My husband and I are at our wits end. My 10 month old daughter can sleep through the night, but lately has rarely done so. She wakes up once or twice a night screaming. Sometimes she's just sitting in her crib creaming with her eyes closed. i'll pick her up, comfort her and she goes right back to sleep, but that's rare. Most times it's tossing and turning in my arms and inconsolable screaming/crying for an hour or two. She doesn't act like her teeth hurt, although I've tried Tylenol and Orajel, and they don't work. I've nursed her and tried a botttle, she'll eat for a little while , then throw her head back and scream. No fever, sniffles, gas (tho I give her mylicon to be sure). I can't let her cry it out because she's waking up our landlords upstairs. My husband just took her out at 2:30 am to drive her around as last ditch effort. What do I do? she's obviously tired and so are we! Do I call her pediatrician? Please help!
My daughter is just now sleeping through the night and she is 6 years old! Try getting her tested for allergies, and even if nothing shows up positive, try watching what she is eating and see if it relates to how she sleeps. My daughter is allergic to food dyes and once we eliminated them, she started sleeping like a charm!
-Amanda
Dear V.,
I just wanted to tell you a couple of things. When my daughter she would do the same thing. It seems that in diferrent stages was diferrent reasons why she cried. You figured out that it is not her teeth or her being hungry. I would start to eliminate possible reasons. I agree about the diaper. My daughter used to wake up 2 or 3 times a night for a diaper change. So I started buying Huggies Supreme (which is about $20 for a big box)I put one on her and it last the whole night. My friends daughter wakes up crying and they took her to the dr.'s and she was diagnoised with night tares. It's worse than nightmares. Sometimes they look like they are awake, but they really aren't. They can't tell that it is you or a monster. Good Luck!
B.
Hi V.,
I would would have the ears checked out. My son was that way when he was around the same age. There were no signs that he had the infections other than him not being able to sleep, pulling on his ears (also being linked to teething) and screaming his head off. He had infection after infection and finally had tubes put in. He slept from then on.
Good luck I know how you are feeling.
K.
I've seen this a couple times on this board about kids having sleepless nights. I would definately call the doctor just to make sure it's not a problem but the thing that was going on with my daughter when she would wake up screaming is the images she'd see on tv. We did not put her in front of the tv but if I would sit down to watch a show, I'd hold her in my lap and if something remotely scary came on, I think she'd dream about it and she'd wake up screaming with her eyes closed and sometimes they were open but in the beginning I didn't know what was wrong and it would happen quite often and when I stopped turning to anything but cartoons, she stopped doing it. So im not sure if that has anything to do with it but if she is in front of the tv or maybe is sitting in your lap if you watch tv then that may have something to do with it.
Do not worry. THis is just growing pains. If it is an infection somewhere, there will be a fever of some degree. If there is no fever, just rock him. My first thought was that you are dealing with teething. Do you have a rocker? Try having him sleep in the rocker in an upright position. This is what worked for me. Also, it saved my hubby from getting in the car at 2:30am! I know your baby is 10 months, but, depending on your babys weight, the rocker will still rock. Good Luck!
Call the pediatrician and explain the problem. Your daughter might have acid reflux. It's very painful. My eldest daughter had it and a little zantac took care of the problem.
Just an idea......
I've read that right before kids start walking, they are restless sleepers. Or any other major milestone for that matter.
My son, usually an excellent sleeper, has been waking up in the middle of hte night and crying for no reason. My only solution is to nurse him and rock him back to sleep. While his bouts don't last for hours, it is sporadic and some nights a couple more times.
It is most likely teething and such milestones than anything else. See if she gets better in a couple of days, if not might be worthwhile to consult your ped.
If you suspect gas, try gripe water..it offers instant relief.
I know this is not the same but my 4 year old occasionally does the same thing. We discovered that when he would do this it means that he needed to go potty. Is she going potty o.k.? If she is having problems it may be a urinary infection. Or maybe ear infections. My sons all have had ear problems but they never showed typical signs such as pulling on ears, red ears or fever. It usually only affected them when they were sleeping(not nap time since it is a shorter time laying down). Just a few things to think about. Good luck!
Oh, I soooo know how you feel and what you are going through! My son and I literally did not sleep until he was 18 mos old. The reason he was crying and screaming every night was allergies (food and dust). I would strongly suggest you consider that posibility in your search for answers... If you are interested I can recommend an excellent pediatric allergist who has offices in Naperville and Downers Grove. Wish you all the best!
V.,
I had a friend with a similar problem, and her daughter had acid reflux. When the baby would lay down, it made it worse, but she also would have trouble when eating. She would eat for awhile, and then start crying. You didn't mention that in your note, but the other symptoms are very similar to what happened with my friend. I think the peditrician just gave her something you can buy off the shelf for acid reflux, and eventually it went away. I don't know if this is the problem, but hopefully it might help you figure out the issue.
Jenni
This may not be the issue, but my daughter would not sleep through the night and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized that her diapers were wet and she hated that. But if I changed her diaper in the middle of the night she was then wide awake.
SO, I tried something "weird" that worked for her. I put her in a size larger diaper at night (she was in 2s, so I put her in 3s, etc.) She started sleeping through the night immediately.
I told another mom about it and she tried it with her daughter when there was sleep issues and it worked for her as well.
I hope you find the source of the problem and you all get more sleep soon.
