HELP! Infant sleep issue (not about STTN!)

[cellososweet]

Hi everyone.

So, I''ve resigned myself to the fact that my four month old isn''t a great sleeper. I don''t mind that he doesn''t sleep through the night. He has needs at night, just like during the day and I''m there for him as much as he needs me, which sometimes is an all-night affair and sometimes is only once.

He''s been having an issue though that is really bad and it''s starting to worry me. He never wakes up happy. And I mean NEVER. He either wakes up crying or SCREAMING. It''s a blood-curdling bloody murder scream. Sometimes he lies there and weeble-wobbles rolling from side to side moaning and whining, but no tears. It eventually works up to a cry with tears before he opens his eyes are realizes that I''m right there.

Other times, I can tell he''s about to wake up because he starts the weeble-wobble, but it immediately goes to him SCREAMING. High pitched, shrill, terrified, painful sounding screaming. The only thing that''s kind of consistent is that he usually poops as he''s screaming his head off, so I''m thinking he has a tummy issue.

He''s on zantac for reflux already, so I don''t know what else to do. I know that he is sensitive to dairy and I cut it out of my diet completely. He was better and I''ve been sneaking small amounts here and there and here we are. So, I definitely need to cut that out again. But really? All of this screaming is really worrying me. It can''t be good for him and it''s making me really sad to see him so upset.

He barely sleeps. He''s miserable at it really. 3 hours at a time is a good night and he rarely naps more than 30 minutes at a time. Then he gets overly tired and won''t sleep. Some nights he wants to nurse constantly and will throw a wobbly if I don''t nurse him (I don''t give in though if he''s been nursing constantly and I know he''s not hungry. I have Daddy rock him so he can learn comfort from Dad too).

What to do about the screaming? Anyone have anything similar? What to do? What to do? Ideas?

 

[lknvrb4]

Have you talked to his doc about this? I''m sorry this is happening to you. It''s probably starting to wear you down as well.

 

[Sabine]

Have you tried cutting soy out of your diet as well? A lot of LOs who are sensitive to milk have an issue with soy as well...it really does sound like tummy problems, along with probably him waking (for some reason) at a time when he still wants to be sleeping but isn''t for some reason. What about Mylicon or Gripe Water?

Also, what times during the day are his naps? One of the sleep books I read mentioned something about sleeping from exhaustion at times when their body says they should be awake (I think it was called sleeping out of phase or something) can cause this reaction.

Hugs, so sorry! I know how not fun it is to have a baby who doesn''t sleep well...so major hugs!

 

[sparklyheart]

Is he constipated? Does he scream like that everytime he poops? Is his poop hard or can you squish it with a diaper?

Does he sleep on an incline (pillow under the *mattress* or on a wedge)? If he has reflux it could be hurting him..

Does he stop screaming once he sees you? If so, he''s got you well trained to respond to that horrible cry! If not, then it''s probably something else.. I would go see his doc to figure out what is going on!

 

[Mara]

was going to ask about the incline sleep as it can help w/reflux.

does he self soothe at all when he is alone? just wondering if he has the ability.

also how does he go down to sleep...aka are you right there or rocking him every time? if so, it might be that he realizes that you are gone even without opening his eyes and freaks out.

one of the sleep books said something about if you put them to sleep every time then they are used to that and when they wake up if it is ''different'' than when they went down (aka you were rocking and cuddling and then they wake up and they are alone in the dark) then it can upset them.

our baby sleeps well in general but lately he''s taken to waking up in the morning with a big rebel yell...as in it''s silent and then there''s a huge scream/yell. i am wondering if it''s just a phase...other times he wakes up and is generally cheery. i hope it''s just a phase for you cello. hang in there!

 

[cellososweet]

Thanks everyone!

We should probably try an incline. It''s been recommended. He''s definitely not constipated. Quite the opposite really. He has extremely runny poos, more than regular exclusively breastfed babies and they are often explosive (noisy) and smell rancid. That''s concerning to me now that I write it out. I''ll have to ask his doc on Tuesday when we go.


Mara, I thought the same thing about if we''re here and then he wakes up alone, but he''ll do it when we are there, not there, etc. The worst episode lately was one where he fell asleep curled up comfy on the boppy on my lap and woke up screaming. absolutely inconsolable.

He doesn''t even see me because he refuses to open his eyes while he''s wailing like a nutjob. I''ll try to get him to open up and he wont. All of a sudden, he stops the screaming and opens his eyes and is like "hello!" wide awake, no apparent pain. There have been a few times where I''ve had to nurse him because he was screaming himself red in the face, but usually if I give it a few minutes, he goes poop, cries for a lil'' more and then wakes up and seems ok.

It''s baffling!

 

[vizsla]

hey cello!!
i feel your pain! my LO is very similar to yours. we have him on prevacid for reflux and kept him elevated for probably 5 months. my LO didn''t wake up happy until he was about 5 months as well.. and even now (6 months) he still wakes up crying. i would echo sabine''s suggestion of cutting out soy as well as all dairy. C has MSPI and i had to cut out these as well as putting him on a different formula. he was inconsolable until we got that issue under control. you may want to have the pedi also check to see if he has an ear infection. these make C miserable - and usually the uncontrollable crying (and wonky eating) are a sure sign he has one.

let us know what the pedi says!
good luck to you! ((HUGS))

 

[sunkist]

HI Cello! We have some similarities with Wes''s sleep sometimes. When he woke up screaming I thought it could be gas pains, hunger pains, bad dream. And sometimes when he only sleeps 30-40 mins for a nap, I"ll get him out of the crib, feed him again and let him finish taking a nap on my lap. I know it''s not the best thing to do, taking a nap on mommy''s lap, but I just wanted him to get sleep! Plus it gets me extra cuddle time Lately if I do that I have been able to put him down in his crib again to finish the nap which is great so I can have a break!

But I''m so sorry about the up all night part! Luckily Wes has been good about not doing that.

 

[Burk]

I agree with Sabine and Viz about maybe trying to cut out soy. My kids were (one still is) both intolerant to both dairy and corn. Waking so unhappy could be because he''s waking in pain and with the food allergies/intolerance that would make sense. And, wanting to nurse is often because babies want to suck/nurse to feel better so it could be because his belly doesn''t feel well. Gripe water seems to help my little guy who has reflux as well as a dairy and corn intolerance. Oh, and zantac didn''t work for either of my kids. Maybe try something else?

 

[cellososweet]

thanks gals! it''s going to be really hard for me to cut soy. oy! i''m a vegetarian and i''ve noticed that he doesn''t do that well with dairy either so i''ve cut that. if i cut soy, i''m not quite sure what the heck i''m going to eat that''ll be quick enough with a little one. maybe i''ll add dairy back and cut soy and then if he''s still upset i''ll cut both. i''m just afraid that i''m not going to get enough to eat if i cut both out at the same time and if i don''t eat and i''m not sleeping, my milk supply/sanity is going to dwindle.


burk, how did you figure out your little ones allergies? Please let me know! Was it just trial and error?

I really want to get this figured out for him. My poor little bugger.

If it''s relevant, he also has horrible snot to the point that he sounds like he''s snoring, has some sort of baby eczema going on with rough patches on his face and arms and doesn''t seem to have an allergy ring in his diaper area.

 

[vizsla]

cello -
i would assume that the eczema is a sure sign of some sort of intolerance. (just found out my LO is allergic to peas b/c of eczema that sprouted up)
(i know you don''t want to hear this ...... but) you may have to do an elimination diet to get all of the ''most allergenic'' items out of your system and then slowly start to add things back in to really figure out what is ailing your LO. my sister had to do this and she learned her LO was allergic to rice!
it''s tough for sure! i had to eliminate all dairy and soy while i was BF. it took some getting used to, but once i found some things i could eat for breakfast lunch and dinner i just ate that all of the time. there are a lot of products and services out there for you if you have to go the elimination route. i know it sucks BIG TIME! but the peace you may bring to you LO will make it all worth it. and like 9 times out of 10 if your LO is intolerant to soy they are going to be intolerant to dairy so switching may not provide the relief you are looking for.
has your pedi mentioned anything?
((hugs))

here is a link to dr. sears site that does a super duper job explaining all of this

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t041800.asp

 

[Sabine]

Awe, Cello, ditto viz, with the eczema it really does sound like a food reaction. Jacks had the same stuff going on, and we use Nutrimagen (the hypoallergenic formula). I tried to bf, and I also had gestational diabetes that took a while to resolve so I was actually still following the diet pp, so when he was gassy and colicky in the first week, they told me to cut dairy, and I was severely limited in what I could eat. I hope I''m not crossing a line here because I know how strongly some people feel about bfing, but if it is a soy intolerance and you have trouble cutting it out, you may want to look into switching to a hypoallergenic formula. Your health is just as important as his!

 

[Burk]

Unfortunately it is trial and error and usually the total elimination diet is the best way to do it (like Viz suggested). We ended up putting T on formula because we couldn't figure out what it was she was reacting to and I was on the elimination diet for 2 weeks without any noticed improvement...it was through the formula that we figured it out. All formulas have corn syrup except one. Usually if you have one with food sensitivities the rest of your kids do as well so we just went into it figuring K would be intolerant to dairy and corn as well and sure enough he is. I thought he was doing great and added some foods back in and within days he was horrible so I've been doing half BM and half Similac Alimentum ready serve with him for a week or so while I get all the corn out of my system. He seems to be doing much better. What color is your DS's poop? Green poop is a sign of food sensitivity in a BFed baby.

 

[cellososweet]

thanks everyone ((hug))

we were up ALL NIGHT LONG last night. baby was screaming his head off, tears in his eyes, going diarrhea for 8 hours off and on!

We''re exhausted

Went to the ped and he agreed that its an allergy and suggested i cut soy too, so i will.

i''m not against formula, but i think we''d have a hard time as he LOVES to nurse. for food, for comfort, wont take a paci, wants mama. we''re very very attached, so for his mental sake, asd well as minem i''d really like to make this work.

and burk, yup, green poopers are a yes so sad

 

[Burk]

Awww Cello, I''m so sorry!! Poor baby and poor mommy! I can completely understand how you feel. It''s horrible. I hope cutting out the soy will give him some relief. If he''ll take a bottle maybe try doing hypoallergenic formula in a bottle in his feed before bed so he has a happy belly before sleep? That''s what we''re doing right now while I clean up my diet and give my body time to flush out the stuff that was bugging him. Just a thought. Remember it may take a while to see improvement because if he''s really sensitive it could take a while to get all the stuff he''s reacting to out of your system. Good luck and keep us posted!!! Oh, and the gripe water seems to help some with K. Maybe try that too?