Hi Everyone,
I am very concerned about my son. He is a great sleeper and goes down for his naps and bedtime usually without a fuss. He sleeps in his own room in his own crib for over four months now and has a special blanket and stuffed animal he sleeps with and cuddles with. The last few nights, he has been waking up at about 3:30 AM crying really hard. I go into his bedroom pick him up and it still takes him a while to settle down. Last night, he cried until he finally opened his eyes after a good five minutes of me trying to console him. I always check his diaper, change him if he needs it. Sometimes I nurse him, but it doesn't seem like he is hungry. He was going through the night without breastfeeding so I'm not sure what is going on. Can night frights happen this early with babies? Could it just be bad dreams? Most of the time I can lay him down and he will eventually go to sleep but a few nights it happened a few times in a row. He would fall back to sleep and wake up ten minutes later crying. Should I put a nightlight in his room, would that help? I'm just at a loss, he has never been like this and it seems to be pretty consistent over the last few days. Any advice would be helpful, thank you so much!
Thank you everyone for your helpful responses! Dylan has been sleeping better the last few nights. After reading your responses, I checked his mouth and sure enough I can feel teeth almost cutting through. He has been working on them for a while but I never connected his waking up to teething, thank you for doing that for me! We are going to look for teething tablets this weekend and hope that we can prevent him from being uncomfortable at night. Thank you again, it is so nice to know that other Moms are going through similar situations. Even my husband asked me "What did the online Moms say about it?" (even he appreciates the advice, as long as I'm the one asking for it - lol!)
My 16 month old is also a great sleeper, but if he is waking up in the middle of the night it is usually an ear infection for my little guy.Hope this helps.
K.
It could be teething! I am going through this with my 6 1/2 month old right now too. Some nights he does great and others he wakes up crying. Try some teething tablets, found in the baby section at walmart, before he goes down at night. That may help. GOOD LUCK!
I use a nightlight in my daughters' room. BUt when they have a bad dream they still come get me. I would imagine if he is having bad dreams he will still want to be comforted. Do you think he is teething?
Both of my kids had severe acid reflux and would wake up at night screaming like that. (Not sure how common this is, mine were both preemies.) Elevating the head of their bed with rolled up towels under the crib mattress helped a lot.
The nightmares have begun. He will get past this phase before long. Keep doing wha tyou are doing. I always told my daughter " youa re always safe with momma" and she would know it was a nightmare- and go back to slepp quickly. Sometimes, they are hard to get out of the nightmare, and hard to forget it enough to relax. So keep softly repeating-"you are always safe with momma."
God Bless,
A.
Hi K. ~
First, talk to your pediatrician about your son's problem. If it IS gas, watch what you eat, since he is breast fed. Super spicy foods, onions, and other gassy foods pass to the baby through the mother's milk and cause all kinds of tummy upsets. Eat healthy foods that are as wholesome as possible. Avoid fast food and other greasy things. Eat the way you hope he will eat when he moves on to solid foods.
I don't know if they will test him for allergies at his young age, but if you are eating foods that he is allergic to, it could have an effect on him too. Dairy and wheat are two of the most common food allergies, and so are peanuts (a legume, not an actual nut), and they are the two that are most often overlooked. If they won't test him, you can experiment yourself by avoiding foods to see if the change in your diet has an effect on him.
I see an Integrative M.D. who treats her patients primarily through diet, supplements, and exercise before turning to medication. She uses medication when it's absolutely necessary, but her patients are often able to reduce the amount of it they use. She has explained to me that wheat can compound allergic reactions to other allergens. Once I stopped eating wheat, I was able to stop taking allergy medication on a regular basis because my symptoms decreased so dramatically. If you want more information on her diet for a healthy life, send me a private message, and I'll send it to you.
My son had terrible gas when he was a breast fed infant, and this information helped us tremendously.
My daughter did this when she started teething. I think they can have night terrors too. She seemed to be having these when she was in pain in her sleep. Orajel, tylenol at night...during the day, my ped suggested frozen bagels (if he has had them), a wet wash cloth placed in the freezer for a while (not too long), cold teething toys, and biter biscuits. Hope this helps!
Hi K.,
My son has been doing this to, but my son is almost 22 months. He has never been a good sleeper. My guess is that you son may be starting to cut teeth. My son NEVER sleeps good when he is cutting a tooth. But i wanted to tell you about the Teething Tablets. They help with the pain. When my son it cutting a tooth i bring them out and he gets happy so i think they do work. I do NOT like oragel just because if you ever try it it almost numbs your throat and everything. But the tablets do not do that. The nice thing is that they are made by Hylands so they will NOT hurt your baby. Also they are so small and you just press them under your baby's tounge and by the time you take your finger out they dissolve. You can get them at walmart by the oragel or at a Herbal store. But if you dont feel that it is teething i would ask your doc what he thinks.
Good Luck to you and your baby!!!!
M.
Hi K.~ After reading this, the first thing I thought of was he might be getting ready to cut a tooth. You might want to check in his mouth and see if you see the signs of a new tooth working it's way up. A few drops of the infant tooth pain medicine on his gums might help him...good luck!
Hi! Im a sahm also, and have an 8 month old who did the same thing not to long ago... then she cut a tooth and she's back to her old happy self again! She too falls asleep on her own and then would wake me up in middle of the night for no obvious reason! Thats what it ended up being. Hope this helps! Maybe try ibuprofen if ok with your pediatrician if you think this may be the problem...
My boys also did this periodically with teething . . .
However, for my youngest (now 9 months old), waking like you described is the only sign he shows of an ear infection. Try some tylenol or motrin at night (will cover both teething and ear pain), and if that seems to do the trick and teeth aren't evident, I'd consider taking him to the ped for a quick ear check.
Did he have a cold recently? It could be an ear infection, which gets worst in the middle of the night. My son is prone to ear infections and that's always a sign. My daughter has night terrors, but I believe they started around 1 years old.
My daughter started doing this exact same thing when she started teething. Has he started that yet?
Try feeling his stomach and seeing if it tightens up when this happens, it could be gas. That's what my daughter would do when she was an infant. Maybe you ate something that didn't agree with him.
K.,
Many other's mentioned these, but the things I would check are teething, ears, and night terrors. When they are laying down, the teeth and ears can hurt much worse. With night terrors, they settle down and go back to sleep once it is over, and they can't be comforted much until it is over. If you don't find lumps in his gums, you might take him to the Pediatrician to have a quick look in his ears!
M.
It sounds like he is having night terrors to me, My son use to have them, just try and comfort him he will eventully grow out of them . I know it can get very frustrating! but he will grow out of it try not to pick him up just try rubbing his back instead of picking him up casue he may learn to cry just to get picked up at night .
It sounds like teething. I didn't think they got nightmares this early, but I could be wrong. I don't think it's night terrors, but here info on them if you want to read through it:
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep/a/night_terrors.htm
I have an 8 1/2 month old son who is having similar behavior. I have been reading on it & they say that it is normal for this age & it doesn't last long, but to just continue to soothe them and lay them back down. Also, I know my son hasn't gotten his teeth yet I think he is having some teething issues & possibly just having a hard time getting comfortable. I was told that its OK to give Tylenol if it gets too bad, but I don't do that much.
He may be teething. Have you tried giving him tylenol or orajel?
