura’s intro has lots of info on it.

I’m sorry it’s so hard right now. I’ve sure been there. I often say light-heartedly (but I really mean it) that I survived Ellie’s infancy. Because that’s how I felt when it was finally over, like I had been through some psychological torture experience, and survived somehow intact. The sleep deprivation alone is enough to drive you over the edge…dealing with a crying, fussy infant all day only adds to the misery. I had to endure it with Myles as well, but fortunately not for as long, thanks for Prevacid.

I hope and pray that your gi appt. goes well and that better days are right around the corner.

Christine

June 22, 2006 at 3:39 pm #10304

hellbennt
Keymaster

I was just going to ask about mspi…frequent night wakings seems to be the ‘final’ piece of the puzzle for a lot of mamas to put together that it’s mspi…

try bendryl on her gums- just a drop…

how about zantac or mylanta (or both) before bed?

I also vote for trying a med increase, after investingating mspi…

June 22, 2006 at 11:08 pm #10351

Anonymous
Inactive

We went through 14 straight mths of this very thing. OH, how I feel your pain!!!! No one should have to go through this including the baby

This site gave my such insight to why we were going through this….

http://www.disa.com.au/

It explains the difference between colic and other issues. It has tips on how to deal with and relax a distressed baby. I didn’t realize my son was distressed until I read about it on that site. I knew he was tough to deal with, but had no idea “distressed”. I started looking into food intolerances like it talks about on that site. Like the above posters mentioned… mspi. We started playing around with his diet, and low and behold, he sleeps like a rock now. In fact, last night we had near tornado storms and he never even moved. Just something to look into. My sons GI doc didn’t think food was the issue for him, but it was the absolute key for us. You can’t really know for sure until you try it. At that point, I was willing to try anything to get some sleep!!

The right med dosage is key as well. Hopefully your gi will listen and be a great help.

June 23, 2006 at 2:08 pm #10394

Anonymous
Inactive

Your situation sounds just like mine (except my DH was so fed up he left when Logan turn 8 months old). I also lost all my baby weight after Logan was born within two weeks. Then after the next 3 month of stressful not sleeping, reflux, and screaming – I gained 25 lbs!!!

I just found out that my son has PARTIAL sleep apnea (I thought you had to stop breathing to have apnea – not true!). He has obstructive sleep apnea from enlarged tonsils. Logan has many procedures down his esophagus and I thought ONE of those docs would have mentioned it, but they never did. He is always sooo over-tired that he woke up several times in the middle of the night (until I started giving him pepcid ac before bedtime at 28 months old) and then he’s always over-tired during the day and ornrey (sp?) and mean if he doesn’t get A LOT of sleep. The ENT tells me I will have a bran new child once he gets his tonsils out and he gets the full oxygen that he needs to get proper sleep. He’s about to turn 3 and he still NEEDS 14-16 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period – most kids his age need 10)

Here’s a great link: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/hottopics/index.php?secid=11& amp;id=96 (my son doesn’t snore, but I guess he has noisy breathing – I never noticed)

lansima2006-6-23 14:11:28

June 23, 2006 at 4:47 pm #10405

Anonymous
Inactive

Ok, why wasn’t I getting the e-mails about new posts to my thread??? Odd.

Thank you all so much for your input. I really, really appreciate it. I do think we need to seriously look at her dose of Prilosec. It’s obviously working somewhat because things are 100x better than they were before we started it but perhaps it needs to be just a bit more. I’ve mentioned to DH about coming to the appt on Monday and I think he’s keen to it. Not sure, though. I will print out the MARCI stuff and take it with me. I may also ask for an endoscopy. The doc said he would schedule one if the Prilosec didn’t work when we first got the script. Things got a lot better so we didn’t bother. Now I think I’d like to have it done just so I can know for sure what’s going on (although maybe it’s not an absolutely conclusive test? I don’t know).

When Tess wakes at night it’s not with the screaming that she had from reflux pain. This is more of a “I’m awake now and I want you to come and get me” kind of cry. When we give her the bottle she frantically grabs at it, panting like crazy as though we hadn’t fed her in days. Maybe we simply aren’t feeding her enough but I have a hard time believing that. We are working on weaning her off of the swaddling. Christine – I just had the idea to swaddle her more loosely yesterday! LOL! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before and here I see that you suggested that exact thing. We’ll see how it goes.

Tess is on regular Similac. The first thing we did when all of this started 5 months ago was switch her to Alimentum. While it did reduce her gas it did nothing for her reflux symptoms or fussiness. She was on that for a couple of months. Once we started making progress with the meds we went back to Similac (the other stuff is $$!) and there was no change.

I really think she is just having slight reflux problems. Nothing huge so none of the inconsolable screaming, no arching, no waking up every 30 minutes at night. But it’s enough to make her uncomfortable and grumpy. She does a lot of grunting. My first DD grunted a lot, too, but this is different. She grunts with her tongue sticking out and her whole body is tensed. Obviously I have no idea why she’s really doing it but I imagine that she’s refluxing and it’s her way of trying to keep the food down. Like she’s clearing her throat or something. Does anyone else’s kid do something like that? DH says I read too much into all of her mannerisms but since she can’t tell me what’s bothering her what else am I supposed to do?

She slept better last night – only two wake ups for bottles and that was it. It’s still not great but at least we didn’t have to go in there 5 times. I think when the bad days hit kind of out of the blue that’s when I have a hard time dealing with it. If I just expect/accept it then I can handle it better. I SO appreciate the forum here – the support, being able to vent, whatever. You guys are wonderful! I’ll let you know how it goes on Monday. THANKS!

Karen

June 23, 2006 at 9:25 pm #10415

Anonymous
Inactive

Karen,

Good luck on Monday. I hope it goes well. Hopefully the “loose swaddle” will help, too. I’m glad last night was better and hope you have more and more better nights in the near future.

I know exactly what you mean about being able to handle the rough days or nights if you expect them. My worst days were always when Myles had a flare up after doing well for a while. It seems I’d let my guard down and start thinking, “this is behind us now” so when reflux reared it’s ugly head again I’d be floored and ready to crack.

It does finally get better and stay that way. Myles has been doing very well for several weeks now. I hope those days are right around the corner for you.

Christine

June 24, 2006 at 8:51 am #10422

Anonymous
Inactive

Christine,

I spoke too soon! We had another bad night last night and this time it really did seem like she was uncomfortable. This morning I had to give her some Mylanta to get her down for her nap. Monday cannot come soon enough. I’m so glad that Myles is improving. I hope you guys keep on going and don’t look back!

Karen
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