Different baby day & night?

[ellairiesmom]

Long post...venting, sharing, looking for any advice...

DD2 is 13 mos.  Some intro info...she has been battling back to back to back ear infections since Christmas eve (2 treated, 1 untreated) & teeth that are brutal.  Her back gums are so swollen & hard, w/ razor edges that don't want to budge.  She also seems to have had a runny nose since November.  Sometimes clear, sometimes yellow.  DD1 goes to Preschool & we are out & about, socializing with friends little ones & my brothers little ones so exposure to everything occurs.  Diet wise-she nurses frequently & around 10 mos, really took to solids & eats a wide variety nowadays. 

For the most part, during the day, she plays, has fun, interacts with DD1, us, others.  She is verbal, crawls like a champ, cruises & has taken a few steps but seems like she still prefers crawling right now.  Nap time is a pain-always has been.  She wants to sleep with my nipple in her mouth so de-latching is a challenge but we are working on it.

We are working on a routine right now where she nurses to sleep around 7:30/8 & I put her in her crib next to or bed.  She wakes frequently sometimes, but Ive been putting her back in there until we retire & brIng her in bed. The rest of the night is a nightmare.  She cries all night long most nights.  She thrashes around, tosses & turns, throws herself on & off our pillows...& the only thing that calms her 90% of the time is nursing of course.  My problem is I can't sleep while nursing-never been able to-so I feel like I am going to die & am struggling to function.

I keep telling myself that when she slows down at night & lays down, ear pain & teething pain are probably overwhelming her?  We are also going to keep the cats out of the bedroom going fwd, although she shows no signs of skin irritation but does rub her nose a lot all day/night & it is runny.  Another thought is whether it could be a reflux thing showing up now?  She was very gassy her 1st 6 weeks (of course) but we haven't had problems since then. 

She has no other food allergy symptoms...poops are normal, skin is clear & she is happy during the day??? 

Any other thoughts? 

[carmen358]

Are you ok with trying advil or tylenol at night? If you are, try and see if it helps. If she doesn't cry all night (or cries less...) then perhaps it's teeth/ear? I would get her ears looked at again just to make sure she doesn't have an infection.

Another thing could be that she is working on walking. A lot of people have said that once their little one starts walking they sleep better (not the case for us but for lots of others).

I've also read about some little ones really needing their own space by a certain age. Have you tried leaving her in the crib in your room? I don't have any experience with trying that but again, I've read lots of stories of that working.

As for allergies, we are in the midst of a no gluten, no dairy, no soy "experiment" and so far DD (14 months) has been sleeping significantly better. We were up every 15 minutes some nights and now often have a 4-5 hour stretch. Luckily she has always gone back to sleep within a minute of nursing. DD didn't have the other classic symptoms that our GP was looking for - diarrhea or a rash on her face. I'm still not sure what the culprit is (we are going for at least a month with none and will then introduce slowly) or if it is even a coincidence but that's my current experience with allergies.

[ellairiesmom]

Thank you so much for all the awesome feedback!

We have started to use pain relief...I try so hard to save it for when things are really bad, but things have been REALLY bad a lot the past few weeks - lol - so we have been leaning on it a little.  I just can't explain in words how swollen her bottom, back gums are.  It's like little monsters are trying to break through from all sides.  It is so awful.

Something else is definitely up with her...I just noticed redness on both arms...nothing raised or with any "texture" to it...but it matches the red cheeks she has had for the past months.  Our Ped told me the cheeks were just "winter" cheeks & to use some lotion but now with her arms looking red, & the rubbing her eyes & nose a bunch & the mood swings, I am wondering if she is allergic to something for real.  Aggghhh.

Starting yesterday, the cats are now banned from our bedroom.  I will have to formulate a plan for food allergy possibilities.  But I do have this feeling it's the cats.  I am allergic to them too but have always just learned to deal with pets all my life.

I just feel so bad.  Something is bothering her & I just can't pinpoint it. 

And I am so tired, I think I might collapse...has anyone actually ever hit the floor from exhaustion???  ;)

[pbjmama]

I think the cats are a good theory to test.

I thought of a sinus infection - could be worsened by ears and teeth and can present with a clear runny nose and not alot of other symptoms.

[carmen358]

It's soooo frustrating to have a strong feeling that something is wrong and not be able to figure it out. I hope it doesn't drive you crazy and that you can figure it out soon! Sounds like you have a good plan. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[RiverandJulie]

I wrote a very similar post 2 months ago when DS was 13 months.  Sweet and happy during day, monster and screaming at night.  Here is a list of things that we have done....and how they helped.

First, we took him to the ped and she out him on a 2 week dose of prevacid.  This is the first medication he has ever been on (other than tylenol when needed) so it was weird to me.  But, she said that toddlers can get reflux when under stress (ours seemed to be brought on by a stomach bug) , ear infections, teeth etc.  all would be stressful for a baby.  We also took him off dairy, ped said that stomach bugs can kick in a temporary dairy intolerance.
Things started to get a little better, but, he was pretty gassy at night.  

We also started taking him to a chiropractor.  I have felt like that has really helped.

Then, we cut gluten, that really cut down on the gassiness

At some point after about 3 weeks of no-dairy, we put him back on dairy, and it was a disaster-another screaming night, so he is back off it.  Same with gluten, we were at a party where he ate bread and 2 nights later, a bad night with lots of gas.

You may want to try giving him that white chalky antacid (maalox. mylanta..not sure which) before bed.  We did that when we first started the prevacid since prevacid takes a few days to kick in, but mylanta works right away.  That may give you an idea of if it is reflux.

The good news is that nights are much better, he still is up a lot to eat, but he goes right back down, no screaming.  

Oh yeah, he was teething too, and all the drool can bring on reflux too.

[ellairiesmom]

Thx for your story! 

We finished treating the ear infection.  About 2 days into the antibiotic, the screaming stopped & just the normal frequent waking/nursing continued.  Ped checked her ears again the other day.  Back to perfect.  I asked him to take a close look at 2 areas of her gums that have been abnormally swollen (in my mind) and he actually called it "impressive teething" & validated my thoughts that they were just off the hook swollen.  She was also poking one ear repeatedly while there & he noticed it as well & really feels like she is just being handed a tougher teething experience than some.  I mentioned concerns over congestion/nasal secretions, the cats etc and he said to keep working on keeping the cats out of the sleep area but he is more inclined to think this could be all teething.

Last night, we had another "episode".  She was sitting up, screaming, one finger in her mouth, drooling & the other in her ear again.  I did give her a dose of the Target brand infant acetaminophen and after about an hour, she fell asleep & had a decent 4 hour stretch.  (for her, that is pretty good)  I noticed this am while feeling around in there that another corner of a tooth is emerging on one side too.  It has literally been over a month of this in these 2 areas on the bottom.  I can only describe it as if an alien is trying to poke through my babe's gums!!!!  There is excessive bulging on both sides-it's awful. 

He did mention she had some slight eczema but was also hesitant to start talking allergies/intolerance right away since DD1 has "winter eczema" that goes away the rest of the year.  I guess I am going to have to keep an eye on things & consider testing it out with some eliminations.  

He said if I felt reflux was an issue, to call them & they would call in a script.  I guess I'll see how things continue to go...