Frantic crying at night

[Adaline'sMama]

x-posted in Family bed and nightime parenting

DD is 9 months old and has always been a great sleeper. She has slept with us since she was born, but she goes to bed about 3 hours before us. Until now, she has never had a problem sleeping for 2-4 hours stretches. She will usually wake every 3 hours to nurse, falling back to sleep pretty much within 5 minutes.

For the past 4 nights she has slept for the first 3 hour stretch, nursed , and fallen back to sleep. When she wakes for the second time (around 3 am), she wakes up screaming and only wanting to nurse for 20-30 seconds before she is crying again. We've gotten up and tried rocking, swaddling, eating solid food, playing with toys, hylands teeting gel, diaper changes, clothing changes, ssshing, and even at one point bourbon on the gums. NOTHING stops the screaming. I dont know if this is even a teething problem. I know I can feel 2 teeth that are about to come in, but she doesnt respond to the gel or to the bourbon or to chewing on something. Im starting to fear that something is wrong with her and I just dont know what it could be. Her crying is different that it ever has been. She sounds so panicked and like she is having a total breakdown.

She has gotten her first two teeth in the past month and and this nightime nursing on and off all night and her ripping her mouth off my boob in a fit of frantic crying has left my nipples bruised and so so sore. I usually say "ouch"and take the boob away when she does this, but I feel like I cant deprive her while she is that upset. Every night after the first time she wakes up screaming she only sleeps in 20-40 minute increments. Its usually sleep for 30 minutes, up for 30 minutes screaming. During the day, she acts completely normal.

I just dont know what to do. She has a well visit on Tuesday, so Ill talk to the ped about it then, but does anyone else have any idea what could be wrong? 

[Knitting Mama]

Cecilia, also 9 months (almost), has done this a couple of times too, and for her, it has turned out to be gas/poop pains, rather like when she was an infant. We do some very casual EC, so I set her up on her little potty and she toots and toots and finally poops, and then we can go back to sleep.

[mom2lucy]

I could have written your exact post.  My babe is 7 1/2 mo. and she's been doing this for about a week.  It's so awful that I dread going to sleep (or lack thereof). 

I have no idea what this is either except I know there's a 9 mo. sleep regression, but my DD is a little young for it and I know my babe (like yours) sounds as if there's something wrong.

Please update post after your ped visit on Tuesday.  I'm curious what they say.

Good luck!

[Snapdragon]

IT sounds like painful teething maybe? We give ds baby tylenol when his teeth are actually breaking through and he is dealing with that pain- and it helps a lot!

[raqi]

DD's done this twice - I'm thinking it's night terrors.  The fact that she's completely inconsolable and won't nurse (she always wants to nurse if she's upset when she's awake) is what makes me think that.  With night terrors, the kid's actually still asleep, so there's not much you can do to calm them down.  Some people whose kids have them chronically will wake them fully right before the time when they usually happen, then put them back to sleep.  I also heard that Rescue Remedy can help sometimes.  It hasn't happened again since I've done the research, but I'm keeping a bottle by the bed in case.  Good luck!  It's so heartbreaking to see your baby so upset and not be able to do anything about it.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Snapdragon 

IT sounds like painful teething maybe? We give ds baby tylenol when his teeth are actually breaking through and he is dealing with that pain- and it helps a lot!

I was also going to suggest giving a dose of either Tylenol or ibuprophen. Since this has been happening consistently you may even want to give it to her before she goes down for the night. When DS was in the throes of teething, there were a couple nights we gave it to him before bed to prevent the waking up screaming, and it did. GL!

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Yep, I'd go with either teething (we had this happen for a couple of nights last week before his first tooth cut through), or night terrors. Or perhaps one causing the other (I get nightmares when I'm asleep but feeling pain, like when menstrual cramps would start at night). Not fun whatever it is :(

[Adaline'sMama]

Thanks everyone for the advice. She had one more night of that kind of behavior, and since then it has stopped. I gave her Infant Advil and she seemed to be soothed within 20 minutes. The next night, she was fussy around bedtime and I gave her Infant Advil and swaddled her. She slept pretty well and has been fine since then. I wasnt opposed to the advil, but I really try not to give medication unless I feel that the pain is really bad. Hylands just isnt working for us. Ive tried the gel and the tablets and neither really helps the pain. Ill post another update after my visit to the ped tomorrow. Thanks!

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

Thanks everyone for the advice. She had one more night of that kind of behavior, and since then it has stopped. I gave her Infant Advil and she seemed to be soothed within 20 minutes. The next night, she was fussy around bedtime and I gave her Infant Advil and swaddled her. She slept pretty well and has been fine since then. I wasnt opposed to the advil, but I really try not to give medication unless I feel that the pain is really bad. Hylands just isnt working for us. Ive tried the gel and the tablets and neither really helps the pain. Ill post another update after my visit to the ped tomorrow. Thanks!

We use homeopathy first for general teething grumpiness, but when it gets really intense the homeopathy just doen't cut it and that's when I whip out the "hard stuff". I just can't stand seeing poor DS suffer so, and knowing there's something I can give him to end the pain, why would I let him continue to suffer? .....is how I look at it. I doubt occasional use of such medications causes any harm.