Nightly scream-a-thon

JSS1002

James is a month tomorrow.  He's a sweet little angel baby all day long, and then right around dinner time, he turns into a demon... screaming, crying, totally inconsolable, nothing helps.  No matter how many times I nurse him or how much rocking, swaddling, shushing, swaying, etc... he is just a very unhappy camper.

The doc put him on zantac, thinking it was acid reflux, and it seems to work right away, but then does no good over the long haul of the evening. I've tried Colic calm, and same deal -- he is instantly calm and then freaks out again 45 minutes later.  i"ve tried gas drops and other gripe water.  We sing to him, bicycle his legs, rub his tummy...

I am just so sad that he's so upset, and I'm losing my friggin' mind with the maddening sounds of his crying / screaming.

Any tips?  Or perhaps just empathy/ commiseration?

jensriot

Me second was like that. Every evening was horrible, hours of screaming every.single.night. We tried all sorts of remedies as well and nothing really worked. Swaddling provided short bouts of relief. I wish I had better advice to give, but just know that it does get better. Once the colic passed she became the sweetest, happiest little girl. Hang in there!

tleighmoulton

We have exactly the same problem and we also have our lo on reflux meds they seem yo help but are warn off by the time the evening hits. The only thing we can do to keep the screaming at bay is swaddle and stick her in the ergo carrier and lots of short feedings cause that's the only time she is not screaming

jss1482

Might sound far fetched but we went thru this last week, emergency trip to the doc etc, she to moved to sensitive Formula etc, couldn't explain the excessive screaming. Anywho after inspecting more carefully, she had an awful hidden diaper rash, makes sense why she just screamed and screamed, we have fixed that and haven't had issues since- again far fetched but something in keep in mind. It never crossed mine. Hang In there momma

cabagepatch3602

My LO has the same episode every night as well. My husband and I can't seem to figure out why he is crying. He will cry for 1015 mins I will get him to calm down for about 10 minutes and then he starts all over again tonight we took him for a 20 mile car ride to calm him down and put him to sleep. It worked! Then we got home and he woke up. Ugh! I feel your frustration.. We just have to be strong and know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and things will get better. I will also take any advice anyone has

lbonga1

I just picked up some Colic Calm last night. If you said it works for about 45 minutes, the directions on the box says you can repeat the dose every 30 minutes for up to 3 doses. Maybe your LO just needs a little extra of the stuff to stay calm?

lifewrite

Google "The period of purple crying" it really helped me deal with this. It's totally normal. My LO goes through this between 11:30 and 2:30 at night. It's tough. There was a post a couple days ago about this that had a great article on it. I'll try to find it and post a link. Just do whatever you can to sooth the baby. Even if you don't feel like its working the important part is that you are letting LO know you are there for them. If you need to set baby down for 5 min or so to allow yourself to calm down or just to go pee or get a drink its okay. It does get better. No one really tells you how rough the first few months are. Hang in there!

starting all over again

Welcome to the witching hours. They are horrible. I was crying nightly with my LO for 2 weeks straight. Make sure you have some sort of bedtime routine. Bath, story anything and put your LO in a quiet dark room. Sounds as if LO is overtired and overstimulated. I had to put my LO in her crib in the dark and walk away for 5 min. I couldn't take it anymore. She put herself to sleep!!! I don't intend for you to just walk away like I did, rock him softly and hold him tight to your chest. That seems to help (like swaddling with your body).

CrazyMary77

Perhaps he's feeling overstimulated from the day? Have you tried having him in a dark room, maybe with just white noise? Then try swaddling him and rocking/swinging him in the dark room. Are you using a pacifier? It works wonders for my DD.

MrsWindyCity

Ditto the witching hours/purple crying. It's awful. We dealt with it with DS1. He would just scream for like 2.5 straight hours every.single.night. It's totally normal (for better or worse). 

SarahRae85

My LO started this about a week ago. For him, it seems to be bad gas. I spent an hour last night with him laying in front of me, basically doing a reverse crunch for him (rocking his knees towards his chest) and rubbing his belly. He was calm as long as I was doing that and after a few farts, he went to sleep without a fuss on my shoulder.

JSS1002

Thanks everybody... here's hoping for a better night tonight...

a13049

My LO did this, 36 weeks were the worst. We started getting her through her bedtime earlier which helped alt. plus she just seems to cry and fuss alot less now. I'm not really sure if we have gotten better at handling it or if dd is just happier.

juttek30

lifewrite:

Google "The period of purple crying" it really helped me deal with this. It's totally normal. My LO goes through this between 11:30 and 2:30 at night. It's tough. There was a post a couple days ago about this that had a great article on it. I'll try to find it and post a link. Just do whatever you can to sooth the baby. Even if you don't feel like its working the important part is that you are letting LO know you are there for them. If you need to set baby down for 5 min or so to allow yourself to calm down or just to go pee or get a drink its okay. It does get better. No one really tells you how rough the first few months are. Hang in there!

 

This. Totally normal and this too shall pass!!

anne.azano

Could he be overtired?  When I started putting our LO down for regular naps, soothing her to sleep once she's been awake for about an hour, she became much more pleasant and cried less in general.