Hi lovely people,
I've got a question about my 12 week old and was hoping somebody might know what might be going on.
At various times throughout the day but mostly after feeding and when trying to settle him to sleep, he starts arching his back like crazy and throwing his head around. And if he is in bed he just throws his head around like crazy from side to side and keeps waking himself up. It does not seem to be burps nor farts - does anybody have any idea why he does that? Ta!!
Sounds like reflux to me. Both my babies have had it. They arch their backs and throw their heads around as they are in pain and trying to get comfortable. Take him to your Gp to discuss this and possible medications that can help.
holding baby upright for awhile after feeds can help everything settle. also having baby sleep on an angle - a foam wedge or put phonebooks under the head end legs of a cot.
Does he pull his legs up too? And is there much vomiting? Could be reflux - like the others have said. You can try raising up his cot mattress a bit and keeping him upright after feeds (maybe feed him when he wakes up, instead of before going to sleep during the day). My kids also hated dairy when i was breastfeeding. I'm not sure if you are b/f or ff, either way, you can try going off all dairy for a few days and see if that helps or try Goats' milk formula (which made a huge difference with my DS1).
ummm, otherwise, I'd say it sounds like wind b.c that's what my 17 week old DD does when I haven't got it all up. There's also a wonder week around the 12 week mark, and/or he could be starting to get teeth?
Has this behaviour just started? I remember a GP saying that if they get an ear infection, it hurts much more when they're lying down. Just another option? Hope you work out what's annoying him and get him sleeping better soon
Thanks ladies - he does have reflux but I didn't realise this was a symptom. He is on mainly formula as I have Insufficient Glandular Tissue and hardly any milk even with taking Motillium - he's on lactose free formula as everything else had him in screaming fits. He was put on Losac for reflux but that made no difference so we dropped it. We keep him upright after feeds and he sleeps raised up. He only always has 40 minute naps during the day - one sleep cycle - could that be from the reflux too? When do they grow out of it? Thanks!!
Hi, with the losec, how long was he on it for? as it can take up to 3 weeks for it to be effective as the previous damage to their osophageous needs to heal first before there is relief. He also may have needed a higher dose. My daughters dosage was constantly being upped due to worsening reflux and also weight gain.
only sleeping short sleeps is def related to reflux too. <My daughter didn't sleep longer than this till she was almost 1 when we finally got her reflux under control.
Also with the lactose free formula, it may not be lactose intolerant he may have a milk protein intolerance which is different to lactose intolerance. My son is on a formula called Neocate it is a formula that you get on prescription.
Yeah I was going to suggest Neocate or an elemental formula. My daughter was the same, it wasnt a lactose intolerance it was just too hard for her to process. We had her on goats milk formula and that was very good.
Also you can buy thickener to help keep the liquid in the tummy rather than up the throat, this helped our DD alot as her was silent reflux. We had our daughter on Zantac liquid as after trying Losec found it didnt do a great deal for her.
Thanks again! We tried thickened formula but he got really bad on it - screamed the house down in pain. He is so happy on the lactose free formula I do not want to change it thanks. As to the Losec - we were told to trial it for a week -maybe we gave up too early? The thing is that he is totally happy when he is awake - an absolute delight. It's only for sleep time that he struggles so much...
My ds doesn't have reflux but we had sleep issues from 6weeks till about 13 weeks. He would only do no more than 40 min sleeps and was fine when awake..once we got through that wonder week and started swaddling again it improved.
Do you still swaddle or use a sleeping bag? Ds2 hates the bag atm and would prefer to be swaddled! Just a thought!
Yep quite some time for losec to work I would try goats milk with thickener and losec longer or Neocate. Its because when you lay him down the acid in his tum goes up his throat and burns him. It actually happens from birth but only gets to crisis point a few weeks after once the they are well and truly got throat burn.
Reflux can be a sign of cows milk protein intolerance so in that case lactose free would help, but could still be a problem. A hydrolysed or elemental formula would be better in this case but the taste isn't good so once they are a bit older it can be hard switching a baby to them. Maybe worth a try though.
If it's reflux, another thing that might help is giving him smaller feeds more often. For some reflux babies this causes less discomfort than fewer big feeds.
I spent a week at sleep school with DS1 and he eventually slept better at night, but his day sleeps were still 20 or 40 mins. They told me that I was doing everything that they recommended and that reflux babies tend to do that. I would sit for ages, trying to re-settle him. With the reflux, I saw a naturopath and took probiotics and I noticed that he got better after 6 months. I'm not sure if starting solids helped. Unfortunately the sleeps didn't improve until about 12 months. This is the kids who NEVER slept in the car or pram for his first year of life and them Bammo, on his birthday he slept in the car - we took photos. Hang in there, it's really hard work but they will eventually grow out of the reflux and hopefully sleep better.
Thanks! I am not even sure that the reflux is causing him any issues - and he sleeps with head elevated so food should not come up. He's just turned three months and just this week sleep is getting a bit better. Still 40 minutes but easier to resettle into a second sleep. There is hippest!
Bibi, he sounds like he is 'normal' reflux baby. All my 4 have/had reflux in its varying forms. As they get older it tends to get better, some faster than others.
With sleeping, does he sleep on his back or his side? Most babies with reflux will still get pain while sleeping on their back, even with the mattress/bed elevated. When putting my little one to sleep on their side I use a special bolster to keep them from wriggling onto their tummy.
I carried my 2 reflux babes in a carrier/sling and found that was great. Doesn't have to be all day but defiantly after feeds and then they often get a good sleep too.
Infacol and probiotics helped ( dd was worse for 1st 3 days on probiotics then settled)
A lot of kids grow out of this by about 9mths old but some have it their whole life. But it does get easier once you find out what works.
Its hard seeing them so uncomfortable.
He does sleep on his side but we usually keep him upright for a bit after a feed. So how would I know if reflux is still an issue? He still chucks a bit but not much and now sleeps lying flat.
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Arching back & throwing head around
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