After more than 3 months of not knowing what he is like when fussy at night, we finally experienced it this past week. For some reason (still unknown), he began to scream at night when placed on his back to sleep at night. He never used to do that, he would fuss and holding him and walking around a bit would usually calm him down enough for him to fall asleep on his own. But this past week he has protested being on his back by scream fairly high pitch and then crying. We would have to hold him for a bit to calm him down. We did that before as well, but the difference this time is that once he calmed down, we would put him down again and he would again start screaming and crying. He was having trouble going to sleep on his own. He would swing his arms around and especially the right hand would look like he was grabbing his ear, so we thought maybe he had an infection and that the ear was hurting when placed on his back. But that didn't seem likely as he didn't complain during the day when my in-laws were taking care of him.
Something had happened last week (starting around the time he had the haircut - but we really don't think it's the haircut itself, though one never knows for sure of course). I think he has gotten used to falling asleep in something that moves, whether that be a swing or stroller. We need to teach him to sleep on his own w/o movement. This is going to be heartbreaking if we take the 'let him cry it out' route, where we dont attend to his cries rightaway, so he learns that crying wont bring mommy and daddy.
Here are a few pictures of Evan before we went to the Mt. View farmers market and then Grand Century shopping mall (SJ) yesterday. He had a terrible time at the shopping mall as he was scared to no end when he was being changed in the restroom. It was too loud and too much commotion and he cried a lot. Next time, no busy malls where he might be startled.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that the calm baby stage is over for now. For me, became fussy anywhere b/w 4th and 6th month. It was as if all of a sudden they have awoken from this journey and just realized that they are out of the womb, exposed to the elements and wonder how they got here... and what to do with thier limbs. My theory is that the journey from birth is very shocking to babies and perhaps they are recovering in the first few months. Then slowly but surely it's as if they emerge from a fog and are now beginning to show a hint of thier personalities. Of course there are those with colic or illness, etc. and their discomfort sets in from day 1. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that my sisters and I went thru the same thing. With the babies pretty agreeable and easy at first and then suddenly they have fits for reasons we don't know of. So if you've mentioned it to his pediatrician to rule out anything physical like ear infections, etc. and if you and June check his body out thoroughly at home, his clothing, his bed, etc, then most likely his cries are just ways of coping with the changes from the environment that he's become more sensitive too. What I did for Katelyn was wrapped her up like a burrito for almost up 4 months whenever she went down for nap/sleep b/c she used to moved her arms and legs around and woke herself up screaming. Of course this didn't work for Nate who broke out of his wrap within minutes. And the sleeping with movement, you're right. I would break that before it becomes a habit. If he cries, I would lay next to him patting him all the while until he falls asleep. I could never do the "let him cry it out" at this age or introduce pacifiers unless he finds his own thumb. Babies this small cry for a reason, not b/c it's fun to keep us up. The other thing I was big on with Nate was messages. He got one before bed very frequently and now at 4, still loves it. But if he's still asking for messages from his mommy at 20, then we have a problem. But like you've mentioned in your earlier post, touch is so so so important. Just my 2 cents to dismiss but know that we all made it thought this first and more difficult phase. -Thinking of you guys. -C
Thanks Christina, it's very reassuring to know that Evan may just going into another phase of his young life. It turns out the problem was very likely that of the 'needing movement' to fall asleep. Without the stroller or swing, he would protest loudly. As much as we didn't want him to cry, we didn't want him to keep the bad habits of only falling asleep if there's movement.
ReplyDeleteWe decided to start a routine of physical signals that would teach him that it was time to sleep. We would dim down the lights gradually over a period of an hour, talk/sing to him gradually more calmly (as opposed to making him laugh), and cleaning his face and hands with a warm towel just before placing him in the crib and turning out the lights. We would still sing and talk to him while he struggled a little to find his fingers to suck and close his eyes. But it seemed to have worked (at least for one night), he fell asleep without any yelling or crying, and other than waking up once to feed, slept a total of almost 10 hours. Will try again tonight, got my fingers crossed :)