Scared or Hurt type crying and screaming out of nowhere?!?

Macleod49440 · April 2012

So the last two days straight (in the afternoon) my lil guy has had these outrageous crying/screeching type episodes and it seemed to come out of no where. Yesterday it started when i bent down to pick him out of the car seat but before i touched him. Today it was when i was bent over bathing him. I can rule out any accidental type pinching or mishandling as a cause of the crying as both times i wasnt touching him. That being said, his screaming seemed to get worse and worse as if he was hurting or was scared. I didnt notice him startle or anything either. Im at a loss here, has anyone else dealt with this recently? I was able to console him both times by laying him down on top of my chest but thats the only way he would settle.

kristin172429 · April 2012

I am starting to think this is a normal developmental thing around this age. DS started doing a similar thing. He'll even wake up from a nap, startle for a second, and start the "sad" cry. I think they are just starting to develop more emotionally and their cries are still their only way to communicate something that makes them scared or upset. I don't have any magic answers to fix it, but just wanted to let you know that we are dealing the same thing!

suitern · April 2012

I don't normally post on this board (although my son was born in February), but since I encountered this exact same thing last night during his bath I wanted to comment. My DS is almost 10 weeks old, so close to the age of your DS. I assumed that I may have got some soap in LO's eye but I was being very careful about where the soap was when I was bathing him and I wasn't even touching him when the crying started. He turned bright red and just started screeching as if in pain. We flushed his eye, but nothing would calm him down except to nurse him. This went on for about 20 minutes, until I finally could get him dressed and continued with our nightly routine.

I will be interested to see what others experiences are with this and if they found a cause for it! LO has been changing ALOT the past few weeks so I wonder if it just has to do with discovering his surroundings and something just upset him....

Jeanine88 · April 2012

This happened with my DS a few times the past week- my DH and I realized it was when LO was overly tired- each time we swaddled him and he fell asleep on seconds. Could it be fatigue?

Jen0204 · April 2012

One of my girls started doing this in the afternoons a few weeks ago (probably around 2.5 months). The doctor said it's colic since it happens around the same time each day. It's usually a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening. I called the doctor because her screams were so intense that I was worried something was wrong. The only thing that will calm her down is walking around and singing to her. We've tried feeding her, swaddling her, doing skin to skin, nothing except movement and voice combined calms her down. She seemed to be starting to outgrow it, and then we went back to work. Now as soon as we get home she starts up again, although she wasn't fussy this weekend when she was just with us all day. Luckily it's only one twin who does this!

songstress503 · April 2012

DD has been doing this too. It always seems to be about an hour before she has her daily poop. I am wonderinbg/thinking if maybe it is hurting her as it is coming down the tubes. It is so pathetic. We do bicycles and belly massages, and begging her to just poop already, but nothing works

Macleod49440 · April 2012

suitern:

I don't normally post on this board (although my son was born in February), but since I encountered this exact same thing last night during his bath I wanted to comment. My DS is almost 10 weeks old, so close to the age of your DS. I assumed that I may have got some soap in LO's eye but I was being very careful about where the soap was when I was bathing him and I wasn't even touching him when the crying started. He turned bright red and just started screeching as if in pain. We flushed his eye, but nothing would calm him down except to nurse him. This went on for about 20 minutes, until I finally could get him dressed and continued with our nightly routine.

I will be interested to see what others experiences are with this and if they found a cause for it! LO has been changing ALOT the past few weeks so I wonder if it just has to do with discovering his surroundings and something just upset him....

This is exactly what my DS did and also I noticed movement and my voice helped sooth him too. I tend to agree with PP's about emotionally becoming aware more and perhaps its from being over tired as come to think of it he didnt nap like he usually does on both days. :-(

pinkshades05 · April 2012

This happened with my husband last night--he and DD were playing and I went to use the bathroom. Next thing I know, she was screaming and I thought maybe DH bumped her into something. He said she just randomly started crying. This must be some developmental thing...

btartaroind · April 2012

I definitely think it's gas. My baby has been going through this for about a month now. I think because they are eating more they are also intaking more air. Unfortunately with my little one, he has colic, but if its not inconsolable, everyday around the same time, it is probably just bouts of gas.