Nighttime goals for autistic 2 year old...

[micah_mae_]

Our 2 year old (C) is autistic and our 6 week old (R) has severe reflux. Here's the night time situation now:

Daddy takes care of bedtime with C and sleeps with him in our king sized bed.

I take care of bedtime with R. He starts the night off in the swing, goes a solid 5 hour stretch most of the time. Then we nurse back to sleep and he sleeps with me on the couch (not a soft one, it's more firm than our bed). Problem is that sleep-nursing leads to him eating too much and being very fussy and gassy and refluxy. We wake very often from the end of the long stretch and when I get up (burping, patting, moving, trying to help him feel better). After the rest of us wake up (at 6) he usually sleeps another hour or so in the swing.

These are our goals:
1) Have C sleeping in his own bed in his own room. He can sleep longer because right now DH is getting up at 6 for work and C almost always wakes up too.

2) Have R going to sleep without nursing and sleeping in the bed, not the swing. Just because I don't want him to get hooked on the "suck to sleep" habit and don't want him to only sleep while moving.

3) Have R and myself move back into the bed with DH.

So any tips, ideas, BTDT experience?

[beenmum]

 Have you tried the reflux wedge?

http://www.pollywogbaby.com/refluxandcolic/refluxwedgesforinfantswithacidreflux.html 

Its excellent.

We also have a reflux bed that we could raise up to 90 degrees.

[micah_mae_]

NAK

Thanks! Thats spendy but maybe insurance will cover it...

[twofourone]

You can try elevating the crib feet on 1 side with some 2x4's, somepeople also roll up towels and put them under the mattress to elevate the bed on one side.

Maybe you can try a crib vibrator to get some movemnt with out a swing? We had one that went under the crib mattress and had a control on the side of the crib. It also had a little light, and some calming sounds that were optional it was at target and under $30