Reflux and Play

My 11 wk old DD has reflux and despite holding her upright for 30 min after a feed, she still has stuff come up all the way through to the next feed if laid down. She feeds 3-hourly. I'm finding it really hard to do any play with her cause a lot of things are lying down (eg playmat) and don't even THINK about trying tummy time! She spends a lot of time in her bouncer and I feel really bad about this. It's hard to do anything else though cause she hasn't quite mastered holding her head up yet. If we could do tummy time maybe this would not be the case! It's a catch 22, any ideas?

I found both my babies struggled with any kind of play time that didn't involve them either in a bouncer, swing or with me sitting them on my lap supporting them. I also propped them up in the corner of the couch with lots of cushions around them, and then would kneel down on the floor in front of them and we would play that way. Both my girls spent the first few months of their lives upright for everything - sleeping, feeding, playing etc. Its tough.

I just deal with the vomit & have him on the playmat with a bib & cloth nappy under his head.

We just dealt with the vomit. Lots of spew rags on playmats, and changes of clothes.
We also did gymbaroo with the a blanky and a towel.
We found the big flat cloth nappies from big w were the best rags to use.


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Just to clarify - it wasn't just gooey vomit that made me keep DDs upright. They had lots of pain if they were lying down. Not sure if that's your little girl's problem phebee or if its just a never ending supply of vomit.

Yeah I'm not sure there is much pain and the vomit getting on stuff doesn't bother me. I'm just worried about her choking on all that gunk in her mouth. She can lie on her back quite happily, but she HATES tummy time!

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Yeah I'm not sure there is much pain and the vomit getting on stuff doesn't bother me. I'm just worried about her choking on all that gunk in her mouth. She can lie on her back quite happily, but she HATES tummy time!

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As foul as it is, she'll either turn her head to vomit or just swallow it. She no doubts vomits in her bed too, yeah? It's amazing how they often just deal with it.

I keep DD upright for a bit, maybe 5-10 minutes (not at night though as she just falls asleep so I don't mess with that :lol:) then pop her down on her back for a play with a spew rag under her and a bib on. After a little while, I quickly flip her over for some tummy time and find she's usually pretty good by then pain wise. There's always spew for me DD so I've learnt to just deal with that! Lol!

You can also use a pillow to prop her up a bit on a play mat. I just bought an awesome feeding pillow on special at Babies R Us and it can be used as a support (for laying, sitting and tummy time) for your baby. It's in their latests catalogue if you're interested.

No she doesn't vomit in her bed, in fact she barely vomits at all. She has started to more recently when being burped, cuddled or changed, but for some reason not usually in her bed. Sometimes it sounds like she's about to though!

If she doesn't vomit much, it sounds more like she has silent reflux. Or she could very well be swallowing any vomits while in bed. DD2 does a bit of both when she's in bed but she certainly spews all day :lol:

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is if she copes ok in bed, she'll be fine on her back :) Tummy time will probably be tough so just give her quick goes well after a feed.

DD2 wasn't very good at tummy time until about 4 weeks ago (she's 20 weeks now) as it was difficult to get her on her belly due to her reflux. She was so bad the health care nurse said she was like a 6 week old at her 4 month checkup! She spoke to me about the possibility of low muscle tone but all was good within a week or so of that appointment. So keep trying hon and don't stress :)

Phebee, Bit confused. If she doesn't have pain and doesn't vomit, why do they think she has reflux? What is the 'stuff' that comes up?

My DS loves when i hold him with one arm under his tummy with him lying lengthwise under his body. i can angle it so his head is higher than his bum, and it gives him a chance to hold his head up.

DD was the same. She just checked everywhere whether on back or stomach (but much bigger amounts when on her stomach). We didn't do heaps of tummy time as a result. As a result her gross motor developments have been a bit slower (only rolled both ways at 10 months, crawled at 11 ad isn't walking quite yet), but gee her fine motor skills and verbal skills are good. I'd say not to push tummy time too much and just do other things.

HotI she does vomit, just small ones up until recently. They seem to be getting bigger and more often now. On the checklist for reflux she was doing 9/10 of the behaviors. It definitely is, but I think it's silent.