Baby on Propranolol

[NatSte]

My 6 month old has been on Propranolol for approx. the past two months. He’s due surgery soon so will be off it after that but I was wondering if anyone else has had their baby on it and what their experiences were with regards to sleeping? My son won’t go down in his own bed in the day, he wants to nap every 2 hours but more often than not fights me when I try to get him off (I have to rock him to sleep as he has Tetralogy of Fallot and so can’t be left to cry as this can be dangerous to him so it’s a short term

Measure for now to keep him safe)

At night when I get him to sleep and in his bed, he wakes after about 30-40 mins and I have to feed him to sleep. He used to go 3,4 or 5 hours before waking again but his sleep is getting worse..he is mostly waking after 45 mins to 1 hour throughout the night and each time he cries and writhes around until I feed him. This seems to have got progressively worse as time has gone on.

Now I know his inability to self settle etc will be a factor to some extent but this isn’t what I’m looking for advice on at this point as I know what he needs to be able to do etc and all of that will be addressed after surgery. I’m specifically looking for anyone whose baby had very disturbed sleep etc when on Propranolol and did it improve when they were off it? I read that it can cause stomach upset, disturbed sleep and over-tiredness.

[Midgeymoo17]

Sorry can not help you. but you are not alone. I had Tetralogy and my parents still remember propranolol sending to sleep very often before my repair so much so they warned me not to follow my cardiologist instructions to take bisoprolol (chemically similar) at 16. By god I wish I had listened to my parents it was horrendous.

[NatSte in reply to Midgeymoo17]

Thank you. Horrendous in what way?

[Midgeymoo17 in reply to NatSte]

Bisoprolol had the exact same effect of making me extremely tired. To the point I started falling asleep in classes at school (was temporarily suspend for falling asleep in class) , fell asleep without eating or taking y medical infusions on regular basis resulting in incontinenece. As I said my parents warned me about the Beta Blockers (Propranolol and Bisoprorlol are the same class of Beta Blocker) but I tried them on the advice of my Cardiologist anyway. One of the biggest regrets of my life six months later stopped them against medical advice.

Could I point out though my heart at the point I was prescribed beta blockers a second time I was post repair and much more stable than your childs.I was only prescribed them as their had been hints of abnormal rhythms on ECG's. First time, pre-repair, my parents continued as instructed despite the tiredness problem.

[NatSte in reply to Midgeymoo17]

Oh poor you. Don’t worry I don’t have any ideas of stopping it..I just wondered if anyone struggled with wind and sleep disturbances etc as he’s up every half hour and I just wanted to regain some sanity, thinking it might at least stop after the op and he’s no longer on the Propranolol. His surgery is scheduled for Wednesday so as long as there is a bed in intensive care Tuesday, we’ll be heading up. It all feels surreal...like I know what’s going to happen but can’t quite believe it is going to! x

[Loveheartmum]

Really interested to hear this our daughter and us are suffering out 2 month old used to sleep so well but now on propananol she wakes every two hours at night seems to be crying in discomfort and writhes around as you said , how is your baby now .