- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Babies: 0 - 3 Months
Help with suddenly fussy 2-3 month old - VERY LONG!
Long-time lurker and rare poster lhere ooking for insight/advice. Wondering if anyone has experience with a suddenly fussy, non-sleeping baby at 2-3 months?
Our baby boy hardly ever cried and slept well up until he was about 8 wks old. Then suddenly he became very fussy and now it?s a struggle getting him to sleep at night. This has been going on for almost a month now. At first, it was just fussiness at night ? right around 10 pm he would start screaming bloody murder. We would calm him down and he?d fall asleep only to wake up 30 min later. That cycle of waking up screaming and then falling back asleep would continue until about 3 am when he?d finally stay asleep until about 6-6:30 am when I would feed him before going to work. Now, he?s also sometimes really fussy during the day, although he sleeps a lot more during the day ? probably exhausted from being up all night.
He?s EBF, but we?ve pretty much ruled out colic/gassiness and hunger. Our pediatrician said it could be teething and suggested last week that we try giving him Tylenol at bedtime. We tried that last Monday and it seemed to help. But then the rest of the week it just seemed like common fussiness so we didn?t feel it was necessary to give Tylenol. Then last night, he got into one of his cycles of screaming fits and finally at about 3am we gave him some Tylenol. After that he slept until 6:30 am.
I?m upset that our once happy baby seems so miserable now and I?m trying to figure out if it?s just a normal phase that he?ll grow out of or if something is really wrong. Colic normally ENDS around 8 weeks, it doesn?t start at that time, so can't be colic right? And if it?s teething, would it be a constant pain? Why is he fine during the day most times, but miserable at night? Last week did he not seem to be in pain at all - I know it takes a while for the teeth to break through, but would teething pain suddenly stop and then start back up again? I don?t want to have to keep giving him Tylenol ? teething rings, wet washcloth and other suggestions we?ve read don?t seem to work well. I haven?t tried the gels for the gums yet ? have heard they?re not that effective because the baby just drools it out.
Anyone out there who has experienced the same thing with a happy baby who suddenly turned into a demon baby around 2-3 months lol? I am more exhausted than when we first brought him home from the hospital so any insight/advice/words of wisdom would be much appreciated!
TIA!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Help with suddenly fussy 2-3 month old - VERY LONG!
Actually, colic doesn't really end until around 12-13 weeks. So it could be that.
Sorry that you're having a rough patch. That sucks.
I don't really have any advice, but how is your milk supply doing? Maybe baby is extra hungry? Growth spurt?
I am also experiencing this right now. We are trying to figure out whether or not she has reflux, gassiness, etc... or if she's just colic-y. I know I shouldn't be giving my DD a pacifier but if I don't she just continues to scream for hours on end. I BF her every two hours, sometimes every hour because she seems to want to feed but I think she just wants the suckling action (talk about sore nips!).
What do you do for a colic baby? She also will not fall asleep unless we are holding her or she is sleeping RIGHT next to us. I try to put her down and a minute later she will wake up screaming. :[
The first thing that came to my mind as well was growth spurt. I worry about teething as well and hope that monster passes us with little complication! *crosses fingers*
There is a little something that I do at night when our DD is having trouble going down. I used to place a heating pad on her spot before I put her down to sleep, but now I just throw a kitchen towel in the dryer and warm it up and lay it on her spot before I put her down. This way I don't have to worry about it getting TOO hot there! She hates the feeling of being transferred from a warm chest to a cool sheet! This helps us and I'm hoping it might help you a little too
Just a couple of weeks ago my son started freaking out at night. He'd always had really bad gas and the Mylicon drops weren't cutting it anymore. I cut dairy, beans, and leafy greens out of my diet and after a week (a week that sucked getting used to the dietary restrictions, btw) things are SO much better. He isn't fussy at all and I have my giggly, calm boy back. If it's not a growth spurt (man, how those suck) and you don't know what else to try, give that a shot.
Also, we discovered gripe water. It's great before bedtime when we think he might go into meltdown mode.
We also give DS a paci - he hardly ever goes to sleep without it. But even that sometimes doesn't calm him down. Ditto not being able to put him down to sleep. We used to be able to put in the swing or bassinet to sleep but now he only sleeps in my arms or next to me. Even my DH can't soothe him to sleep most times now - it seems he only wants me to rock him to sleep. So it's not even like I can have my DH help out while I get some sleep for a bit. Maybe I'll try the warm towel in his bassinet/crib.
If it is colic I really hope this passes soon!
My dd is 4 months now and around 3 months, I all of a sudden had this really fussy baby at night, especially when it was time to put her down to sleep. I felt the same way, where did my happy baby go and what is going on.
What I found worked for my dd, was making sure she got adequate sleep during the day. I wouldn't let her stay awake for more than 2 hours, usually once she was up for 1 hour 15 min I started soothing her to sleep, we repeated this all day long. I also started putting her in her crib around 8 and if she got up again I fed her. I had been keeping her with me until about 10 b/c she was eating until that time, I think I was just interrupting her sleep by doing that.
I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child around this time and found it very helpful. There is actually a description of this exact problem in the book. It made me feel alot better.
Why shouldn't you give her a pacifier? She wants to suck and it soothes her to be able to suck. A pacifier is not a bad thing if it helps to calm your baby.