[jocmtl]

Hello all,

Our beautiful 3-month old did something really odd today. He woke up from a nap crying really, really hard. We got to him within seconds, but he was quite inconsolable for several minutes. I tried nursing and he wasn't hungry. We walked him around the house a bit and eventually he did calm down.

DP then went to change his diaper, and then he really lost it. He was positively shrieking, sounding as if he were either frightened to death or in pain. Yet there was nothing wrong. Eventually, dp took him out on the patio and he calmed right down.

Has this ever happened to you? If so, was there anything actually wrong? We are concerned because this morning, he also cried very suddenly and hard during a diaper change as well.

Poor little buddy!

 

[Avena]

Hello,
Our babe who is almost 2 months has done this before too!
It freaked me out the first time. The only thing I could figure out was that she was dreaming.
She screamed too when we changed her & then finally calmed down. I wish I could give more advice other then this has happened to us too! I would keep an eye on your little one to see if it continues. Luckily it only happened twice to us!

Be well!
Avena

 

[heveasoul]

No advice here, either...just support. Hope he doesn't experience that again.

My baby did this when he was around 4-6 weeks. He had been sleeping peacefully in my mom's arms on the sofa while I pumped. It scared me, and was horrible.

I thought he was likely dreaming, possibly reliving some of his NICU experiences. It broke my heart at the time.

Just a few days ago (he's 3 1/2 months now), he seemed to get spooked during a diaper change at my SILs, and broke out in a screaming cry - he was just beside himself. No reason we could find.

Poor little guys.

 

[akmbloom]

my daughter is 2.5 months and has done this too, probably around 4-6 weeks (and was also in the NICU briefly, for what it's worth). Once the crying continued, and once she shrieked in her sleep and then fell back asleep. I could only chalk it up to dreaming, or "night terrors" - I read somewhere that kids' brains can get stuck somewhere in between sleep cycles and it makes them short circuit into night terrors, I'm not sure how scientific that is, but my nephew had them for several years, but not when he was so young. Anyway I thought that for my dd it was probably a dream, and she was fine afterward, and it hasn't happened again.

 

[Hanbonem]

My son (10 months) did that a bit at maybe two different points. Maybe at around 3 and then 6 months. He would be sound asleep and would wake up bawling. Crying really really hard. We would also get to him immediately and there would be nothing visibly wrong, so I don't know what to tell you other than they've got a lot going on and can seem to get overwhelmed by it on occasion. He's a very easy going baby for the most part except for these short phases.

 

[jocmtl]

Thank you so much for your replies!

There's something so reassuring about knowing that other parents have had similar experiences. We'll definitely call our doctor if it happens again. It's just so unusual for him; he's an incredibly good-tempered baby, and he rarely cries at all. Seeing him just lose it was just heartbreaking.

We hadn't thought about dreaming; that sounds like the most plausible explanation. The other thing we thought of is he does this weird stretching thing, where he arches his back and neck way back all the time; we thought maybe he did it in his sleep and pinched a nerve or something. Who knows. They're such a mystery at this age!

Thanks again,