Two Month Old Has Acid Reflux and I Can't Put Him in His Crib to Sleep

Hi C.
My son went through the same thing for the first 10 months of his life. I tired everything(keeping his up for at least 30 minutes after his feeding, Zantac, 4 different types of formula, putting cereal in the bottles). The only thing that work for me was Enfamil A.R. Lipil, and time.The Enfamil A.R. is thickened with added rice starch and it for babies who spit up frequently. I am not going to say that he stop spitting up when he started because he didn't. It reduced the frequent spit up by over 40-50%. The reason I said time is because at about 10 months my son stop spitting up the formula/food at once, and boy was I glad.It very frustrating but it will not last for ever. God Bless.

Hi C., My little girl had acid reflux also. I propped her in the boppy, on her back, in her crib. She slept like that until baout 5 monthg. She grew out of it. She took Zantac prescribed by the pediatrician, that helped too.
L.

my son had this too. My doctor recommended getting him an elevated sleep positioner. I did this and bought the angelcare moniter and motion sensor. This is sold at babies r us and will moniter your babies breathing. If your baby doesn't breath for 20 seconds an alarm will go off----I love it and feel so much better about letting him sleep by himself. My doc also prescribed reglan and zantac. He eventually out grew the reflux. Hang in there.

C.,

Have you tried a wedge with a 45 degree incline? They sell them at Baby R Us, I think it's about $15. I have a 6 month baby girl and she's used it since she was born. You can also put him on the wedge lying on his belly for the half hour while you watch him, then flip him on his back after a while.

My seven month old was prescribed, Ranitidine 15MG/ML (substitute for Zantac) and it is working. I do not believe in giving my children medication for every little thing; however, my son needed relief.

Hi C.,
I know exactly what you're going thru, take it from a mom that has had two kids with reflux. My daughter had mild reflux and my son has severe reflux. What seems to ease the reflux at night is putting a pillow or wedge at one end of the crib. It elevates their upper body and therefore helps keep the milk down. Hope this helps.

N.

It wont be forever. If he is able to sleep in the papasan and you are able to catch some rest - I don't see a problem. He's comfortable, even a swing would be fine. The key is sleep! you need that and so does he. I hope you find the answers you are looking for and have a happy mothers day. All the best!

I really feel for you, we went through the same thing. I was told the pediatrician to elevate the mattress and lay my son on his belly. It worked immediately. He is now 5 months, we did this at 1 month and he is a happy little buy. I dont know if you breast feed or formula feed, but Dr. Browns bottles saved us as well. GOOD LUCK!

My now 16 month old daughter had the same problem for the first 8 months of her life. It varied from severe epidsodes to really very mild. But no matter what, she would always spit up some up to an hour after she ate. My peditrician recommended something similar, but I think he told us to use the carseat. In any case, what I found worked best at night time was to prop up one side of her crib. Initally since she was in a bassinet, I would use two Yellow Pages, and prop up one side so she laid on an incline. Once I moved her to her crib I purchased an insert at Babied R Us. It slips right under the crib sheet and is the width of the mattress, it has no slip pads and was a HUGE help.

Please understand that while this will work some of the time, other times it won't. It's just something that they will grow out of. And I promise they do!

Good Luck!

My son started with reflux at 2 months and is taking Prevacid for it. He is 9 months now and what I did was to put a blanket folded up in a ball under the head of his mattress and after the 30 minutes I would put him down. We did that until he was 5 months and started to try to get under the crib bumper. Good luck!

Have you considered a baby hammock? My son slept in one until he was 6 months old and then easily transitioned to a crib. It was probably the single best thing we bought as far as helping him sleep (he too would only sleep in his papasan). And it was recommended to me by a mom on a message board similar to this one.
They keep the baby's head above their heart which is wondeful for babies with acid reflux. (It also does many others things that help with babies sleeping. I definitely got (and still get) some wierd looks when I tell people about it but after the second or third night using it he was sleeping 6+ hours at a time (he was 8 weeks old) and was sleeping 10 hours by 12 weeks and 12 by 16....it also helped tremendously with nap time since he didn't want to sleep more than 20 min at at time unless he was in his papasan....
Here's a link to the one we got:
http://ambybaby.com/

It's not cheap, but it was the best investment we made! (I also kept mine for the next one we plan on having and have loaned it to some of my friends with new babies).
Here's a pic of my son sleeping in it when he was about 3 months old...
http://flickr.com/photos/spacecat4/36267889/in/set-819423/

If you honestly can't afford one (or even before you make the investment) you may want to try putting towels under the sheets in the crib to form a wedge so he head is above his heart....you want a 30% incline.
Here's an article about raising the mattress to keep his head elevated:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Acid-Reflux-In-Babies-Guide-To-...
Just make sure there is still nothing loose in the crib to avoid entanglement, SIDS, etc...

But I will swear by the hammock....

My son had severe reflux for his first few months. Our pediatrician suggested that we let him sleep in his car seat. We would buckle him in at night and he slept that way for nearly 2 months. It is a safe alternative to the papasan or swing. He was also prescribed zantac drops for 3 months, but he did eventually grow out of it. Hope this helps.

my son had that the first year or so of his life. i added the baby rice to his formula and he slept in his swing for a very large portion of that first year. basically until he was to big for it. my hubby even got in there and made it abel to be run by electric instead of batteries. we went thru 4 d's a week if that long. the thicker milk worked good and they swing was my saving grace. he did grow out of it and the dr. said that they normally doe after a time. you can also supplement his diet with GRIPE WATER. you can find it on the internet. no alcohol so dont worry about putting him to sleep. transition was very easy also because he was uncmfortable in the chair so he was happy to have move to strecth in the crib. good luck!
B.

C.,

If you are nursing him, you might want to try a "baby-dophilus" pro-biotic product to soothe and regulate his entire digestive tract. Whole Foods Market sells them. Also ask an associate there if there are digestive enzymes for babies.

My oldest son is now 9, but he had really bad acid reflux, projectile vomiting, "colic" as a baby: He was breast fed but also supplemented with formula. This ended up being self-defeating, the formula was giving him the reflux and vomiting. I had to feed him almost hourly 24/7, he was always hungry because he didn't keep much down...

Only later when he was a pre-schooler did I figure out that he is/was very intolerant to corn syrup, and he was intolerant to cow milk protein. All of the commercial baby formulas contain corn syrup solids. I tried soy formulas, hypo-allergenic formulas, etc, never even thinking about corn syrup being the culprit. I also didn't know about pro-biotics or digestive enzymes. We use pro-biotics every day now (2 boys, now ages 7 and 9) and digestive enzyme tablets as needed, and never have lasting tummy trouble (or diarreah or constipation.

If he is on formula, you could try switching to a different brand that claims to be gentler, or a "hypo-allergenic" formula. Or Whole Foods Market for a natural formula, likely of higher quality and more easily digestable than the commercial brands.

Wish you the best with your little hunny,

C. N.

Hi C.,
I used to work in the nursery in the hospital before I had my children.We would elevate the "head of the bed" of the babies that had reflux.I know this would be hard to do in a crib but if you have a bassinet you could use towels or baby blankets under the little mattress or put him on the bed on a pillow and use rolled up towels or blankets next to him to keep him from rolling off the pillow.( I put my 10 week old in my boppy on the bed.He has mild reflux as well!)At least we know it's going to pass!!!!!Good luck and congratulations!!
L.

Oh Courtny, My son had the same thing at that age...it was awful! if I laid him done in his crib...or anywhere for that matter he would scream. HIs doc said it had to do with the reflux coming up while he was asleep.I actaully resorted to diving him around until he fell asleep, then putting his whole carseat in the crib! It actually worked,as he got older and started to outgrow it(a couple months) he was fine and would only sleep in his crib. oh the things we do ! good luck!!!

hello, our little boy was premature and thus, had 'gerd' as well. we bought a sleep positioner by sassy, at target (it's a foam piece that has a slight angle), and laid him down in that to sleep. that helped- along with never putting him straight to bed after feeding.
however, if he is comfortable and sleeps happily in the papasan, why not let him?
once he gets a little older, and his esophagus develops a little further- you will be able to transfer him back to his crib to sleep. it will take a few days to get him used to anything new- but with perseverance, it will be easier to do that you may think! babies are adaptable just as long as all of their basic needs are met (fed, diaper changed).
at 6 months is when we started laying him flat in his crib...
good luck!!