Desparate for sleep! Bed-sharing DD, almost 11 months old, wakes approximately ten times each and every night. She nurses back down most of the time, for 30-60 minutes of restless sleep. She has been a poor sleeper for quite a while, but has recently slipped back into an unbearable pattern. My husband and I play musical beds and musical baby all night, trying to each get a small window of sleep. We also have a preschooler, so we try to keep the noise down for his sake.
DD is TOP of the charts for both weight and height, so no failure to thrive, though I fear she nurses extra to soothe the suspected reflux. We really don't hear much in the way of the choking/gurgling, but we do once in a while. She's quite pleasant and happy in the day time. She rarely arches her back, only at night - and only a couple times per week, resolved by nursing, usually. We are vegan, so there's no dairy/egg in the diet and she isn't eating nuts, though I am. She eats mostly banana, carrots, spinach, steel cut oats, beets, winter squash, sweet potatoes, kale, occasional brown rice, occasional apple, and she was eating multi-grain O's with wheat but we've been on break from those for a week. I gave a half-hearted effort to go gluten-free, for a few days, and a little more effort to giving us both probiotics. I consume decaf coffee, tomatoes, chocolate, soy, wheat, beans... I rarely eat broccoli to prevent gassing her up.
So what's a mom to do? Give up all those aforementioned foods, hold baby upright 30 minutes after each of the TEN night feedings...? Also, what about night weaning? I don't want to, and our son would probably suffer lost sleep from it (the anticipated crying spells), but I do wonder if it's part of a bad cycle: nurse-reflux pain-cat nap-nurse-reflux... ALL NIGHT LONG. She has never been interested in a paci, and I am very hesitant to start her on one now, but certainly would if it would help... still, I doubt she would take it. I have wondered if we should get a recliner (sure would have helped if we had gotten one when we started parenting, not as we finish up the baby years) so I can hold her up to sleep at night...
We prefer not to go the medicine route, but we really need some improvement. And really, at the end of all this, I am ONLY SUSPECTING silent reflux. Our ped is pretty relaxed and has indicated in the past that DD may be over eating a little (response to all the night feedings - not to any other info) and also to try holding her upright after feedings (because WE have mentioned possibly mild reflux), which we often fail to do in our exhausted nighttime stupers.
Thank you for any insight, encouragement, etc.
Edited by thaihotmama - 2/4/13 at 8:31am
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