screaming at bedtime?

redshoegirl

Dash has been screaming like crazy at bedtime for about the last 1.5-2 weeks, and I don't know what to do about it. And I mean SCREAMING - hysterical sobbing and that hoarse, "I'm shrieking so hard that I'm not breathing for 5 seconds" kind of crying. It's awful, and I can't figure out why he's doing it.

He goes down fine for his naps (still on two a day, neither of them seem interested in dropping down to one yet).  

Nothing has changed at night - he has the same routine, etc. so it's not like we're doing something different or trying to make him sleep in a strange place.

He's tired, but not overtired at bedtime, so I don't think we need to adjust that.

He's teething, but I don't think it's due to pain - if I go in and pick him up, he instantly stops screaming and puts his head down on my shoulder to fall asleep (when he's in pain, he'll keep fussing). So separation anxiety, maybe? But as I mentioned before, he's fine during the day - it's just at night.

Could he be suddenly afraid of the dark? We have a nightlight and a light up turtle thingy in their room that we turn on at bedtime, so it's not like it's particularly dark in there.

If we leave him for 5-10 min, he will eventually fall asleep on his own, but of course there's the horrible heart-wrenching screaming going on the whole time (to make matters worse, Will joins in about 25% of the time, I think when he gets upset that Dash is crying). 

Any ideas? 

Married2MrWright

We had something similar going on with Libby about a month ago...I thought it could be night terrors because the screaming episodes would start about 90 minutes after she had done down for the night. But it sounds like Dash is doing this BEFORE he falls asleep, right?

It could actually be teething pain. I mean I know for myself, my headache or backache or toothache will feel more intense at night when I lay down and give myself a rest...KWIM? If it continues, you might try giving him acetaminophen or ibuprophen before bed and see if that helps. With Libby I'll give it to her about 30 minutes before bedtime and it seems to "kick in" when it's time for her to go to sleep. She's working on her one-year molars and we've had to bust out the ibuprophen a few times at bedtime.

Other than that, it could be separation anxiety. Does he have a particular lovey? If so, I'd make sure he's sleeping with it. If not, perhaps you can work on getting him to attach to one...for Libby it's her pink "blankie" which is plush with satin trim. She grabs onto it and says "nigh-night"...for naps and bedtime too. Good luck, he's hoping that passes quickly.

redshoegirl

Married2MrWright:

We had something similar going on with Libby about a month ago...I thought it could be night terrors because the screaming episodes would start about 90 minutes after she had done down for the night. But it sounds like Dash is doing this BEFORE he falls asleep, right?

It could actually be teething pain. I mean I know for myself, my headache or backache or toothache will feel more intense at night when I lay down and give myself a rest...KWIM? If it continues, you might try giving him acetaminophen or ibuprophen before bed and see if that helps. With Libby I'll give it to her about 30 minutes before bedtime and it seems to "kick in" when it's time for her to go to sleep. She's working on her one-year molars and we've had to bust out the ibuprophen a few times at bedtime.

Other than that, it could be separation anxiety. Does he have a particular lovey? If so, I'd make sure he's sleeping with it. If not, perhaps you can work on getting him to attach to one...for Libby it's her pink "blankie" which is plush with satin trim. She grabs onto it and says "nigh-night"...for naps and bedtime too. Good luck, he's hoping that passes quickly.

Yup, he's doing it before he actually falls asleep - from the minute he's put in his crib - so it's not night terrors.

They're teething like crazy (have their molars and are working on canines already!) so at first I thought it was pain - we occasionally give them baby Tylenol if the teething really seems to be aggravating them, so we tried that a few times (at bath time so it has time to take effect) with no luck.

I've tried and tried to get him to attach to a lovey, but he's just not interested. Will has a teddy bear that he's fond of and sleeps with, but Dash just doesn't seem interested in anything (I've tried various stuffed animals and blankies). Maybe I just need to keep looking? I do think separation anxiety is the most likely culprit, although I can't figure out why he only does this at night.

MrsZiz

redshoegirl:

Married2MrWright:

We had something similar going on with Libby about a month ago...I thought it could be night terrors because the screaming episodes would start about 90 minutes after she had done down for the night. But it sounds like Dash is doing this BEFORE he falls asleep, right?

Other than that, it could be separation anr one-year molars and we've had to bust out the ibuprophen a few timxiety. Does he have a particular lovey? If so, I'd make sure he's sleeping with it. If not, perhaps you can work on getting him to attach to one...for Libby it's her pink "blankie" which is plush with satin trim. She grabs onto it and says "nigh-night"...for naps and bedtime too. Good luck, he's hoping that passes quickly.

Yup, he's doing it before he actually falls asleep - from the minute he's put in his crib - so it's not night terrors.

They're teething like crazy (have their molars and are working on canines already!) so at first I thought it was pain - we occasionally give them baby Tylenol if the teething really seems to be aggravating them, so we tried that a few times (at bath time so it has time to take effect) with no luck.

I've tried and tried to get him to attach to a lovey, but he's just not interested. Will has a teddy bear that he's fond of and sleeps with, but Dash just doesn't seem interested in anything (I've tried various stuffed animals and blankies). Maybe I just need to keep looking? I do think separation anxiety is the most likely culprit, although I can't figure out why he only does this at night.

Poor guy! Sounds like you've tried stuff for teething and it doesn't sound like that (at least not to me)... it sounds like separation anxiety to me... Bella is going through this right now too. She goes in her crib fine (we do the whole bedtime routine and she goes down) but the second we shut the door, out come the cries! She has a lovey that she attached to when she was about 1 yr old. We tried to get her to attach before then but she wasn't into anything. For her, even with the lovey, she still is having issues. I think us having Grayson has caused a change in her life, which is causing the issue.. not much we can do about it. Has anything changed in your lives or routine that may have triggered this? For Bella once we noticed that we had changed ONE thing in her routine (only one of us putting her to bed when both of us had been) and that messed her up big time. Once we figured it out, we both put her to bed again and things got better. Now since G is here, we STILL both put her to bed but she's still having some issues... poor kids! I KNOW it's because he's here and that's a BIG change in her life. Try to evaluate and see if you've been doing something different... if not, it's just a phase that he'll have to work himself out of. The crying KILLS me though and usually if she cries that heartbreaking cry for 5-10 mins I go in and calm her and then put her back down... not the ideal thing to do but my heart can't take it! 

mrspresley

we go through this from time to time and i think it's just a phase.  it comes and goes and most of the time we just let her be.  if she starts really shrieking then we go in there, hold her for 5 min, then put her back down and she goes down w/o crying.  we try not to do that too often though b/c we don't want to get her thinking that crying = mommy/daddy running in right away as an attention seeking behavior.

you'd be surprised if you were in our house. sometimes she is wailing pretty badly and we just let her cry.  i watch her on the video monitor and she will stand at the corner of the crib while she is crying and just stare at the door and wait to see if we'll come in to get her....... she'll go on for 10 min and just as i am considering going in there to get her, she just plops down and goes to bed w/o another peep!