one-year-old screams through bedtime routine

[nilatti]

So, I've been able to find lots of advice about what to do if your baby screams after you lay him down and leave the room. We're not even there. My son's bedtime routine is bath, climb the stairs on his own, pj's, book, song, nurse, sleep. Well, now he starts screaming as we put his post-bath diaper on and doesn't stop, sometimes for hours. We continue with the routine as if he's not screaming, just ignoring it and hoping for the best...Sometimes he won't stop screaming even to nurse, and then my husband tries to rock him down instead.

So...uh. WHAT NOW? We are NOT doing CIO. We never leave. We don't even set him down. He just screams. And yes, we've tried setting him down and just laying there with him while he screams to see if he just needs to get it out of his system. What ever he has to get out takes more than 30 minutes, I can say with certainty.

And I should be clear, when I say scream, I mean SCREAM. like, an intense, back-of-the throat strangled scream noise. Not crying, which is more of an open sound. Screaming. FOR HOURS.

Ideas?

Oh, and I read a thread from a few years ago that was sort of like this somewhere, and everyone dogpiled the woman who started it, saying, "I would never let my child scream for 20 minutes, let alone two hours" but no one said what they would do to stop it. it all seemed pretty obnoxious to me, frankly, and unhelpful!

[Thing1Thing2]

Hugs - I'm right there with you except with a 3 year old. Just wanted to mention maybe your LO has allergies or reflux.

Do you use any soap in the bath that could be irritating him? Or do you feed him anything before bedtime that could be not digesting well?

My DS had reflux and screamed all day and night. It was caused by allergens in my breastmilk. I also had to pay special attention to what was being put on his skin.

Hope your problem gets resolved soon, so you and your LO can get some sleep.