13 wo extremely fussy when sleepy - could it be a tantrum?

[maba]

My 13 wo baby has been fussy when sleepy for the last month or so but in the last 2-3 days I've noticed extreme fussiness which almost looks like a tantrum. Is it possible for someone this young to throw tantrums? He gets very fussy, arches his back, kicks his legs and screams. I usually dim the lights and rock him and he falls asleep in about 5 minutes. Earlier he would just whimper or fuss a bit and on nursing, he'd fall asleep. Now he refuses to nurse when he's sleepy and usually rocking him or carrying him and walking around helps him fall asleep? Is this behavior normal? Or could there be something bothering him? He's been a non-fussy baby but I've noticed that he'd developing a personality of his own off late and he makes sure he lets us know what he wants.

Also, he hasn't been nursing as often as before and he sleeps through the night for 9-11 hours.

[Smidge]

It sounds like something is bothering him.  If he's not wanting to nurse it may be that the your milk smells or tastes bad which could be a few things, e.g., onions, spicy peppers/foods, or anything that has a strong taste/smell.  Does that make sense?  And the fact that he is extra fussy may be that your bm is causing a tummy ache.

I'm no expert, but that's my advice :)

[Knitting Mama]

That sounds like a tummy ache to me! Have you noticed anything different with his stools, frequency or consistency? What about gassiness? Have you added back in foods you weren't eating before? Does he have reflux, either spit up or silent?

[hapi2help]

NOT a tantrum. I would guess tummy ache too and the ability to react to it more as an older baby.

[motherhendoula]

I disagree - i dont think its a tummy ache....my LO is 4 mos and at about 2.5 - 3 mos old started nursing less often  - which is totally normal, the composition of the milk changes at this time, you feel less 'full' and baby is engaging in more play and eats less often.  My LO would stretch himself backwards (with nipple in mouth)  and beat his little fists against me sometimes - typically when he was over-tired - i had never met a baby who wouldnt nurse himself off to sleep until this one!  I think they are just over tired and frustrated - needing to stretch out and sleep!  It really helps to walk around with LO in a carrier at this point.  It doesnt happen every day - but it does still happen with my LO - sometimes they just dont want to nurse down to sleep.

[VisionaryMom]

DD still needed very much to be worn snugly or swaddled at that age. Being able to move all of her limbs allowed her too much stimulation, and she would get really fussy about it.

[Plummeting]

Originally Posted by motherhendoula 

I disagree - i dont think its a tummy ache....my LO is 4 mos and at about 2.5 - 3 mos old started nursing less often  - which is totally normal, the composition of the milk changes at this time, you feel less 'full' and baby is engaging in more play and eats less often.  My LO would stretch himself backwards (with nipple in mouth)  and beat his little fists against me sometimes - typically when he was over-tired - i had never met a baby who wouldnt nurse himself off to sleep until this one!  I think they are just over tired and frustrated - needing to stretch out and sleep!  It really helps to walk around with LO in a carrier at this point.  It doesnt happen every day - but it does still happen with my LO - sometimes they just dont want to nurse down to sleep.

I agree with this. Not all babies want to nurse to sleep, and the way they are in those very first weeks really doesn't tell you much about how they'll be later. Most newborns will fall asleep any old way, so nursing works (because for most babies just about everything works when they're very, very little). As they get older, they tend to get harder to put to sleep, no matter what method you're using. My DD1 would only fall asleep nursing once she hit about 4 months old, and she stayed that way until well past age 2. DD2, on the other hand, sometimes falls asleep nursing, but mostly falls asleep flopping around on the bed until she wears herself out, and that's what she's been doing for several weeks now (she's 9 months). We've been through several different phases in this baby's life already. She nursed to sleep the first few weeks, then she had to be walked to sleep in a carrier, then she had to bounce on the exercise ball, then just lie next to me and cry until she was passed out (that one was REALLY hard, but there was no way to stop her). So I say your baby is totally normal and he doesn't WANT you to nurse him down, so don't try to make him nurse. :)

[mamazee]

Too young to tantrum.  Could be overly tired or over stimulated or something.

[SeattleRain]

Another vote for overtired. Babies that age can't stay awake for more than 2 hours at a time, sometimes more like 1.5 and if you have a preemie it could be more like 1. Something that saved my sanity and cut back on the amount of crying in our house by like, 400% is catching DS's drowsy signs and immediately putting him to sleep. Even if he's not crying yet and even if he doesn't look super tired. What I found was that if I put him down to sleep when he first started touching his face and ears (his drowsy sign) he would go down easily within 5 minutes of being swaddled and rocked. No feeding necessary, just a paci.

My son started sleeping those long stretches at that age. Sometimes it just happens that way depending on birthweight. He's since started waking more around 4 months because he needed more to eat, but basically, if he's sleeping that long it means he doesn't need to eat then and is getting plenty during the day. I wouldn't think this had anything to do with your nursing or your milk.

[LittleBirdy]

Can I ask if your DC was born past 40 weeks gestation?  At 14.5 weeks (assuming baby was born at 40 weeks, so later babies hit it earlier and premies hit it later) babies start gearing up for a major developmental "leap" which occurs around 19 weeks.  It's like their little brains are working super hard on learning something new, and it can affect everything from appetite to naps to fussiness to night time sleep.  For some babies it's more like a little 4 or 5 day blip, but for others like my DS it really throws things out of whack for awhile.  Check out the chart here: http://www.thewonderweeks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=236

Barring that, I'd also guess over tired.  I'm with PP, once I started putting DS down the instant I suspect he might be tired things got a lot easier.  I try not to let him go more than 2 hours without rest, except in the evening - he's usually up for about three hours before bed time.

[maba]

Thank you all for your input. I guess it's a mix of my diet and his being tired. The day he behaved like this, I had all of these gas-inducing foods: broccoli, lentils, chickpeas, peanuts and black-eyed peas. No wonder he was behaving the way he did. He hasn't been like this since. He fusses a bit when he is tired and when try to make him sleep then, he usually falls asleep. So like many of you suggested, this was just a blip. 

@LittleBirdy: DS was born 4 days after due date. Thanks for the chart.

[nilatti]

My little guy--and my friends daughter--started doing this at exactly that age. We noticed that they suddenly needed to be helped to sleep, rather than just conking out any old way. My son throws a big fit when I wait too long to try rocking him down. It's funny, b/c sometimes he falls asleep midscream! He's normally a super cheerful little guy, so I had many of the same feelings you are describing. If my friend hadn't been going through it with her dd (10 days older than my DS), I would have been very worried. Incidentally, her theory is that, at around 12 weeks, they are starting to get really attached, and they need us to reassure them that we  won't disappear if they fall asleep. :)

[sssheri]

I agree with those quoted. My dd is 13 weeks and we are going through exactly the same thing. She used to nurse to sleep and now she nurses quickly, pulls off and screams. Her is what we are doing which seems to be working to get her to sleep at night (though not through the night). Durring the day we have her nap every 90 minutes (like the 90 minute sleep program book). If she won't nap in her swing, we wear her in the carrier (sometimes with a muslin blanket over her head to block out any distraction). We moved her bedtime up an hour, swaddle her, I nurse her as much as she will take, and then when she stops we wear her, swaddled, in the Moby then put her down when she is in deep sleep. Good Luck!

Originally Posted by Plummeting 

Originally Posted by motherhendoula 

I disagree - i dont think its a tummy ache....my LO is 4 mos and at about 2.5 - 3 mos old started nursing less often  - which is totally normal, the composition of the milk changes at this time, you feel less 'full' and baby is engaging in more play and eats less often.  My LO would stretch himself backwards (with nipple in mouth)  and beat his little fists against me sometimes - typically when he was over-tired - i had never met a baby who wouldnt nurse himself off to sleep until this one!  I think they are just over tired and frustrated - needing to stretch out and sleep!  It really helps to walk around with LO in a carrier at this point.  It doesnt happen every day - but it does still happen with my LO - sometimes they just dont want to nurse down to sleep.

I agree with this. Not all babies want to nurse to sleep, and the way they are in those very first weeks really doesn't tell you much about how they'll be later. Most newborns will fall asleep any old way, so nursing works (because for most babies just about everything works when they're very, very little). As they get older, they tend to get harder to put to sleep, no matter what method you're using. My DD1 would only fall asleep nursing once she hit about 4 months old, and she stayed that way until well past age 2. DD2, on the other hand, sometimes falls asleep nursing, but mostly falls asleep flopping around on the bed until she wears herself out, and that's what she's been doing for several weeks now (she's 9 months). We've been through several different phases in this baby's life already. She nursed to sleep the first few weeks, then she had to be walked to sleep in a carrier, then she had to bounce on the exercise ball, then just lie next to me and cry until she was passed out (that one was REALLY hard, but there was no way to stop her). So I say your baby is totally normal and he doesn't WANT you to nurse him down, so don't try to make him nurse. :)

[LittleBirdy]

I think the Wonder Weeks is so neat.  Haven't been able to find a cheap used copy so I haven't read it, but I read about it a lot at AskMoxie.org.  It really helped me from going insane when we went through the 4 month sleep regression that goes hand in hand with the 19 week leap.  (Yeah got a two week break from that and then at 22.5 weeks his sleep went all wonky again to gear up for the 26 week leap - fun. )
 

Originally Posted by maba 

Thank you all for your input. I guess it's a mix of my diet and his being tired. The day he behaved like this, I had all of these gas-inducing foods: broccoli, lentils, chickpeas, peanuts and black-eyed peas. No wonder he was behaving the way he did. He hasn't been like this since. He fusses a bit when he is tired and when try to make him sleep then, he usually falls asleep. So like many of you suggested, this was just a blip. 

@LittleBirdy: DS was born 4 days after due date. Thanks for the chart.