Babies with acid reflux while sleeping can be a challenge, but today we’re going to talk about how to deal with this. Help get over the hurdle of acid reflux, and get your baby sleeping through the night.
Before we even jump into any information about sleep training babies with acid reflux. The most important thing is that if you feel like your baby is having acid reflux, you need to go to the pediatrician you need to figure out if your baby needs medication.
If they need something cut from their diet, and you’re breastfeeding, you may need to cut dairy or gluten from your diet. This isn’t medical advice, but you may also need to try a different formula. They may even need medication. If they do need medication. You’ll have to give them time to adjust to the medication, and for it to start working before you can start any sleep training.
Eat-Play-Sleep Schedule
Once your baby wakes up in the morning, you’re going to feed them. When it’s time to do the 30 minutes of holding them upright, that’s when you can read books, sing songs and sit in a high chair. Depending on how old your baby is, you can have some activities for them to play with in the high chair. You’ll want to provide them with some sensory activities. One activity that I love is where you put paint in a plastic baggie, then tape it to the high chair and then they can kind of manipulate the paint. So they’re not making a huge mess, but they are making art.
Once you have that 30 minutes of upright time is when you can really get down on the ground and play this might mean tummy time this might mean playing in a baby gym this might mean just playing with toys scattered on the floor remember that we want to avoid having babies in containers or confined spaces like the jumpers or swing for an extended amount of time. We also want to make sure that your baby is having the time to digest their food. So that when it is time to sleep, they’re not going to sleep with a full stomach of whatever may be giving them acid reflux.
You’ll want to give your baby a good hour to two hours of playtime and then you’re gonna get your baby ready for their nap or bedtime.
Bedtime Tips for Babies with Acid Reflux
So when you’re getting your baby ready for sleep you want to have a routine. So make sure you’re changing their diaper, reading a book, singing some songs, and having some cuddles.
A lot of times, parents who have babies with acid reflux don’t want their babies crying a lot because it tends to cause more spit up. So if you are in the process of sleep training your baby. When you lay them down in the crib to sleep you can rub their tummy for an extra couple minutes. Rub the side of their face so you know that they are calm, drowsy, and ready to sleep.
As they’re getting used to this process of falling asleep independently, you can remove yourself. If they do start crying, wait five minutes. Five minutes generally is not enough time for your child to get so worked up that they’re going vomit. So by leaving the room for five minutes, you give your child a chance to fall asleep independently. They’ll learn self-soothing skills they can use to fall asleep independently at bedtime, and throughout the night.
If your child’s crying consistently for five minutes, go in there, and do a wellness check to make sure that they haven’t pooped or haven’t spit up. If everything is okay, reassure them and use a key phrase like it’s night-night time I love you, see you in the morning. Then leave the room again. Your child will be fine as long as you have all the medical aspects of acid reflux under control. It’s okay to sleep-train your baby.
Need more Help?
If you need additional help with sleeping training, please check out my playlist on YouTube, or search the blog for the phrase sleep training. If you need more detailed lessons, you can purchase one of my sleep training packages here.
Happy Blooming!
