Cosleeping with a reflux-y infant?

[Aufilia]

Does anyone cosleep with a reflux-y infant? DS sleeps most of the time in a Snuggle Nest in his crib. When I try to do side-lying nursing, he puts up with it for a few minutes, and sometimes falls asleep that way. But he almost always burps himself awake after 15-20 minutes. He has a bit of reflux, just enough to make Zantac helpful, and he hates to burp. He also seems to hate lying flat (he has the Snuggle Nest with the incline wedge; he will also sleep in a swing or carseat, but never if he's lying flat!).

Does anybody have any suggestions? I wouldn't mind just bringing him to bed with us in the morning, but whenever I try it, it never works out. Which sucks. When DD was in the same age range we used to spend half the morning side-lying nursing on the couch while I dozed.

[Icehockey18]

Ds sleeps in the crook of my arm next to me. So his head is actually on my elbow, most of the time on his side facing me. This keeps him elevated, but he's never really had reflux issues, he's just comfortable that way, so I'm not sure if it will solve your delimma.... But worth a try, I guess!

[4myfinn]

My DS has severe silent reflux. We've had a terrible time finding a good sleep position. Neither the swing nor car seat work for us- I think they actually makes it worse because of the way his legs are drawn up. DS likes to lie flat, but when he's on his back is the reflux is just terrible. I was looking at some infant reflux websites and found mention of the left side being a good sleep position for reflux infants; some actually recommended the left side over sleeping on an angle. He still likes to be swaddled, so we swaddle him and prop him on his left side with rolled up towels against his tummy and back. (I roll the towels tightly and put rubber bands around them so they won't unravel. I use small hand towels, not huge ones.) Then I put a thin blankie over him and tuck it under the towels so he's nice and snug. So far it's worked nicely and it has really cut down on his reflux episodes at night.

Nursing lying down is tricky with reflux. We just started doing it about 3 weeks ago. When we nurse on the right breast it works fine because he's already lying on his left side, but when it's time to nurse on the left breast we usually have to sit up in bed and nurse. I keep the Boppy at the foot of the bed so I can just grab it, prop myself up with a big pillow I keep on the floor right next to the bed, prop the left end of the Boppy up so it's at an angle and nurse him like that. Occasionally I will nurse with him lying down on his right side, but his reflux will start after about 30 minutes, so I have to move him to my other side to go back to sleep. I've gotten better at reading DS's cues about if he needs to be burped after nursing lying down. If he starts to squirm at all we have to sit up and burp. It's a pain, but we deal with it.

[ElliesMomma]

watch your diet.
my baby is about six weeks older than yours, and reflux-y too. he's also on liquid zantac, which helps. but if i eat something bad, his reflux really flares. i know what you mean about it being hard for him to burp.
here's what i avoid eating:
coffee, carbonated drinks, chocolate, tomato products, citrus fruits and juices, all dairy, all eggs, most spices -- anything that triggers reflux.
i'm on a pretty bland diet, and this really really seems to help him. he can side lying nurse with me all night. when his reflux flares, he spits up a lot in the bed and i have to change the sheets. but if i'm good on my diet, the spit up on the sheets is at a bare minimum (like one or two small stains overnight). also i don't have to burp him anymore side lying.

but in the beginning, i got up out of bed and nursed him sitting up, burped him, then nursed him back to sleep.

can i repeat one more time that your diet is critical. good luck. baby waking now. gotta go!

[4myfinn]

"here's what i avoid eating:
coffee, carbonated drinks, chocolate, tomato products, citrus fruits and juices, all dairy, all eggs, most spices -- anything that triggers reflux.
i'm on a pretty bland diet, and this really really seems to help him. he can side lying nurse with me all night. when his reflux flares, he spits up a lot in the bed and i have to change the sheets. but if i'm good on my diet, the spit up on the sheets is at a bare minimum (like one or two small stains overnight). also i don't have to burp him anymore side lying. "

Ditto! I'm on just about the same diet, but I'm also recently suspecting soy.

My son also takes FOREVER to burp. Sometimes 30-40 minutes after we eat he'll finally burp and it'll be huge and wet. It's so sad to watch him writhe and squirm until he finally gets it up.

[HungryCaterpillar]

My DD's reflux is completely cleared now (turned out to be pretty extreme dairy sensitivity) but I dealt with this for the first 6 weeks or so of her life. She slept (still sleeps actually) in an inclined snugglenest as well - but we keep it either in our Arm's Reach cosleeper or right in bed with us. Still not quite as cozy since you can't nurse on and off with the baby having to be moved in and out of the thing. If you are going to stay awake you could try some creative way to prop both of you upright on a bunch of pillows, not terribly safe for sleeping but could work nicely for cuddle-time.

[odoole]

Don't know how old your baby is, but we started to be able to put DS to bed without he incline around 4 months, eliminated nightime burping shortly thereafter, and he was able to side nurse without spitting up around 5 months. now it's much easier to co-sleep. Before we were doing elevated sngglenest, hammock, and some side-lying swaddling. I think they just have to grow out of the reflux a bit then you can enjoy co-sleeping more.

[Aufilia]

I came back and read this post and never had time to reply and thank you all for your replies. Thanks!!

He has silent reflux and it isn't as bad as many, and I'm hoping he'll outgrow it soon. I can't sleep with him in the crook of my arm because after an hour my shoulder starts to really burn. And I can't sleep with him on the right boob because then he's in the center of the mattress and that freaks DH out. (I'm trying to find a cheap King-sized bedframe so we can get a bigger bed and have more space in the center....)

I was on the "reflux diet" for the entire 9 months of my pregnancy and I just can't make myself give up all those foods again. I know, I suck, but I spent 9 months having slobbering dreams about pizza and strawberries and chocolate ice cream. I just canNOT do it.

We do have a cosleeper but it's really not much easier than just having him in the crib, which I could see from my bed anyhow except that I close his door so I can run a humidifier for him...

[MissRubyandKen]

When dd was little I held her in a sitting up position a lot while she slept. I laid on my side and held her head in the crook of my arm with my other arm under/around her bottom. Or I used my back pillow to lay myself at an incline and held her on my chest.