XP: Reflux at night

BoilerUp1

All babies have reflux, right?  Some it bothers, some it does not.  My LO seems to reflux a lot during the day but it doesn't make him TOO fussy.  He gets a little irritable sometimes when it is happening but nothing too out of the ordinary.  He mostly refluxes and swallows it right back down (no projectile vomiting or anything).  However, at night, it is a different story. When I put him to bed at 7:00, I usually hold him for about 45 minutes before lying him down.  He then sleeps a 5-6 hour stretch.  I feed him at 12:00 or 1:00 and then he is back up to feed again at 3:30 after which I hold him upright for at least 30 minutes.  After the 3:30 feeding he is up every single hour not to eat but because he is gagging and choking which wakes him up.  It's almost like the acid builds up over night and by that point really starts to irritate him.  He almost always wakes up in a pile of spit up.  I have an appt. with the pedi on Thursday and am wondering if we should think about medicating him.  We do have his bed inclined.  I feel like he will never get a good night's sleep if this keeps going on and I feel so bad for him when I hear him gagging in the middle of the night.  Anyone else with a similar problem or with suggestions?

michelle7482

My daughter's was worse at night too and we put her on Zantac two weeks ago and she is doing 100% better.  Sounds like your son would benefit from medication.

jenbelsan

Wow, that sounds just like my son!  We just started Zantac this week for reflux, supposed to give it three times a day, but I never thought that it might be building up overnight.  He gets all sorts of cranky from about 3 am on.  Tonight, I'm going to try giving him his 3rd dose around midnight instead of his 8 pm feeding. 

I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions as we are still starting to sort this out for our DS, but THANK YOU for posting about this!   

MrsJetSet

We are on Zantac but had projectile vomit.  The thing that really made us start meds was a couple of feelings where dd screamed the entire feeding due to the acid.  My pedi said it is good to medicate early because the acid can burn the esophagus which can cause even more problems, so I would bring it up at your appointment.  Another thing to look for is the baby arching their back and straightening their neck, especially at feedings. That also means they are having reflux.