Seriously. Garrett has pretty bad reflux. It’s miserable – for both of us. I hate seeing him in pain from it and yet, I’d also like for him to be able to settle in better during those middle of the night feedings. I’m not stupid, I know he’s only 4 weeks old and is not going to sleep through the night anytime soon, but when he’s up at 2:30am screaming bloody murder because it’s painful for him to eat even though he’s starving, it’s very difficult to remain calm, cool, and collected. There has been more than one occasion when I’ve had to wake Nathan up to relieve me because I’m starting to lose my patience with the situation.
He’s not sleeping well at all right now because of his reflux. We feed him (which is a chore in itself most of the time) and then he will fall asleep in our arms and we will lay him down either in his crib or his moses basket depending on what time of day it is and we will be lucky if he is able to sleep for one hour. Then he’s up screaming and crying and miserable. Nathan’s first reaction is to just feed him more, he’s crying so he must be hungry. But I’ve been around him long enough now that I know that that’s not always the case. Most of the time it’s because of his reflux. He spits up constantly – sometimes 2-3 hours after the previous meal when we’re getting ready to have the next meal. It’s definitely not fun and it’s a big challenge. Feedings are miserable, I have come to dread them to be honest.
Last night I ended up sleeping in the chair in the nursery with him in my arms. This was unintentional, but he slept beautifully between 11pm and 2:15am. And the only reason he woke up at 2:15am was because I woke up and tried to put him back down in his crib so I could go back to my bed. Then it was about an hour and a half fiasco getting him to eat. So by the time he settled back in (in my arms in the chair, again), it was almost 4am. I ended up just staying in the chair until we woke back up at 6:30 when the alarm went off for my husband to get up for work.
I had been noticing for about the last week or so that (1) the gas drops we were recommended to give him were not working as effectively anymore and (2) he sleeps perfectly when in our arms. So I got to thinking last night, maybe it’s being flat on his back. It was almost as if a light bulb went off in my head. I remembered one day late last week, I believe it was Friday, when his moses basket was upstairs and I was downstairs and wanted to lay him down for a nap so I could take one and the only thing handy for him was his car seat. (I was too lazy to go upstairs.) He slept the most peaceful 4.5 hours in that car seat that afternoon.
So I did a little bit of research online. One of the things that **can** relieve some of the discomfort from reflux is sleeping at a little bit of an angle. More research was done and I found that Babies R Us carry this wedge thingie that goes under the sheet of his crib and will give him a little bit of an incline while sleeping. I instructed hubby to swing by our local store when he gets off work today to see if they have one in stock (if not, I’m ordering one online). It’s worth the $20 and a try if it will relieve some or most of his discomfort. I’m not saying that this will be a cure-all and he will magically sleep through the night. I’m not that naive. But seeing my baby hurting hurts me so badly.
One of the last things that a friend of mine said to me when we were talking about my upcoming delivery was “My hope for you is a baby who doesn’t have reflux.” I now understand 100% why she said this. It’s miserable. It’s terrible. And there’s not much that can be done about it, it’s something that he has to outgrow it seems like. And that could take months, possibly up to a year. Apparently spitting up/reflux peaks at 4-5 months, I’m still in the first month! My only hope is that we can find some relief for him … because this stinks!
Tales of a Book Addict 