They say it takes a village to raise a child. When you have triplets on RSV lockdown, that village lives in your computer. So, dear readers, want to help me out?
Eleanor. Oh, Eleanor. Unless she’s in a deep sleep with nothing – no sneezes, no spitting up, no startle reflex movements – she does to wake her up, she screams bloody murder in her crib.
We thought she needed swaddled, that her flailing arms woke her up too easily. She broke out of the tightest swaddles we could produce.
We thought she was chilly. We warmed a blanket for her – for her spot and to put over her body.
We thought she needed to be put down in her crib only when she was in a deep sleep, that moving her just after she fell asleep was too startling.
Then we decided to leave Callista, our reflux baby, on the Boppy we had propped her on after she ate (she needs to stay upright after eating, and another baby needed attention – enter Boppy The Hero). She was calm, quiet and sleeping peacefully.
After several naps wrapped up in the Moby (did she just want to be snuggled close to me?), my mom suggested we try Eleanor on her own Boppy. Callista’s happy, maybe Eleanor will be, too.
And she is.
What I wonder is why? The key now seems to be sleeping on her tummy in some fashion. I spent last night in my recliner with her sleeping on my chest, the same position she’s slept in the last few mornings when she wakes just an hour after we last fed her – and she sleeps soundly for another 2-3 hours.
The Boppy, unwrapped on a volunteer’s warm chest, wrapped in the Moby – all are tummy-sleeping positions in some fashion.
So why does she love that so much? Is it a preference thing? Or could she have reflux, too?
Callista’s reflux is obviously painful. Eleanor refluxes – hiccups, spit up, etc., but we assumed it’s developmental, something most preemies have, especially babies who had a feeding tube running to their stomachs for an extended period.
Could I do something more for her aside from just giving her as many tummy-sleeping opportunities as possible?
I have no suggestions. I just wanted to say that if its working, its working! Hopefully someone will have some information for you. Did the drs have anything to say?
She definitely could have reflux. Keira’s reflux was not super painful for her, so she was not really fussy at all. We took her in because of the hiccups, spitting up (she was a human fountain), and her not sleeping well laying flat. They put her on a mild med for reflux (Zantac) and we were told to prop up her PNP where she was sleeping and BAM. Success. She also slept the best on my chest or at an incline in her lamb papasan.
Not all reflux babies scream bloody murder. I was blessed, that is for sure.
She could of course, just be a picky sleeper.
After fighting it for weeks, we finally gave in and just had Laura sleep, unswaddled, on her tummy. She had no reflux whatsoever, and absolutely no interest in sleeping on her back. I think some babies are just tummy sleepers!
You could try putting Eleanor on her side, with a rolled towel behind her to prop her up. That worked a little while with Laura; long enough for me to be comfortable enough with the idea of having her sleep on her tummy!
Any pressure on a sore tummy can make it feel better… Gas and belly pains seem to be helped by tummy sleeping! Better than anything else, I’m glad you found something that works
It could definitely be silent reflux. Some babies don’t show a lot of symptoms and don’t seem to in pain with reflux.
Joshua had silent reflux. While it didn’t always come OUT, I could tell that he was bothered. Tummy sleeping positions were most preferable for him, but I couldn’t GET him into tummy sleeping positions without waking him up. (Thus the reason he spent so much time sleeping on my chest and is still a tummy sleeper at two!)
If she’s comfortable otherwise, and sleeps well on her Boppy and has good head control and is growing and thriving, I think letting her sleep on her Boppy isn’t necessarily bad. It may be that her reflux is manageable without medications, if that’s what you’re meaning by “do more.”
(I love seeing pictures of the behbehs! I just want to snuggle them!)
A lot of babies, premie or full term prefer sleeping on their tummies. After everyone and their brother tells you to never ever sleep them like this due to SIDS risk, as a parent you may feel wary of letting them sleep in that fashion. But our experience was that after talking to several parent friends, we were all allowing some tummy time sleep for our infants. So if it works for them, go with it!
Have your doctors talked to you about Hirschsprung’s disease? It’s what I had when I was born at 31 weeks. It’s congenital and preemies are prone. The only symptoms I really had, according to my parents, were low birthweight, poor feeding and digestion, and I screamed all the time unless propped like your little one likes. Sometimes my mom could hold me because of the angle of her chest, but no one else really.
I had surgery to correct at 2 months old and it corrected much of the problem.
Here’s a quick link to an overview of the disease. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002125/
It might be something to ask about.
I hope you find some relief soon. For you and for her.
Love and Hugs!
My oldest would not sleep if she was not on me or near me. And she’d never sleep longer than 1/2 hour unless it was on her stomach. It was a personality thing and at almost 6, she’s still similar in personality. All 3 of my girls are full time tummy sleepers. No one likes it, but a mama has to have some peace and she needs some sleep too. They are/were breastfed and sleep/slept with dinkies.
It might just be who Eleanor is. She might need you a little differently and until she’s older, she may prefer sleeping on her belly. She sure is cute.
Mine had silent reflux as well, and was allergic to dairy for a while. He was TOTALLY a tummy sleeper from day one. All naps (unless in the swing or carseat) were on his tummy and as soon as he could hold up his head he started sleeping at night on his tummy. Once we learned he was very much a tummy sleeper and started laying him like that he slept twice as long as usual and was generally a happier baby!
i don’t have any advice for you, but OMG that bebeh you have is too cute!
I have followed you since before these little angels, and you are doing an outstanding job!
In response to your inquiry: I had a baby (my first—she is now 7), who was a HORRID newborn……. screamed (no exaggeration) 20 hrs a day. I tried EVERYTHING. Then at 5 weeks she was admitted to the ICU with RSV and put on a vent——after the vent issue, one of the last nights we were there, I had just gotten her to sleep (after 6 hrs of screaming) and the nurse came in to do a routine BP, and woke her up. I was livid. Believe me, as a nurse, I understood the importance of vitals, but COME ON….. Anyway, I digress….. after I yelled a little too much, and cried a little too hard, the nurse brought in a swing. Now, I had tried the swing at home to no avail, but for whatever reason this time, it worked. My baby slept for 4 hrs straight (the longest, other than when she was drugged an on a vent). So when I got home, I got a swing. I kind of “broke the back” so it would lay down a bit more than the usual swing (since I was so afraid of her head falling forward and kinking off airway)…. and then I wrapped little rolled blankets around her sides and such, so she could not move freely. She slept in that thing, everynight, until she was 6 months old. (Keep back up batteries on hand!!!!! 3AM battery death is NOT cool)…… It turned out, that after extensive testing, she had severe reflux, and was medicated at 4 months, and a completely different baby……..
Anyway, my suggestion, although long winded, a swing. Yeah, I get, they aren’t suppose to sleep in swing, I get the whole “you need to develop healthy sleep habits”, but you also NEED TO SLEEP. Self preservation at times is all you can do. My daughter also liked the boppy or tummy sleeping, but I couldn’t sleep if she was on either of these…..
I wish you luck! Let us know how it pans out!
Best Regards,
Heather
I’m firmly in the DO WHAT WORKS camp. Some people sleep in certain positions better- I am a side sleeper. Can’t sleep on my back AT ALL. My twins preferred tummy sleeping as well- still do. I know ‘they’ say you are supposed to put them on their backs, but I put them on their bellies since they were on the Apnea/Brady monitors anyway.
My triplets were not good sleepers. Nothing like my first, who was a silent refluxer and screamed for months while it went undiagnosed. (Curse everyone in the medical field who said, “Some babies are just difficult.”)
They all slept together for about four months, until they started rolling over. Being together seemed to help, but they still weren’t great. I tried everything – warm packs, towels to keep them on their sides so they didn’t have to sleep on their backs, swaddling, two-blanket swaddling (much harder to get out of), everything!
I knew they slept best on their tummies, but I also had all the horror stories about SIDS and having to sleep on their backs in my head. One night when they were about two months old I couldn’t take any more. I had shingles, the babies were all getting over chicken pox, and I needed to sleep.
I put everyone to sleep on their tummy, looked up at heaven and prayed, “God, I took care of them all day. Now it’s your turn.”
I went to bed and everyone slept a six-hour stretch. They’ve slept on their tummies ever since.
Good luck, and hang in there.
Christy
It could be a number of things – But I did want to say that reflux doesn’t have to be painful. So there is a possibility that it’s reflux. My daughter had, what they call, silent reflux until she was about 6mos old. Well, I think she still has some reflux – But it’s calmed WAY down since 6mo old (she’s 12mo now). She never had to be put on meds to help make it less painful – She just spit up all.the.time. She slept in her boppy on her back until about 7mo old. Being on her tummy usually caused her to spit up more – But every baby is different.
I agree with 2nd comment Laura. My daughter didn’t have reflux but prefered to sleep on my chest, she also screamed in her crib and bassinet. We got the “My Little Lamb” swing with the reclining back and she LOVED it. Have you tried swings with her? That is my recommendation, but maybe the doctor should check her for refulx too. OH and my daughter DID start sleeping in her crib (With a sleep positioner keeping her sides snug) at age 6 months, so there is hope!
I obviously don’t have the answer for you, but as I tell TJ constantly, it’s all trial and error, right? Is it possible to let her sleep on her tummy for a little while and then flip her to her back when she’s in a deep sleep? I know you don’t want her sleeping on her tummy all the time, but if you could start her that way while being supervised, maybe eventually she’d let you flip her? Good luck!!
This was the only good part about my daughter coming home on an apnea monitor, if she wanted to sleep on her belly she could and I never worried about it.
She was sleeping on a wedge for a big majority of her NICU stay so we bought a snuggle nest deluxe, it has a wedge.
Wesley had reflux issues, and until we started placing him on his tummy to sleep, he was the most miserable baby – crying and screaming and not sleeping more than 30 minutes or so in his cradle. We had to put him in a vibrating chair to get him to sleep for the first few weeks. I finally talked with our pedi about just letting him be a tummy sleeper since it eased his discomfort so much. Good luck, Jenny!
I worked with babies for 10 years before becoming a sahm and some babies just prefer tummy sleeping. Buy the angel care montior (email them and offer to do a review on your blog and they might send you one or 3 for free) and do what works
No advice or anything, but just wanted to say that picture of Eleanor made my ovaries hurt because it is so precious! Hope you figure out a sleeping situation that involves a happy baby and a confident mama!
My SIL was a NICU nurse for 15 years. She says that almost ALL babies prefer to sleep on their stomach and (because of the constant monitoring) they let them because they’re clearly more comfortable. I know that I, personally, would have gone insane if one of mine had wanted to sleep that way because the whole “Back to Sleep” campaign made me crazy – and I was nuts to begin with! That being said, a lot of people have had no issues with this and I am one who says (to others, of course) “Whatever works!”
Your babies are all beautiful and no matter what they’ll know that you’re doing the best you can for them. They are CLEARLY loved. Blessings!
FWIW, we started putting our son (also a reflux baby) to sleep on his belly around 5w old b/c he refused to sleep anyway else….
& I also remember from nursing school that a lot of preemies enjoy sleeping on their bellies b/c they do it so much while they’re in the NICU.
So I’m not a momma yet, but I know both my nieces have terrible reflux. Both were/are on baby-reflux Rx but my sister swears by the car seat. She says allowing them to sleep in the car seat put them in the right position for comfortable sleep. Worth a try?
BTW, your babes are adorable.
Hi….I’ve been reading for awhile but I don’t think I’ve ever commented. My little girl was a tummy sleeper too….for me it was terrifying because of the SIDS risk. But, I found a special crib sheet from Australia that does not have the chemicals we put on ours here in the US. You can google it and the information will pop up. She was so much happier on her tummy so I had to make myself feel a little better about it and this did the trick for me. I just thought I’d pass it on.
You little trio is adorable!!!
So been there!
After a sleepless first 3 nights of life, we finally decided to let my baby boy sleep on his tummy and see if that would help the little guy get some rest. It was like a miracle. He’s slept that way ever since–15 months–and it was the best decision we made, because he wasn’t sleeping it really effected his eating and general temperament. Once he had enough sleep life improved immensely for the whole family.
Ever since my advice has been this: do what makes life better for your baby and the rest of the family, even if ladies over a unnamed website might rail against it.
I didn’t read all of the responses so I apologize if this was already mentioned. If she’s sleeping on her belly and it works, then go with it, I say. To solve the issue of the SIDS risk, there is a thing called an Angel Monitor, that will alert you if she stops breathing. I’m sure there are different models, this is just the first one I found. It would be worth it for the peace of mind. I’m sure you have enough to worry about, and sleep is so precious for everyone!
http://www.amazon.com/Angelcare-Baby-Movement-Monitor-White/dp/B0014KUGNQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1299716957&sr=1-2
My little one was the same way. We tried EVERYTHING before we realized she would only sleep on her stomach. So … we let her sleep on her stomach. And now, at 7 months (today! sad face!) she is sleeping about half the time on her back and half on her stomach. We try to put her on her back and sometimes she goes with it, and other times she flips over onto her stomach. Oddly, she was most comfortable when she also had her hands under her stomach — maybe it really is the extra pressure that they crave. Who knows? I say, if it’s working, it’s working.
I’m not a new follower to your blog but I’ve never posted a comment before. I’ve been struggling with infertility, PCOS, and miscarriages for the past 3 years. I just went through my first IUI with injectibles but sadly it was a failed cycle. However, you give me hope that someday I’ll have the children that I’ve been praying for. Your babies are beautiful miracles!
I’m a mom to two boys – both who had reflux. My 3 month old has horrible acid reflux and screams ALL.THE.TIME. We just started taking him to a chiropractor (wish I’d have thought of that with baby #1) and so far, it’s helping.
My older DS was a “silent refluxer” … he sounds like Eleanor. Both my boys spent time in the NICU (my older DS was there for 5 weeks) and they did recommend tummy sleeping. Both my boys slept in sleep positioners with their cribs propped at an angle on their tummies.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Where was this wisdom when I dealt with 10 months of reflux? Eh?
I swear, babies want to be on their stomachs. End of story.
The best invention ever was the nap nanny. It is what the dr recommended for my preemies because both had reflux. Now if only I could get my 17 month old(14 months adjusted) to sleep without it. Oh well, whatever works!!
Hi! I’m a fellow triplet mom and I’m coming out of lurking:) I love your blog:) My ggg trio will be a year old in April and were born at 26 weeks…after 105 days in the NICU I’m so blessed to say reflux is our only long term issue, but as you probably know–reflux SUCKS! Anyway, our baby C had reflux the worse and worked with a speech therapist in Early Steps. The ST explained to me that when on their tummies and at an incline, it keeps the stomach juices down. Something about the shape of the GI tract and some other stuff, but the exact science is lost somewhere in the mush of my brain (seriously I can’t remember my name some days). She’s now on a combo of prevacid and zantac and she sleeps in a Rock and Play Sleeper at an incline. The Rock and Play Sleeper is a blessed gift from the sleep gods. I highly recommend it!
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