[DivasMomma]

Kaydee (5 months) refuses to sleep w/o having a bottle in her mouth now. She will be totally exhausted, and screams ungodly. I have tried everything from a binki, to rocking her, to trying to let her cry it out. The ONLY way she will fall asleep now is if she has a bottle in her mouth!

Sometimes she actually drinks the whole thing, and other times she just kinda sucks on the tip, but doesnt actually ingest anything but air. Wouldnt be a problem if she didnt have reflux. After she falls asleep I have to try to burp her, otherwise she wakes up 30 mins later spitting up--and it is usually coming out of her nose, which causes her to choke on it. But when I pick her up and try to burp her, she wakes up and wont go back to sleep!

So I either have to leave her asleep and pray she doesnt spit up in her sleep, or try to burp her praying she wont wake up...

any advice? I would let her CIO but then she screams so much that she sucks in more air, causing more pain in her belly, then she is REALLY screaming and in pain

[purelegance]

i'm going to get yelled at for this. and let me start off by saying -- i know water is not reccomended for babies. however, i know of quite a few doctors that say to give them a bottle with water in it to help wean them. could just be a local thing & i don't know how it'll react with her reflux, but i know it worked for my neice. or maybe you could wait and try it when she's 6 months. (that's when FF babies are aloud to have water right?)

[DivasMomma]

I was thinking water too, but i think she would either A) not drink it because I tried water when she was getting dehydrated and she got a bit in her mouth, realized it wasnt formula, and screamed or B) She would drink it, but I would still be in the same situation with the burping. Im not so worried about her have an extra bottle, because she does pretty much sleep 7-8 hours a night now. She is only getting about not 20oz a day, so the little bit extra is good i think....its more or less the not being able to sleep at all w/o it. Like she got a dependancy on it, which isnt so good. I say this because my oldest did this same thing, only she didnt have reflux and could sleep just fine after finishing a bottle and not burping. Only problem was once she was old enough to hold the bottle herself, I would send her to bed with it. Shes now 2 1/2 and STILL wakes up at night for a drink, and wants a sippy cup in bed with her!! Thank goodness her teeth havent rotted....yet

I wish i could figure out a way to burp her w/o waking her....ive tried everything and nothing seems to work

[KR258]

I don't know if your baby will do this without waking but for mine I rolled her on her side to burp her and she wouldn't wake up because I didn't actually pick her up and the patting was soothing to her. Or maybe hold her and give her the bottle in her room with the lights all dim and when she finishes put her in bed maybe with a binki or nothing at all...she shouldn't cry for it because she's full. I don't know if that helps but I hope so. Seems to me that more of a comfort than being hungry so you could try to replace it with something else like a small blanket or little doll....maybe she needs something to hold onto.

[DivasMomma]

she has a blanket that she has slept with everyday since she was born...and i def agree its more ocmfort then anything....the rolling her on the side just might work! I usually hold her to feed her, so maybe if i try feeding her in the crib (its on an angle already because of the reflux) maybe she will fall asleep and i can try burping her that way! TY!

[kalhayd2]

No real advice.. But, we get Kenzie to go to sleep at night with a bottle(though she always finishes before actually drifting off to sleep). At her age I wouldn't think it would be too much of a concern. But, we always feed her first, burp, paci, bed.. That's Kenzie's routine- hopefully things adjust soon for you!

[wanttobemommy]

jaxon is the same way and I KNOW i will hear something about this but... We give him what we have nicknamed a filler bottle. It is a water bottle with just one scoop of formula. I think i remember you saying Kaydee was on redi to drink formula so maybe just adding ina splash to make it taste like formula. Just a thought. Jaxon will only drink a sip of it so as soon as he is asleep we take it from him but its the only thing that works. Jaxon was given juice on his wic and we have tried adding just a splash of juice as well. But he is getting more and more used to water so we have had a couple of nights where he hasnt had the need for a bottle of formula.

[twinzplus3]

Okay since you all keep saying you're going to hear something about this. . .I figured now is the time to pop in right? As you all know, since I never bottled fed--I just might not know what I'm talking about. . .but if it were me:

I would probably do the bottle of water or a pacifier. If not, I'd make sure that I'd wash his teeth after the bottle of formula. . .thereby probably waking him up again. I know I've mentioned this before, but I had a friend whose baby had tooth decay. It is really, really, really not fun. To the point where I wouldn't wish it on anyone. One thing about baby bottle tooth decay is that it often goes unnoticed until it's pretty serious. My friend's baby had to be put under general anesthesia while they pulled out her rotten teeth and filled the other ones. So there's my thought.

[DivasMomma]

thanks and luckily she doesnt have any teeth yet...only thing with the water, where its a GREAT idea, she rEALLY needs all the formula she can get. Shes still only taking 4oz at a time during the day and goes about 4 hours....so shes only getting about 20oz of formula a day, which prob only 15oz actually stays down.

Ive been trying to just give her the binki but she just spits it out, ive tried rocking her, just the only thing that works is a car ride and the bottle. She has been drinking the whole thing and letting me burp her. If i walk around she will still stay asleep and burp at the same time thank goodness. She actually been doing very well,and the ped says until shes old enough to not need so much formula just keep giving it to her.

[twinzplus3]

Yeah--see you people with reflux babies have problems! I still think I'd try to move towards drinking more formula without going to sleep with it but you know what? Sometimes mommies gotta do what mommies gotta do. You obviously want to try to get her out of the habit. . .so just keep trying and moving in that direction slowly and it will come I'm sure.

Just so you know, they can get baby tooth decay before their teeth come in. My friend's baby had teeth that came in rotten. It was horrible and enough to make me preach super vigilant hygeine for forever. And get this: that baby was breastfed!!!