The Dex Wedge

**Preface. I am NOT a medical expert. I can only advise what worked for us, and what was approved with our pediatrician. Ask your doctor before doing any of these things.

Having a baby with reflux often means getting your baby to fall asleep, and then waking them up instantly by laying them down flat. Just like adults, babies with reflux have a harder time when they aren’t propped up to aid in keeping that acid down. (If your LO is on a medication, Zantac, PPI, etc. you’ve likely solved the pain problem, but not the underlying reflux problem.)

When your little one is small, it’s easy to use a Rock N’ Play (review on that later) to help keep them elevated. The problem occurs when it’s time to transition into the crib.

For us, it was crucial to get our guy sleeping in his crib when I went back to work (at 8 weeks.)

The first few nights were horrible. Very. Little. Sleep.

After Googling like a psycho, I found several solutions to incline his crib safely. Some much more expensive than others. So as a momma on a budget, I tried the most fiscally responsible option first, the Dex Wedge.

The Dex wedge is just a slight incline. We ended up putting the Dex under the crib sheet. We rolled two towels and rubber-banded them on both ends and put them under the end of the mattress (safer than propping the crib legs.)

So, the first night: it worked O.K. But, having an LO that is a little stronger than what is typical at his age caused some problems. He slid down the wedge and was sideways within minutes (prompting me to rush in like a crazy person to make sure all was well.)

Solution? We nested him onto the wedge. They do this in hospitals quite often. But, I wanted the safest way possible (SIDS terrifies me, as it should any parent.)

We pulled up the crib sheet and made a “U” shape with rolled towels. Taped it down to the mattress and onto the wedge with packaging tape, and then pulled the crib sheet tight over it (keep in mind, you can’t have a super tight fitting sheet if you want the wedge and the nesting to fit under it.) The baby’s butt should rest in the bottom of the U, and armpits should be about where the rolled towels stop. It should be close to their body so that they can’t roll around. Outcome? Sleep. For all. The incline helped astronomically.

We gradually took the incline off from 4-5 months, because our little guy started rolling. As soon as your LO can flip, I’d recommend doing away with anything in their crib unless their reflux is still acting up.

Here is how we worked ours. As our LO grew, we had to adjust it here and there.

The Dex Wedge is very affordable. You can grab one on Amazon for about $25, or at your local Babies R Us or Walmart from $14-$16.