13 yrs, 4 mths ago

Baby sleeping issues

I need advice. In the last week my 10 month old baby has started screaming when we put him to bed at night. In the past we would put him to be at around 6.30-7.00 and if he wasnt tired yet he would just talk or sing to himself before falling asleep. Now when we put him down he screams the house down, even when he is obviously tired. Once he is asleep he is sleeping through the night – so we aren’t having in problems there. I just can’t work out what it could be. We went on a holiday to Brisbane last weekend and it started ever since we got home so maybe he is unsettled from his trip – but then when we were away we had no problems getting him to sleep in the travel cot. I have swapped his sleepingbag from a merino wool one to a cotten sheet like one as its pretty warm in his room – usually above 24 degrees so maybe its that? We have a fan on in there but that seems to annoy him so usually have to turn it off. His eye teeth may be coming through as i can see them under the skin, but they dont seem to bother him at all during the day so i don’t think that is it. Does anyone have any ideas?

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  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    Ps if you want to see the little monster that is giving me all this trouble, he’s the baby in the pic of the movember beauty blog! I actually took this photo when he was about 4 months old. My mother in law kept saying that Isaac looks so much like my dad, but I couldnt see it so as a joke a put a mo on him to see if he did look like my dad (my dad has a mo!).

    What a little cutie!! Loving it!

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    Tonight I sruck to the routine – dinner 5.30, bath 6.00, story, bottle cuddletime then put him to bed at 6.30 and he only cried for about a minute then was asleep. I was so relieved…then after about 45 mins he started screaming again – this is super unusual for him to wake up after going to sleep – though he only had one nap of an hour today and was super tired so maybe he passed out then when his batteries were recharged enough he woke again to criy?? I tried to leave him crying for a while (about 15 mins) but he wasnt stopping. When I went to him he had snot all over his face and his nose was completely blocked. I tried to calm him down without picking him up but he was beyond that so I had to get him up, but he still wouldnt settle so i had to bring him out for some daddy time…or maybe it was the tv that calmed him down. He was just out here for 10 mins until he calmed down and i have put him back to bed and it sounds like he has gone straight back to sleep.

    We tried control crying in the past when i wanted to break his habbit of night feeds and that worked a treat, but the program we were following just said to leave them to cry for 10 mins – babies very rarely cry for longer than that – when we did it at first he cried for 10 mins, then fell asleep, then it was 5, then after that it was a max 1 min. It took 2 nights then he was sleeping through and since then (about 3 months ago) we haven’t had any probs with him sleeping through…but then since then we have also relaxed our controlled crying policy – ie if he cried when we first put him down we’d go straight to him…so maybe we inadvertantly trained him that if he cries we come. I think I might have to try the gradual controlled crying method to reset him.

    Thanks everyone for your help…I really appreciate it!

    Ps if you want to see the little monster that is giving me all this trouble, he’s the baby in the pic of the movember beauty blog! I actually took this photo when he was about 4 months old. My mother in law kept saying that Isaac looks so much like my dad, but I couldnt see it so as a joke a put a mo on him to see if he did look like my dad (my dad has a mo!).

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    If he’s still unsettled, you can try controlled crying to teach him that if he realy needs you you’ll be there, but that he needs to put himself to sleep. You put him down, then leave the room. If he cries, go back in, settle him and leave again. If he cries again, wait about a minute before you go back in. Keep doing this, gradually increasing the time before you go back in. It might take a few nights, or maybe a week, but he’ll learn to settle himself. My boys did this (but strangely not my daughter!) but it didn’t take long for them to settle. Kids are quick though– any change in routine, or sleeping/ attention patterns, and they decide not to do things the easy way! Good luck, I hope things improve!

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    Thanks heaps for the tips. He was a bit better tonight – only cried for about 10-15 mins.

    Kim, in the early days I had him in a routine – like a few said dinner, bath, bottle, story, bed but he became such a good sleeper that somewhere along the line I got a bit sack with it – if we took him swimming then I’d quickly shower him rather than bath him or if he seemed super tired then I’d put him straight to bed without a story. I got in the habbit of only bathing him every 2nd night.

    Morrigan – you might have hit the nail on the head with him not wanting to be alone. He was spoilt for attention over the weekend we went away as my sis and parents went with us, so maybe he got used to not being alone and now needs more company. In the past he seemed to need timeouts from us – sometimes he would be all grizzly so I’d put him his cot where he would sing and chirp for a while but not sleep, then when i got him back up he’s be super happy. In the last fortnight he has just started crawling, so maybe he has just made the cognetive leap that he is no longer attached to me. Tonight when he started screaming I went straight to him but didnt pick him up but instead talked to him with his favourite elephant toy, then when he cried i went straight back in and did it again, then the third time i left the room he cried for about a minute then fell asleep.

    He is no longer breastfed (he’s super independant and weaned himself at 9 months). Since wed I have been giving him some cows milk (usually 1 part cows milk 2 parts formula) so maybe that is upsetting his tummy. I didn’t do that tonight.

    Hooha, thanks for th heat advice. Even when it doesnt feel hot to me he sweats like a pig. My husband wants to try putting him in the cot with nothing on, rather than in the sleeping bags but i am a bit reluctant to do that as, once he finally goes to sleep he doesnt wake again until 6.00am so I dont want to mess that up if he gets cold during the night.

    DG, I unintentionally did the no arvo naps today. He had been napping from 7.30-9.30am then 12.00-1.30 but on sat then again today he napped from 9.30-11.30am then didnt have another nap all day. He wasn’t grizzly at all, though he rubbed his eyes a bit at 2.00pm so i put him down but he just talked for 30 mins then cried so i got him back up and he was fine for the rest of the arvo.

    I guess we are really lucky that he never wakes during the night – its been at least 2 or 3 months since he’s even made a peep during the night. Its just the screaming before bed thats hard. He works himself up so much that his nose gets blocked so then he cant use his dummy so then that works him up even more. I’ll be more strict with the routine this week and see if that makes any difference.

    Thanks so much for all of your advice. I tried googling this but didnt find anything too helpful. I guess its kids jobs to forever keep you on your toes…just as you get cocky thinking that you have worked them out they go and change on you!

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    If he was sleeping well before, it may be his growth spurt? It is a stage of activity, more crying, more feeding, more attention etc which can last for days to weeks. http://www.ebabycentre.com/bdgrowthspurt.htm

    Other than that, I can think of a bath before bedtime, no late afternoon naps (which is a huge problem for my baby) and feed just before bed (puts my son right to sleep!)

    I know how frustrating it is when kids don’t sleep. I hope he settles into a routine quickly. Good luck 🙂

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    beautystar, I think you are on to something with the heat. My son would never sleep if it was too hot. I also agree with the sleep routine, we always did the same things even if the time of day varied and it seemed to work. My boy is three now and the routine is still pretty similar eg. dinner, bath, story, bed. I hope this helps. It may just be that he is unsettled from being away and he will be settled back into his usual routine soon. It can be frustrating, just when you think sleep is sorted they change their patterns! Good luck 🙂

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    I use to have the same problem. Do you have a daily night routine with baby? Because they are so young its hard to tell them that its time for bed, so if you start a routine by putting bub to bed they will start to learn whats going to happen next. The routine i use for my bub is : Dinner, Bath and then bed. So with every different action bub will recognize ok last time this meant bedtime. He should start to settle down alot more 🙂 Just doing the same thing every night and bub will feel more secure too! Best thing about a routine too is when you go on holidays, you continue the routine and baby will feel more secure. Works for babysitters too! 🙂 I hope ive helped you!!! Good luck!

  • 13 yrs, 4 mths ago

    I wish I had some ideas but all I can say is my daughter used to do it and at first I freaked out because I thought something was wrong but apparently she just didn’t want to be left alone. So I started talking to her about what we’ll do the next day and how it’ll come quicker if she went to sleep. She also has little glowing stars hanging in her room so I always turn these on so she has something nice to look at. She has lots of teddies with her and telling her that they’re tired and want to sleep really helped. She felt like she was doing something important – trying to keep quiet so the teddies can sleep.
    She used to do it when she was about 1 and it didn’t last long because I didn’t give in to her, I let her cry for a while (which obviously broke my heart) because I knew if I gave in she’d just keep doing it every night, and pretty soon she realised that it’s ok to be left alone. She’s now nearly 3 and still has the baby monitor and little lights, we found that if she’s a bit upset we’d just talk to her through the monitor saying mummy and daddy are here, rather than picking her up straight away (if there’s nothing wrong of course) and that seemed to help….

    Like you said, it could be the teeth, or temperature in the room, or the fact that he doesn’t want to be alone, or change of routine.. I remember with my little girl every time we went somewhere she was fine and then came home and the whole routine was just stuffed.
    There could be a lot of different reasons, for me though if there’s nothing physically wrong then I’m not that worried…

    Is he still breasfed? Could it be something he eats or drinks before bedtime that might make his tummy hurt? I have a friend whose daughter used to drink milk before bedtime and then scream her head off. So she switched to a lactose free milk and it seemed to help a lot, even though she’s not lactose intolerant! It was just that bottle of milk before bed that seemed to cause a lot of pain and stress…

    Anyway, good luck, hope you figure it out soon :))

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