7 Month Old Wakes 5-8 Times a Night

Are you breastfeeding still and/or eating solids? Does she show any signs of a food allergy? The thing I relate to the most is the constant moving. My youngest was similar, and it was his diet (he has multiple food allergies). When he was in pain from stomach aches caused by a food that didn't agree with him, or when he was sick, he couldn't stop moving. Also, he was only comforted by me. Once we visited an allergist, it all began to make sense. Maybe something to consider esp with the reflux. Hope this helps!

as a mother with a baby with severe acid reflux it sounds like your baby may need to see a gastro. I have seen a couple of Dr.s and finally found a routine of meds and formula that has FINALLY worked for us. I can't say if it will work for your baby but for your sake I would try it or see a gastro. Right now my daughter (6 months old) is on elecare formula which is an amino acid based formula that you can only get through prescription. She also is on zantac and previcit (the same dose a 15 year old would take) She also has a large amount of rice cereal added to her bottle and to help with going to the bathroom she takes lactalose (non-digestable sugar or a stool softner) SHe had to be taken off all solid foods until we had her acid reflux under control and is now finally starting to go back on solids one at a time. Her gastro suggested starting to pull her off the zantac one dose at a time but when I did she started getting up at 4am again so she told me to put her back on the full dose and she went back to sleeping 12 hours at night. Now she is a VERY happy baby and barely ever cries and if I put her to sleep she just falls asleep on her own. She only wakes up if she has to burp and then goes right back to sleep. SHe also gets gas drops in every bottle but she has not had gas in awhile. I hope this helps and like I said before I highly recomend taking her to a gastro and if they tell you that she is colic stop taking her to that Dr. and find a new one. COlic is a word Dr.s use when they can't figure out what is wrong and don't want to take the time to try something else.

Put her in the bed in a bouncy seat. One that you sit on the counter and as she moves it jiggles up and down. It was the only way our grandson with reflux could sleep. He slept in it until he was about 6-8 months old. He got to where he was not liking not being able to turn on his tummy and as soon as hubby laid him on is back flat he flipped, snuggled, and went to sleep. But until then he was having real issues with laying flat to sleep.

This is almost exactly like the one we had.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Disney-Winnie-the-Pooh-Bouncer-...

I know how it is when a baby needs you too much, it can be very trying on your spirits. She will get through this stage and once she is feeling better she will lay down and sleep on her own. Obviously you must get up when she starts stirring so she does not get to the point she is crying very much. It is not going to help at all. Getting her to an ENT might be the better thing to do.

My grandson had numerous ear infections when he was little, he always took antibiotics too. When he went into foster care the mom took him to an ENT because she thought he was deaf. He was. The bass drum did not even make him blink when it was banged behind his head. The ENT went in to put tubes in to see if drainage might be the issue and when he saw the debris left over from ear infections that the antibiotics had not touched he took about an hour in each ear cleaning the mess out. Once he did that and put the tubes in my grandson can hear just fine.

The point is that ear infections can be so deep that the med does not get to the goo and it sits there hurting and causing deep pain. When the little ones lay down it hurts even more.

This little baby you have is precious and you are going to have to bite the bullet at least on day per week and let someone take her to their house just so you can get some deep sleep. Your health is important too. She will do okay with someone else and then when you pick her up she will be glad to see you and you'll be rested.

I would make sure that dad is always with you in the evenings and he is playing with her and bonding too so that she will want him too and sometimes he can take her and she'll rest with him while you sleep.

She sounds so much like my DD who is 9 months. She has been BF and we use the attachment parenting principles. I encourage you to read Dr. Sears The Fussy Baby Book". We moved a queen mattress onto the floor in her nursery and she and I sleep there. She BFs almost all night. However I am able to get plenty of sleep. Ou DD is very attached to me and we consider this a positive and I focus on enjoying every moment of her as a precious baby. When I feel overwhelmed, I remind myself that one day she won't want me to hold her and cuddle. I enjoy it while it lasts.

well i have no advice.... after being woken up every hour last night myself... i was going to post a similar question. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone!

I truly hope that your baby doesn't end up having ADHD. It sometimes happens.

What does your ped say when you remind him/her that she's been "practicing" since she was 2 months old? She learned that if she cries long enough, that you will come in to her, since she had ear infection. I think that since it worked once, it can work again. The thing is, you have to be 100% consistent. You have to do the exact same thing for at least a week without giving in at all. It is really hard to do CIO, especially for a child who is so clingy and strong-willed.

One mom on here talked about the problem with a baby who stood up and couldn't sit down, saying that she sat in the floor beside the crib and stroked her baby's leg, and the baby finally lay down to be closer to her. She didn't say how many nights she came in and sat when baby woke and cried, but she said eventually the baby learned to sleep through the night.

I'd be tempted to try that. And have bumpers so that her leg doesn't get caught between the rails.

If you don't get a hold of this somehow, you may end up sick from lack of sleep, and I don't know how you are ever going to get to go back to bed with your husband!

Dawn

My 8 month old, and my now 2 year old both had reflux and problems sleeping. If you can afford it, get a Graco Sweetpeace Soother. The baby can sleep in her carseat, and the motion makes her move so that she feels like she is in a car moving. The angle is higher than the recommended 30 deg, but its good for the baby. This was the only way both of my kids would sleep, we even had to buy the bigger carseat when they grew too big for the snugride, but I have a 26 pound 8 month old.

I agree, add the Prevacid, and try switching foods. Neither one of my kiddos could have dairy of any kind, nor breastmilk either. I couldn't even eat any while I was pregnant! DD is allergic to not only dairy, but soy too. They both had to be on Similac Alimentum for food. Also, putting a little rice or oatmeal in her bottle will help calm the tummy and help the reflux. My doc told me to, and it really helps.

I think if she is in less pain, she will be better able to sleep. You might still need to do some sleep training, but this should help. If you can put the soother in your room, then maybe she can sense that you are near by, but not need you to hold her. Also, the teething thing makes it hard to sleep too. Have you tried Hyland's teething pills? those help a lot, as does baby orajel and tylenol. If I can help more, please let me know, I have been there and I feel for you mama!!

I've had 3 children just like yours so my heart goes out to you. It's the most frustrating and exhausting thing to have a child that wakes frequently. None of mine slept through the night until age 2 yrs. My last still doesn't sleep through the night and he turns 2 next week. The other 2 are now great sleepers--10-12 hrs straight every night. There is hope. Do whatever works to get through this stage. It won't last forever. I promise. It sounds like you are doing all you can for her. If you must sleep in her room on a twin mattress to make it through this stage as I had to do, just don't feel guilty about it. I highly recommend The Fussy Baby Book by Dr. Sears. It helped me get through some tough years. Nurse Midwife Mom of 3

Ok...speaking from experience....

Ask your pediatrician to refer you to either an Occupational Therapist or a Speech Pathologist who specializes in infant feeding. They will take a look at how she is swallowing and will help to see if it's contributing to the reflux. They can also make a sleeping wedge for her. One of the most prevalent signs of reflux is an ear infection - that is especially true if her swallowing contributes to the reflux (that's the situation with my daughter). She gulps so hard that the food just pools in the back of the throat and makes its way into the nasal passages. Seriously - go and ask for a swallow study! They can help you!

ALSO, you should ask your pediatrician about adding Prevacid to the Zantac. Prevacid helps the stomach to produce less acid, while Zantac neutralizes the acid that the stomach does produce. The two together might be just what she needs to get comfortable. I also encourage you to elevate one side of the crib to about 30 degrees. Babies with reflux don't like to lay flat because the acid goes up their throats. Have you thought about letting her lay on her tummy? On her left side? That can really make a difference as well.

I don't mean to disagree with Dawn B., but don't put bumpers on the crib. If baby is already standing up, she will start to step up onto the bumpers which will cause her to fall out of the crib.

We successfully trained our reflux baby to put herself to sleep and to sleep on her own, but not until we felt like her reflux was under control. I encourage you to handle the reflux first, and then go for sleep training.

Good luck, mama! I know it's hard. Our thoughts are with you!

O my heart goes out to you. When she is better you have your work cut out for you! It's so hard after they've been sick and it sounds like you have had your hands full. So much going on here. I would seriously start with a highly recommended chiropractor. I know a great one in Plainfield and Tinley Park abut not by you. Definitely go to one who is certified to work with babies/children and who has children of their own. I only do word of mouth with chiropractors. This could help with the reflux and perhaps some of the other issues as well. Also, perhaps a second opinion. There is nothing wrong with getting additional input from other peds.
God bless you all. I will send up a prayer!

Hello, sorry I haven't been on in a while so I am just now seeing your post. I have three children, a 1 year old, 2 1/2 year old and an almost 6 year old. All of my children had acid reflux and in fact my 2 1/2 year old still gas it. To me it sounds like her acid reflux is still bothering her and that the Zantac is not doing enough. My kids all tried Zantec and it helped them but it didn't help enough. They still cried a lot, arched their backs and had a hard time sleeping well. Have u tried putting something under her mattress to prop her up so she isn't laying flat? Prevacid all worked for my kids. The off brand did not work but the actual prevacid did. I hope this was helpful to u! Good luck with everything and may God Bless you and your family! There is one more thing that I wanted to add, my youngest son and my friends son had reflux because they have problems with milk. My son had trouble growing and gaining weight so they put him on neocate formula and now ever since my son went on the formula ha was able to go off his prevacid and has gained weight! He went from 14 pounds to 20lbs in a little less than 3 months. He is still on the formula because he is still catching up and in about 2 months we are going to slowly Switch him from the neonate to regular milk and see how he does. I def. Go see a GI doctor.

There are a lot of things to hit... but I'm going to ask the most basic thing first:

Have you given her tylenol about 20min before putting her down?