Night wakings...again (long)

SigmundsGirl · October 2010

So Evan has been sleeping through the night (8pm - 7am) for over a month now. Sometimes he will wake and cry of 5-15 minutes and then put himself back to sleep with no intervention from us.

For the past 4 nights he has woken up and cried almost constantly for any where from 1.5-2 hours. After about 20 minutes I go check on him. He doesn't feel hot or cold and I can't tell that anything is wrong. No amount of patting, shushing, head rubbing, or soothing works. During this time I see him (on the video monitor) trying to get comfortable and what looks like starting to get on his elbows and knees and rocking a little bit. I can tell he is trying to get back to sleep but can't.

The past 2 nights I have changed his diaper after an hour or so of crying because I was at my wits end. After being held for a few minutes he stops crying. The second I put him down (on the changing station or his crib) he starts crying again. Only time seems to help.

I can tell he isn't hungry. This is a "hurt feelings" sounding cry. I don't want to start anything that I don't want to continue (like rocking or comfort feeding) to get him to sleep.

I am so tired that I can hardly see straight and I just don't know what the right thing to do is. Tonight I put an extra paci in his crib and a stuffed animal at the far end just in case he needs something to hold on to.

I am sure this will also worry me since I have never put a toy in his crib and am already worried since he is a tummy sleeper, but I figure he is fine since he rolls all over the place in the middle of the night as it is.

Anyone else experience this? Any advice or suggestions on what this might be? This is so much worse than when he was cutting his bottom 2 teeth.

horn_jm@hotmail.com · October 2010

It might be separation anxiety starting. I have no advice, as DS2 cosleeps part time. I hope you all start getting some sleep soon!

kat.in.the.hat · October 2010

It sounds like he's waking up to practice crawling. He'll start STTN again when he gets crawling. And JMO, but if holding/rocking him gets him to sleep, then that's what I'd do. I wouldn't worry about creating a habit since this is just a temporary waking while he works on some milestones.

LisaK2b · October 2010

Maybe it's teething again...check his top gums to see if it's swollen.

OR...he's probably hitting a development milestone (i.e. crawling) which may want him to be awake and practice it.

SigmundsGirl · October 2010

We checked his top gums, but couldn't feel or see anything. I thought it might be separation anxiety, but he doesn't get any better when we go in the room. I tried rocking him last night, but the second I put him back down it was like he was never calm.

The weird thing is he doesn't cry when he wakes uo in the morning. He is actually pretty happy and content. This morning he was playing with the stuffed animal I left in his crib.

I hope it is a developmental milestone that he will hit soon. I just wonder how he will learn to crawl if he only practices in his sleep. :-)

Thanks for the advice and support.

Cajun_gal · October 2010

kat.in.the.hat:
It sounds like he's waking up to practice crawling. He'll start STTN again when he gets crawling. And JMO, but if holding/rocking him gets him to sleep, then that's what I'd do. I wouldn't worry about creating a habit since this is just a temporary waking while he works on some milestones.

Ditto. Every once in a while, like maybe once a month or less, Dylan will wake up at night and cry and not put himself back to sleep. He now can soothe himself easily with a paci and finds it very easily. But, every so often, that's not enough, and we give him a bottle and rock him back to sleep. If he's teething, we throw in Motrin as well. It's always been an "off" night and goes back to normal after. Hope that Evan gets back on track again soon!

rayskit10 · October 2010

Take him to the doctor.

If you are holding him upright and he seems ok, but then screams when you lay him on his back, it could be ears. Mathis was a good sleeper and then suddenly stopped. I chalked it up to just having another bad sleeper, only to find out he had raging ear infections weeks later. Now I am paranoid about it. Laying down hurts when they have pressure in their ears and often being upright is the only thing that helps. With Mathis, he would also wiggle and toss and turn, like he just couldn't get comfortable. After my experience with him (and his eventual tubes), I always say rule out anything medical.

Also, I do rock M to sleep at night and he still sleeps thru or self settles when he wakes up at night. He STTN 95% of the time so when he stops, even if all he needs is love, I give it to him and when that phase passes he goes right back to normal. If your DS needs a little comforting now, that doesn't mean you'll be rocking him to sleep until he's 20.

newinhouston · October 2010

Growing pains? he may be going through a growth spur.

DD is doing the same now, after STTN since she was two months but in her case is teething. Also, we introduced solids about 3 weeks ago and food with high fiber content really upset her sleep.

SigmundsGirl · October 2010

I wonder if it is his ears. I did notice that he was rubbing his fist into his left ear the other night, but I chalked it up to him being sleepy. I'm going to call the doctor. I'm sure they will blow me off and think it is nothing, but better safe than sorry.

rayskit10 · October 2010

SigmundsGirl:
I wonder if it is his ears. I did notice that he was rubbing his fist into his left ear the other night, but I chalked it up to him being sleepy. I'm going to call the doctor. I'm sure they will blow me off and think it is nothing, but better safe than sorry.

If your pedi's office blows you off, my advice then would be find another doctor.

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Night wakings...again (long)

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