My 5 1/2 month old girl wakes every hour after we put her down simply wanting her pacifier that has fallen out. Once we put it back in she goes right back to sleep for the next hour. When we go in her room she is crying with her eyes closed. We follow a strict bedtime routine and I have even offered her more bottle but she will only take her normal 5 ounces. We also put her to bed awake but drowsy. We co-slept with her for the first 10 weeks because she has acid relux( she takes prevacid) but she has been in her big girl bed in her room for the last 13 weeks when this all started. We have tried to let her cry it out for 5 mintues then 10 and so on but she seems to get more ramped up and I am hesitant to let her cio b/c of her reflux. When she wakes to feed we then feed her and she will sleep at that point for 3+ hours. Any suggestions?!
J.,
What kind of of pacifier do you use. With my first child, we used Soothies but my second child would not keep them in his mouth when he slept. He would also wake up every 30 minutes. We ended up switching him to the Nuk pacifier and he is doing 100% better.
Also, what size pacifier is she using. Some brands make different size pacifiers and she may need a different size to keep it in her mouth.
Good luck.
B
My mom used to put cereal in the bedtime bottle. Not much just enough to thicken it up slightly. I would check with the dr. to make sure that would be OK with the acid reflux.
Oh I definitely remember how tough this time was for me and my son... same thing happened to us in terms of waking up every hour to hour and half all night long. I thought I was going to go crazy! Hang in there because now little man (2 years) sleeps through the night every night and takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon every afternoon.
I did want to recommend probiotics (acidophilus bifidus) for your little... it can really help with some cases of reflux. Ask your pediatrician about it! It's also a lifesaver for thrush...
As for the sleep thing, I read No-Cry Sleep Solution, Ferber/Cry-it-Out, pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I would definitely recommend "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" introduction just for a good overview of the mechanics of baby's sleep development.
Anyway, there was a lot of judgment that got thrown around on whether you were a "no cry" or a "cry-it-out" mom and that made it all a lot harder. In the end, we patched together something that we could be comfortable with and then were CONSISTENT. The biggest thing for us was understanding that we actually had to teach our baby to sleep and that a daily schedule and bedtime routine were a huge part of helping that happen.
Good luck and hang in there!
I would recommend reading the book "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" which has some really great strategies for getting babies to sleep through the night. If you can work with your daughter gradually to help her be able to sleep w/o the pacifier, that would be the best solution, so she doesn't need it in order to sleep.
You can get the book at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/No-Cry-Sleep-Solution-Gentle-Throug...
(or a library!)
I would try giving her some rice cereal. My third child is 4 1/2 months and Friday night I started her with a little bowl (just enough to mix with 2 oz of formula) followed by the rest of the bottle. By Sunday, she was already opening her mouth wide and leaning into every bite so I know she was ready for more than just formula. I feed her the cereal at 6:30 and she is finished with it and the bottle by 7:00. She goes to bed about 7:30 and sleeps until 6:30 or later. I hear her stir once or twice during the night, but she is usually just mumbling. I'm sure she'd like her paci, but like your daughter, her eyes are always closed so now I don't even go in there anymore. Good luck and I hope you all get some sleep soon!
J.-
I am the mom of 2 little girls - 5 & 3. My oldest had reflux as a child and we experienced a similiar situation as your little girl. We ended up letting her sleep in her carseat until she was about 10 months old. She slept 100 times better as the reflux didn't seem to bother her if she was sitting up. We also used her bouncy seat at times (we just strapped her in so she wouldn't fall out). We put either the car seat or the bouncy seat in her crib so that she would still be sleeping in her crib and for her to get used to sleeping looking at the crib walls, her own ceiling, etc. It worked for us and for your sanity you might want to at least try it!
.
My son had acid reflux since he was borne, I come from a family of all Drs. I thinks she wakes up of stomach pain and gas. What it may work is: to give 1/2 of the bottle, burped her up, Then the other 1/2, burped her up again. then, prompted her for 1/2 an hour more. Put some cereal in the bedtime bottle. Give her some cereal day time. Rise up her crib by the headboard about 3-4 inches off the floor, I put a flat block on each leg to prompt it up. I hope this works for you.
