My Preemie has reflux and can't sleep at night.

MommaWalla

Hello my daughter was born at 27 weeks, she is now 4 weeks corrected. She has reflux and is currently on zantac. 
I'm having such a difficult time putting her down to sleep. She spits up out of her nose within minutes of being layed down. It's not so bad during the day but at night I can't put her down at all. We've tried everything.... elevating her crib, laying her on her left side, putting her in a swing, feeding her tilted to the left, burping her constantly. ...etc. Nothing seems to help. We were sleeping sitting up on the couch with her on our chest but that's not working anymore. What can we do other than hope she grows out of it soon?

teachmegs817

You have literally taken the words out of my mouth. Other than, we are not on anything and I'm going to make a call to the pediatrician about putting him on Zantac. My LO is 1w corrected tomorrow, born @ 34w.

We tend to have no issues during the day, other than the spitting up. He doesn't spit up a ton, but it's becoming more frequent. Once 6-7pm rolls around, he shows all of the signs and more of reflux and discomfort, the last 4-5 days have been so out of whack with his night schedule. We may get sleep but he's so loud and can't get himself into a sound sleep, so we are constantly picking him up, rocking him, ect. And then there's a night or two, like last night where we got about 5 hours total of sleep, from 8pm-6:30.

We are on Nutramigen by Enfamil. The formula has helped him tremendously with some of the stomach issues we were having. (No bowel movements, lots of gas pains, straining). I'm hoping that a combination of that and hopefully a prescription of Zantac will elevate our issue. Good luck to you! And know that you are def. not alone. 

Kelly_12

Oh the memories! My now big boy was born at 34w. He had terrible reflux that lasted until he was about 8 months old. He ended up on 3 different medications for it to keep it regulated because it was so bad. We started with the zantac, and ended up adding prevacid and one other (the name is lost for me right now). We found the increase in meds did help, and every single time he gained a pound we had to up the dose as it was clear it stopped working as well. We had frequent doctor appts just to get the dose upped everytime he gained weight. It was a long road, and to be honest, a rough one but it will get better. We did everything they recommend and did all the meds and really the only thing that worked was time. Sorry to tell you that, some things will help a bit and you'll hopefully find a groove, but really the time and their little bodies growing is the only thing that will 100% make it better and help you all find sleep. Sending my good thoughts your way!!

MommaWalla

Thank you ladies for responding! I didn't know anyone had.... we don't get notifications? I should of checked 
Thank you Kelly_12 for your good thoughts... they helped 
I am very happy to report that my LO is doing better in reference to the reflux. She no longer spits up out of her nose when we feed her and she only sometimes spits up when we put her down after a feeding (& holding upright for atleast 30 mins).
She has stopped grunting, my husband and I slept on the couch with her on our chest until we were finally able to put her down without all the grunting. This happened close her her turning 5 months (2 corrected). I don't believe it was "preemie grunts" she seemed to only do it right before the milk came spewing out of her nose or when it was creeping up. Besides if it's truly just preemie grunts wouldn't they do it whether being held or not?
She is 11. 4lbs and almost 3 months corrected, still on zantac (.70ml 3x/day)
We were having an issue feeding her.....up until recently, like a few days ago, she was literally putting up a fight after drinking just 1oz. Even if she hadn't eaten in 6 hours! It took an hour to feed her sometimes. We tried 3 different formulas, different nipples, bottles, positions and a higher dosage of zantac but nothing helped. The changes would work for a couple a days then revert back to the way it was before.
 We had to stop fortifying the breastmilk and give her the formula (only 2 bottles- 3oz ea.)separately.She is doing so much better that way... she went from drinking 11- 14 oz of fortified breastmilk to 14+oz of breastmilk and 5+oz of formula (enfamil for preemies, forgot the name).
We do add about a teaspoon of coconut oil to every bottle. It adds good fat, aids in digestion and is very beneficial to your overall health. If you're not familiar it's worth looking into. We also give her a probiotic. 
So far she has steadily been gaining weight in spite of the eating issue and is very healthy. We also limit visitors and keep her covered if we take her out. We want to give her as much time as possible to strengthen her immune system.
Teachmegs817 how is your LO doing? I really hope things have improved.

Knottie1442268460

You should look into nutramigen. Insurance pays for it. 

May at need different meds. 

The he fisher price rock n play was the perfect sleep angle for our newborn preemie with reflux.