Little angel during the day, little nightmare at night

[sylviamaria]

Hello all.

I haven't often writen on this forum, but I am starting to hit a bit of a wall... My LO is 22 weeks old and in general has been a fairly easy baby. A few weeks ago she became more difficult with going to sleep (naps and bedtime) but that got much better again for a couple of weeks without much intervention... She normaly sleeps from 7.30ish to 7.30ish with a 10.30 dreamfeed (yes I know I have had it very easy!). For the past 3-4 nights she takes ages to go to sleep - it often takes a good hour or more. She then wakes up around 9.30 screaming, then again around 11 and again around 12-1 and wakes up much earlier in the morning (this morning was 5.30). When she does wake up in the night she is inconsolable and only feeding seems to sooth her... Can she be hungry hourly? Is it thirst,because of the heat? I don't know how much she is feeding, as I am still breastfeeding and can't really keep track. I am a little concerned that my milk might be running out, but she seems perfectly happy during the day, when she feeds every 3-3.5 hours and only because I offer - she hasn't needed to ask! In the daytime she is a happy, smiley, playfull baby, full of energy and for the last two days didn't cry once - until the nightmare evenings begin! I am very confused...

[JessB]

Could be teeth moving around, no necessarily cutting teeth yet, but weird night time disruption is often teething related. Good luck!

[hellosailor]

sylviamaria, I could have written this post, exactly the sam has happened with our 18 week old daughter, also started 4 or 5 nights ago. She was going down fairly easily and sleeping about 7:30 - 7:00, and now screams for ages and doesn't want to go down, wakes crying at some point before her 10:30 dream feed which has never happened before, then wakes crying at 11ish and 2ish. then up early, as you say, at 5ish.

The first couple of nights this happened, it was at least easy to pacify her at these wakenings and she went to sleep again very quickly, until the next wake up at least...but the last couple of nights when she wakes she is wide awake, battling going back down etc. This has come like a bolt from the blue and we are also shattered. The only thing different from your description is she is also acting different in the day, much more cranky and tearful, clingy, doesn't want to be put down, doesn't want to feed. Naps all over the place, now only ever falls into the lightest of sleeps and resists having them like crazy, plus they have got much much shorter. We assumed teething was the culprit but now I'm not so sure, as presume that would be accompanied by lots of crying when she woke, who knows...also very confused

edited to say - also wondering if it's the dreaded '4 month sleep regression' but would have thought that would explain a baby waking up at different and more frequent times but not all the other stuff? Maybe it is developmental changes which are supposed to be huge at 4 months? whatever it is, it's the stuff of nightmares when you had a calm baby who slept well and had begun to relax into it!

[Fuschia]

Mix prob of teeth

Wonder week 19

End of newborn sleep patterns

[sylviamaria]

I am not sure it is teeth this time... SHe has been teething on and off for the past couple of months, but this time seems different. Last night she screamed (and I fed her) at 8.30, 9.45, 12, 3, 4.30 and this morning at 8. She never used to wake up crying in the morning. SHe did this mornign and after the feed she was back to her bubbly smiley self...

Hellosailor - What I described in my first post as the first bout of difficulty with sleep a few weeks ago was at 18 weeks and EXACTLY as you describe. More difficult and clingy in the day and would wake up more often in the night - but I didnt feed her and she went back down. We ended up having to always hold and craddle her to sleep before attempting quietly to put her in her cot without waking, or she would scream again. It passed at around week 20 on its own and we now have this new thing! COuld it be the 6month growth spurt a little earlier?!

[hellosailor]

Yes, yes, just as you say! We are having to cradle her to sleep and try to pop her down without waking her, but last night she wouldn't even go along with that and woke and screamed when we tried to pop her down even if we'd been holding her for ages and thought it was a sure thing! Relieved to hear it changed for you after a couple of weeks, but not so much to hear it got worse after a couple of better weeks!

the wonder weeks stuff about big developmental leaps and the disruptions they cause says that if stuff goes haywire for a while - maybe even weeks - as you gear up to wonder week 19, then you may only have a couple of calmer weeks when things return to normal before things get disrupted gearing up for wonder week 26, the next big leap / growth spurt. Interesting with what you say about the timings with your daughter..

So do you mean that you had had several weeks of not feeding her at night at all when she was sleeping through, and are now feeding her several times a night? I haven't been attempting to feed her at night, partly because I sort of ruled out hunger as she has not fed at night for a lot of weeks, but maybe that isn't how it works? also because with the exception of last night, she was waking and crying frequently but going back to sleep pretty much as soon as we picked her up, I thought it was more likely to be sleep regression / teething than hunger, but who knows..?

[sylviamaria]

Hellosailor - It is pretty much exactly as you say - we used to get her to sleep on us for ages, then try and put her down and she would wake up and scream! I never fed her in the night (aside from the dreamfeed) during that time. Have only started feeding her at night for the last 2-3 nights as she woke up so frequently and nothing else seemed to work. (After we had 2-3 pretty good weeks).

Interesting what you say about the wonderweeks. maybe She is hitting the 26 week development leap a little earlier (she is 22 weeks now)? Not sure! I do hope it passes fairly quick though (she hasn't had such a bad night since she was 2 weeks old!).

[Ole]

Have you considered an ear infection? Lying down makes the pain of an ear infection much worse hence why they might resist lying down. My sister in law had this with her oldest child and after reaching the end of her tether took him to the GP, who diagnosed an ear abscess!

[hellosailor]

Thanks Ole, I had her checked out for ear infection a couple of weeks ago as she has just had a cold and was (and continues to) claw at her ears and cry, plus doesn't want to feed, seemingly because it hurts her to lie down in that position, or perhaps the action of suckling itself hurts, but as the doc said there didn't seem to be an ear infection I can only presume this is due to teething as all the above symptoms can mean either! Plus also has diarrhea which could be down to either! Wish she could talk and tell me!

[sylviamaria]

Update on the situation: she has now graduated to nightmnare all the time... refusing to nap in the day and is still waking at night... Have no idea what to do! Feeling exhausted...

[kathrina88]

I had the same problem with my 5 month old baby. I would suggest you to see a doctor. I have PM you some details

some of them work private.

[kathrina88]

sylviamaria Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Update on the situation: she has now graduated to

> nightmnare all the time... refusing to nap in the

> day and is still waking at night... Have no idea

> what to do! Feeling exhausted...

Hi! SilviaMria

Sorry you didn't get the messages but I have try again.

[ParentingWorkshop]

Just read this now. If your daughter clear from ear infections/teething problems/feeding problems etc it might be night terrors.

Night Terrors are a sleep disruption that seems similar to a nightmare, but with a far more dramatic presentation. There are two approaches to tackle night-time terrors. If you find that the night-terrors are occurring in the same hour every night, then they are related to sleep-wave pattern. In this case you can wake your child half an hour before the time you know the night terrors will occur and so, by disrupting their sleep wave pattern at that time, avoid the terror from happening. After a few nights of this the terror should stop.

However, if the night terror does not occur in a regular time slot, then the thinking is not to wake your child, and to just be around them to make sure they are safe and don?t hurt themselves. If you get very anxious and wake your child, this might upset them and make the problem worse. You should find that your child will eventually lie themselves down, and go back to sleep, and will grow out of it, with no treatment required.

If you are still unsure then perhaps visit your doctor?!

[Vickster]

I think night terrors affect toddlers, not young babies, but might be wrong.

Totally sympathise as we are going through a similar patch with out 20 week old. I have so far put it down to teeth, but it is interesting to read other theories, particularly wonder week 19.

[sylviamaria]

I have decided that it is probably a variety of different factors all affecting her at the moment... Teething, developmental leaps, growth spurts, heat, lighter evening etc. Will try and alleviate them one at a time and hope for the best! Thank you for your input! :)

[ParentingWorkshop]

Yes more frequent in toddlers but babies (even those as young as 4 months) can have them too!

[Fuschia]

A urine test to rule out a uti might be no bad thing

[Yak]

How is everyone getting on? Yaklet has gone from sleeping for 13 hrs at night with a dream feed to demanding milk every other hour. He's 16 wks (18 in wonder week terms). Lots going on developmentally for him - learning to roll over, giggling, babbling etc. Not massively interested in food during the day - I suspect because he is too distracted by what's going on. I'm trying to make day feeds free from distrubance. But for how long does this phase last?

(and please tell me it's just a phase.)

[Yak]

Oh, and any top tips for coping? Gin will obviously be on standby.

[mrs f]

Oh no yak! We had a week of this (when I was away solo with baby f) um, it passed quickly & baby f is now even better at sleeping than he was before...

In regards to coping, I'm happy to come over & mind the babes so you can nap one afternoon?? I have a fairly quite week

Otherwise take shifts with mr yak at night & go in the spare room??

We also went back to sleep training afterwards which was/is very effective

Urgh, just when you think you have it cracked hey!!