Hi all,
I just brought my 30weeker home from the NICU and all night long he grunts and turns bright red and moves his arms while he's laying flat. He slept at an angle in the nicu for two months and he just dosn't seem to like laying flat at all. any ideas?
Does he have reflux issues? Peyton had relfux so if we laid him flat he would also make a lot of noise and wouldn't sleep very well. We had to get one of those special wedges pillows (I think we got it from Babies-R-Us). With it we were able to incline him a little bit and he started sleeping better.
Best of Luck!
Jodie
I would check for reflux also.. My BB was a 30 weeker too born this march he has the same problems and were are taking meds for reflux.. Gas maybe to the problem too. I was told preemies have alot of gas due to their immature gi system...
We were told by the NICU nurses (and a pediatrician) that preemies tend to grunt more than FT babies. I think that the grunting became less pronounced around 2-3 months (adjusted).
Have you asked your son's pediatrician about him turning red when laying flat?
We ended up buying two things for our son's crib. First, we bought an Angelcare monitor ($100). We were worried about SIDS. The monitor worked (and continues to work) well for us. Second, we bought a wedge. It fits under the mattress cover. We got it from BabiesRUs for about $12-$14. Our son does have reflux, so we felt it was needed for his health and comfort. He needs to be propped up, especially after feedings. And pillows are obviously NOT safe for babies. The wedge is about as hard as the mattress, which is important.
When our son first came home, we had a nurse visit our home once a week for a month. The nurse basically felt that all babies probably shouldn't lie completely flat after being fed. That was, of course, just this nurse's opinion.
I think that this was the wedge we bought...
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2401848
If you do go the wedge route, make sure that it is firm. Some of the foam wedges for adults are too soft for young babies. If it is too soft, it can become a suffocation hazard.
We haven't had too many problems with our son rolling down the wedge. It is a slight incline. When he first started rolling (3-4 months adjusted), he'd sometimes get in weird positions, but that phase didn't last long.
One disadvantage of the wedge is that you have to put it at one end of the crib. That means that their heads are always at one side of the crib. There are some therapists who recommend switching up which side of the crib your baby's head is put when s/he goes to sleep. They also recommend switching up which side your baby's head is when s/he gets a diaper change. The reason is that you don't want one side of the neck muscles to become stronger than the other. This is also why you are supposed to switch up which side of your body you feed the baby on. Our baby developed torticolis (tightening of neck muscles) at 2.5 months adjusted, until we started actively switching up the routine. We were lucky that the torticolis resolved quickly.
When we change our son's mattress cover, we switch the wedge from one side of the crib to the other.
Good Luck!
My 27 weeker grunted so much when we brought him home that we couldn't have him sleep in the same room with us. Preemies are grunters is what i was told, but he stopped after a few months. Since he was so small when we brought him home (6lbs), AND he HATED bein flat on his back as well, we had him sleep in a Snuggle Nest in his crib http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2266116
It was great for a really long time and it inclines just enough.
thank you all for the great ideas. My son does have reflux and is on the max dose of medication for it. I will definetly lay him at an angle. My first baby came home on a apnea monitor and this one did not. So I guess I am a little paranoid. Does the angelcare monitor ever alarm for no reason?
Don't lay him flat at night. The grunting is the reflux hurting him tummy:(
I was told that reflux babies really must sleep on an incline all the time.
Katek: How do you keep your baby from rolling off the wedge when he is sleeping? We are going to move our baby to her crib this weekend and I need something to incline her crib. In her bassinet it was easy, I just used a book to incline it. She rolls a lot in the night and I am concerned about her rolling off the wedge.
I use a binder under his bassinet=) have you tried using a sleep positioner?
We have had no problems with the Angelcare monitor. It has only gone off three times with Henry in the crib. Basically, our son had wedged himself in the far corner of the crib, so that monitor didn't detected his breathing. When it couldn't detect him, it went off.
In comparison to the apnea monitor, which our son came home on, it has been a dream. It isn't as loud and piercing as the apnea monitor though. Still loud, but a much more pleasant sound relatively speaking. There is a setting to calibrate the sensitivity of the Angelcare monitor. I've heard that if you put it on the highest setting, it can detect motions from ceiling fans, which of course you don't want. We use the default setting and have been pleased with the results. Again, it has only gone off when we've taken our son out of the crib and forgotten to turn off the alarm or when he's wedged himself in the corner. In all of those cases, the alarm should have gone off b/c breathing couldn't be detected, and it did. We have never had the Angelcare monitor go off without a justifiable reason.
Regarding erikar's questions about how we keep him from rolling, we have found that the larger our son has gotten, the less rolling has been a problem. When he first came home, we had his crib mattress tilted at a steep angle with the help of boxes, and we used a Danny sling to keep him propped up. This is when we had the apnea monitor too. If, however, you tilt the mattress, you can't use the Angelcare monitor b/c the monitor requires a flat mattress. Now that Henry only needs only a slight angle, the wedge works well b/c it lays onto of a flat mattress, and we are thus able to use the Angelcare system.
If your baby needs to be put at a steep angle per doctor's orders and s/he rolls around, then you could ask your doctor about getting a Danny sling. If you just need a slight angle, perhaps swaddling would work.
My only other suggestion is that you could purchase some zakys, which are positioning aides. We asked our NICU what we could by for them as a donation for the Christmas season, and they requested that we get them some zakys. We also bought one for our son. See: http://www.thezaky.com/en/home/index.php
Of course, some people say that you shouldn't put anything extra in the crib, so you have so weigh the pros and cons. We have felt just fine having the zaky in the crib, especially since we use the Angelcare monitor, which would alert us to any problems.
Best wishes.
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