OT babies on their backs..
My little one has been sniffly for the las few days... in the 3 weeks that he has been home he has not been a spit up baby at all last night he spit up 2x and today he was gaging then spitting up. Almost seemed like heaving except without the stomach muscles... ug now I am supposed to be sleeping and I cant because I am so scared he is going to choke. I know babies are supposed to go on their backs but I have him on a slight tilt. Then I feel conflicted because he isnt on his back.... long night ahead *sigh*.
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Don't worry about it. I
Don't worry about it. I assume you mean a slight tilt from his head to his toes. A slight tilt will help with any reflux he's having. He won't choke because he can move his head side-to-side to let any vomit or whatever out of his mouth. Also, it will quite some time for him to go from having a problem to being dead, so you will have time to hear him, wake up, and deal with it. (I have to remind myself that death wouldn't be instantaneous when I give my daughter a bath when we're home alone.)
A friend of mine had a baby who really had a lot of problems with vomiting after eating and all kinds of issues. They did the same thing (after discussing with ped.) and had the baby always just a little bit tilted. She breastfed, but ended up pumping and mixing the breastmilk with a particular formula to make it thicker, then bottle fed. Actually, she'd bottle feed that mixture, then breastfeed, then finish up with the bottle again. To sort of help the kid keep the food where it belonged. They also did something to help with heartburn/acid reflux because they suspected that was part of the problem.
I'm a new mom myself, and I can promise you that you don't exactly worry less, but you start to trust more that they are strong enough.
Keep him on his back though - it drastically reduces the chance of SIDS.
He is 3 weeks... I am still
He is 3 weeks... I am still not sure if he is sick or just eating to much or dealing with acid reflux!
I am starting realize this...
I am starting realize this... I did wake up to him choking/coughing one night. Crapiest way ever to wake up btw! I had a doctor tell me on just sleep him on his side... I was a little thrown off by that advice because of the sids piece. I teach child care first aid and am definitely aware of those statistics! Kind of sad when you find a dr not doing there homework as it where so now I just meet it in the middle he is offset by about an inch and I rotate from side to side with each feeding every 2 hrs... Thank you though... I actually feel very reassured that I am actually doing something right lol. Seems to feel like I am constantly doing something wrong or dont know what to do. Motherhood is such and mind blowing experience lol, very humbling.
Thanks! I am a side sleeper
Thanks! I am a side sleeper so is his dad so I see it happening either way! I plan on still proping to the side a tad.
"Back to Sleep" is a horrific
"Back to Sleep" is a horrific protocol that even pediatricians realize is causing more problems than it is solving. SIDS is caused by a triage of maladaptations in the brainstem circuitry that manages the ability to sleep and breathe at the same time, poorly correlated to tummy-sleeping position.
PLEASE let your baby sleep side-lying, snuggle and rest with him on his tummy in your arms, reflux usually escalates if they are NOT getting that belly compression. Tummy time is important for all of our biological, psychological and sociological/emotional development. One of the best resources around is here: http://www.probabyllp.com and their brochures are a great reference point. They used to have a "parent's packet" available.
Motherhood IS very humbling. Best thing to do: belly breathe for yourself. Unclench, sink into the zone, while snuggling with your little one. This will help HIS nervous system calm down and get organized so he can figure out that digestion business.
Interesting because it
Interesting because it started surfacing at about the same time we started to simmer skin to skin tummy sleeping on my chest! On the adbice of the same dr might I say. Her rational for side sleeping was "thats what I did with my kids". Frankly I hate that rational with a passion!! At least make an educational rational for it not the complete opposite of ignorance of education. Its even more discouraging with a dr whome has access to up and coming research!
Anyways thank you I am looking forward to reading that. I think I will stick to slight incline for side sleeping! I am so scared of smothering... starting to get very tired.
Do you have any research on the poor correlation?
Sadly, busy physicians
Sadly, busy physicians running on insurance company timing rarely have time to explore the research. The "triage" explanation is in any current neurology text (found it in my favorite, "Central Regulation of Autonomic Circuits"). Will dig back into my research files for the report, written BY a pediatrician, acknowledging gross motor delays up to and even beyond age 2 for those kids who didn't get their tummy time. An experienced pediatric therapist can spot these kids a mile away - we have a lifetime of work ahead of us.
Plenty of tummy snuggles will help your little guy start to organize. And inclined side sleeping is fine. At this point, he is programming his nervous system from your sensory clues - smell, touch, sounds, your breath, etc etc - he's learning safety from you. So you breathe too, mama.
Geeze that is scary stuff we
Geeze that is scary stuff we still spend quite a bit of tummy time. I truly believe in bonding time and being close. They develop so quickly and a feeling of being secure is so priceless!
But tummy time is different
But tummy time is different than sleeping on their backs. I haven't seen any research that suggests that back sleeping is a problem - in fact, SIDS incidences have gone down 50% or more when parents are educated to put infants to sleep on their backs.
Of course, a parent must do what they feel is right.
Yeah I am a litt confused
Yeah I am a litt confused with that website its just talking about tummy time not sleeping...
the problem that we are
the problem that we are seeing in the pediatric therapy community is that the fear-mongering tactics used in "Back to Sleep" never address (non-sleep) tummy time. So we are spending a lot of time, too late, educating parents and caregivers about this. Parents extrapolate from BtS that baby should not ever be on tummy - and normal development in many areas is impaired. That's the confusion and the problem. Side-sleeping is really a healthy approach if parents have decided to follow BtS and not allow tummy sleeping.
Not trying to be rude because
Not trying to be rude because I really want to understand... are you saying non sleep tummy time needs to happen or just tummy time. Pretty much the only time ds is on his back is at night and the odd time during the day in the swing he is a very alert baby! Otherwise he is generally on his tummy visit on our chests and does have the occasional nap on our chests... so as long as the 4 hours are happening tummy wise is it ok to do bts?
BS4 got his first cold at
BS4 got his first cold at about 2 weeks old. It was awful and ended up going to his lungs and I had to give him breathing treatments for a week.
anyway, it might sound crazy, but I used to put him in his infant carrier (car seat) to sleep during that time. I would put it right next to the bed or couch and it worked wonders! sleeping at the slightly elevated tilt, helped him breathe better and I think he liked the "cocoon" feeling of the carseat.
When he got a little older and got another cold, I would roll up blankets and put them underneath his crab mattress to prop the head area up, that worked pretty well too
No I see where your coming
No I see where your coming from with that ds actually seems t9 like his car seat!
BS was a reflux baby...He
BS was a reflux baby...He sleep most of his first 6 mo in a swing or a baby bouncer. It helped tremendously... Try this especially id your afraid. They keep him automatically at the 45 degree angle they recommend.