Have Mercy

March 15, 2012 7:21 pm

Recently, Heather has taken to screaming fits when we try to put her to sleep. 

Often, we can get her to sleep and then after anywhere from 0-30 minutes she'll wake up crying and then screaming and nothing seems to calm her down.  She acts likes she's just in horrible discomfort.  And this will continue for what feels like forever, but is usually more like up to 30 minutes.

Last night this went on and off for about 3.5 hours before she finally stayed asleep for a few hours.

We've tried all our normal soothing techniques as well as feeding her and administering Colic Calm.  There doesn't seem to be any strong correlation between any of these actions and her eventual calming down.

Usually, once it passes, she's in a really good mood like nothing ever happened.  And this change can happen in a matter of minutes.

Anyone have any bright ideas about what she could be so upset about?  Or magic ways to help soothe her?

6 thoughts on “Have Mercy”

  1. I think Peter and Becca's oldest had major acid reflux issues when she was a newborn. Maybe that would also explain why she's more upset when you lay her down horizontally?

  2. Who knows. But when Charlie's crying and won't calm down (not too often) I turn on the bathtub and sit in the bathroom. I guess it's the whole "white noise" concept - but it's the only way to get him to stop screaming long enough to take a bottle - which is usually what he wants in the first place.

    Hope Charlie doesn't follow in Heather's footsteps!

  3. Addie does this sometimes, but the answer usually seems to be that she really is just tired. So I don't know why she wakes up in the first place and I don't know why she thrashes around even when I hold her, but then she just stops and falls back asleep. I think maybe they wake up for whatever reason and then they feel this weird exhausted feeling that they don't comprehend and all they know is that they don't feel comfortable. I dunno. And I don't have any good advice or I'd use it on Addie who still eats every 3.5-4 hours around the clock, doesn't take naps, and today had a really enjoyable (for her) squealing party of giddiness from 4:15 to 5 a.m. Good thing we like her.

  4. She did this again last night--asleep at 6pm, but then awake and screaming at 6:45. As we did before, we gave her some Colic Calm and I nursed her, and she calmed down (if it happens again, I'm going to try just nursing without the Colic Calm). But I guess it could be exhaustion; she took one 1.5-hour-long nap yesterday morning, but then wouldn't go down for an afternoon nap at all, so she was awake from 11:15am to 6pm. And last time it happened, she had also skipped her afternoon nap. It just doesn't seem to make much sense that being super tired would cause her to wake up, but babies are weird, right?

  5. One of the baby sleeping books I read (that I thought was mostly useless) uses the phrase "sleep begets sleep" and I do think that is true. I have found with all my kids that the times when they are really exhausted is when they usually sleep the worst and wake up at weird times in awful moods etc. whereas when they've gotten regular sleep and good naps they actually go to sleep much better.

  6. I agree with the sleep begets sleep. Both Kessa and Abby sleep better at night when they get naps and vice versa. The problem is when one is skipped or shortened, how to break the cycle! Good luck. I'm right there with ya.

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