Introduction
Having a child with silent reflux can be extremely tough, especially during the night as they may need a lot of support after feeds to fall back to sleep and seeing your child so unsettled can be stressful for parents.
Nobody wants to see their child in pain or discomfort and the crying can be hard to bear. Understanding your child’s reflux and the root cause is important to be able to treat your little one affectively. Once the symptoms are under control you will be able to achieve calm and consistent nights.
Reflux affects about 50% of babies in the UK
Can silent reflux affect a babies sleep?.
Unfortunately, the answer to this is yes. A baby with silent reflux is going to be uncomfortable and the reflux can be painful as the stomach acid makes its way back up the oesophagus. The pain and discomfort alone can disrupt sleep. On top of this some babies with silent reflux can develop a chronic cough which again disrupts sleep and makes it harder for them to fall back to sleep.
Parents are often asked to keep babies with silent reflux upright for up to 30 minutes after a feed and so children will often fall asleep in a parent’s arms or with some element of support, rocking or cuddling. Whilst this helps to alleviate the symptoms of the reflux it can stop them from learning how to fall asleep independently.
Nobody sleeps through the night we all transition through sleep cycles, but it is our ability to seamlessly move from one sleep cycle to another that gives us the impression that we have slept all night long. In the situation where a baby is held or rocked to sleep at sleep onset (bedtime) the baby isn’t given the opportunity to learn how to self-settle and can develop a sleep onset association and believe that they need to be held or rocked to go back to sleep. That means when they wake in the night transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next, they think they need help and cry out to recreate what happened at bedtime.
Sleep is a learned skill, and some babies learn this very easily whilst others find it much harder. The good news is that sleep can be taught and this can be done gently but effectively with modern sleep training.
Many families who have a baby with reflux say that they have to assist them to sleep by holding or rocking in some way
Getting a medical diagnosis.
When looking at a family with a baby with silent reflux we would need to look to resolve the symptoms first before looking at sleep training.
Booking an appointment with your GP or talking to your health visitor about diagnosis and treatment is also important. If you can treat your little ones symptoms and reduce the affect of the silent reflux then sleep may well improve on it’s own as the discomfort causing the sleep disturbances is no longer there.
If your GP doesn’t seem to be able to get to the root cause of your little ones reflux reach out to a reflux specialist. There are many amazing reflux specialists and I can send you details of some amazing businesses if you would like some help with this.
The prolounged crying associated with reflux and silent reflux can be really hard to cope with.
Practical things you can do to support your baby now.
In the meantime, if you are breastfeeding, look at how your diet is impacting your babies silent reflux symptoms. Keeping a food diary may help to identify foods that have the biggest impact. If formula feeding switching to a formula more suited to them. Also experiment with the position in which they feed and the nipple of the bottle as this may well allow your baby to be more comfortable and reduce symptoms post feeding.
You can also look to change your routine so that rather than feed sleep play you change to feeding upon waking. Removing the need to feed before they are sleeping.
Lastly looking at the timing between sleeps can have a huge impact. Getting your baby back into their sleep space before they get too tired can be hugely beneficial. Knowing what wake window is appropriate for your little one’s age is key. Check out my sleep needs chart available on my homepage to assist with choosing an age appropriate wake window. The chart is available as part of the download at the top of my homepage or you can simply download the chart itself from halfway down the homepage.
Holding your baby upright after feeds can help to improve their reflux symptoms
When is the right time to start sleep training.
Once the silent reflux has improved then you can look at sleep training.
For some families once the reflux symptoms are managed sleep instantly improves. For other families they still require a behavioural intervention and that is exactly what I can help you with.
Why not book a discovery call so we can talk through the different ways of working with me and how I can help your family?
Once your child’s reflux symptoms have been managed you will be able to look at sleep skills
Conclusion
Silent reflux and reflux affects 50% of families in the UK and looking at the root cause of your babies reflux is key. If your GP cannot help with this there are many reflux specialists out there so reach out to them for support with your little ones symptoms.
Once symptoms are managed you could well find that your little ones sleep is also improved. If not sleep training is going to make a huge impact and could be the missing puzzle piece to you all getting a full and restorative nights sleep.
You can also check out my article in the Huffington Post all about silent reflux by clicking here.
Naomi. X
If you found this blog about silent reflux helpful please share it with your friends.