One twin does not like to sleep on her back

Twins are almost 3 weeks old now. DS wakes, eats, burps, goes right back to sleep on his back - no problems. DD wakes, east slowly, has to stop to be burped several times during a feeding, and when she is laid down on her back, she grunts and groans loud and uncomofortably. We pick her up and try to burp her again, sometimes she just falls sleep in our arms and we start all over again. This leads to very little sleep for mommy & daddy and DD usually ends up awake holding her until the next feeding.

Our pedi says it's normal for her to struggle and groan while she stretches - it's her way of digesting her food and moving it along the intestinal tract. However, DS doesn't ever do this, and he burps, farts, poops easily and goes right back to sleep.

Leads me to feeling guilty for all the time he sleeps alone and she is held by mommy or daddy. Also makes me worry that all of her discomfort is NOT normal, as the pedi had said.

Anyone else go through this? She doesn't spit up or throw up - except the occasional spit up here & there.

I'm thinking of an inclined sleep positioner - but not sure if that will do it.

any advice would be helpful.

thanks!

 

My girls had awful reflux and I was afraid to have them sleep on their backs because they would often choke on their spit up. I ended up having them sleep on their sides in an elevated crib bed or in their bouncy chairs. They preferred the bouncy chairs and they slept in those up until about 2 weeks ago when they got too big for them and tried to squirm out. I now have them sleeping on their sides in the elevated crib.

Also, could it be possible that she has bad gas? Have you tried giving her gas drops? I started giving mine gas drops at every bottle when they were a couple weeks old. You might try that. As far as burping her, I burped both of mine every ounce until they were a couple months old. Then I went to every 2 ounces for a few weeks and now I only burp them at the end unless they act like they need one sooner. So I don't think it's abnormal to have to burp her often during the bottle.

If things don't improve soon, maybe you might want to ask your pedi about switching her formula. We started out with enfamil premium and had to switch DD1 to enfamil gentle ease due to excessive gas. DD2 went through 4 different formulas, including soy, before we put her on Similac Alimentum. Just another suggestion.

Sometimes you have to try a lot of different things before you can find the right solution to the problems. I have found that it is often a guessing game trying to figure out what the problem is and how to fix it. I hope you can figure it out soon. Good luck!

 

bump

 

My little girl never slept on her back. She too had reflux issues, so was never comfortable there. Groaned, grunted, cried, all of that. When she was that little, she slept a lot in her bouncy seat in her crib to keep her head elevated. When she got a little bigger, she slept on her side or on her belly. She has always been a belly sleeper, so much better for her comfort wise, still is at 9.5 months.

 

Have you tried propping her on her side using rolled up receiving blankets or a positioner? I did that the first couple weeks because I was worried about them spitting up while they slept, then I started using the boppy pillows to prop them up with (but I stopped using them at night this past week because when they squirm they slide down and get squishy looking). Now I have the crib propped with a crib wedge and they sleep like that swaddled. I am even thinking of getting the inclined positioners to make it even more of an incline (the wedge isn't that high - not high enough for my preference). My first daughter slept on her tummy but only because she was diagnosed with reflux and the Dr. OK'd that for her, but I haven't tried it with the girls because they don't seem to have reflux. Good luck!!

 

You could try having her sleep in her car seat for a couple of weeks until things get better. I have two friends that did this. It's safe and keeps them elevated.

 

These are all great ideas - thanks so much ladies! I just ordered an incline sleep positioner so I will try that, the boppy pillow and the bouncy chair in the crib to see which works best. I also have tried sleeping her on her side by using rolled up receiving blankets, but I get so nervous about her on her side. It's probably a silly worry - but because we lost our first child (stillbirth) we are both completely paranoid about losing one or both of these little guys to SIDS. I'm sure as time goes on, we'll get more comfortable, but right now we're still checking them while they sleep to see if they're breathing. It's awful to be so worried all the time.

Thanks - any additional suggestions are definitely welcome!

 

Ditto. One of my DD's had bad reflux and was a huge grunter. She also slept in her car seat most nights and was on meds. She was and still is a belly sleeper!