At my wits end, Sam won't sleep!*Update p2*

[Sonya]

Sam hasn't been sleeping well at all this last week. He sleeps for a couple of hours and then wakes up sobbing. I go in to calm him down and he stands up and holds out his arms for me to pick him up. I try and lay him down and soothe him to sleep but he just cries harder. So I end up rocking him to sleep. He goes down again with usually not much fuss, but sometimes even when I pick him up and rock him he will stiffen up and scream louder! Eventually he will settle down. I just don't know what is wrong with my poor guy. He has always been such a great sleeper, not a peep out of him all night long and waking up happy. Now every 2 hours crying?


There are several factors that might make him so unhappy, I think he's getting another tooth but teething has never been this bad for him.

He's had a very small cold this week. His appetite is down.

He has started crawling.



DH and I are going crazy, we have tried co-sleeping, soothing and then leaving, rocking him back to sleep, but he still wakes up every night. I don't think he's hungry, he is soooooo tired when I pick him up.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by Sonya
.........He has started crawling.....

's for you both, and little Sam too. Hope he feels better soon. Better get a kaki gori while there is still time, Sonya.

 

[crazyforgoofy]

Since he has had a cold it could be his ears are bothering him.

Or perhaps he's teething. Those molars hurt!

 

[rascalmom]

Ears was what I was thinking too. One of my dd's used to get very painful ear infections, but no fever. The other dd got cranky & wouldn't eat, ran a fever, but never seemed to have any ear ache. It's so hard when they're little and can't tell you what hurts. I would check his temp, call the Dr & see what they think about trying some Children's Tylenol for the teething and see if they think he needs to be seen. Good luck!

 

[snoopy]

Oh dear. How old is Sam?

I remember my babies going through a period where they wanted to be held and rocked to sleep. I was told I had to let them fall asleep on their own, just let them cry it out, but I never could do that. I tried it a couple of times -- you were supposed to go in, talk to them in a soothing voice, but not touch the baby. I just couldn't bear it so I always got them out of the crib. I drew the line at co-sleeping, but I did take them and rock them and that always soothed them.

Or it could be as mentioned above - the ears. My kids would get ear infections when no other symptom was present quite often. And they do tend to get terribly cranky and uncomfortable, poor babes, when their ears are hurting.

Best of luck. Gotta tell you, too, that Sam is just adorable in that basket!

 

[Sonya]

There is no fever, he's almost 11 months! and it could be there ears. I thinkI'll call the Dr tomorrow.

 

[hercamore]

Poor baby.

Ear infection is my first thought , too.


herc.

 

[Kermit]

Jacob has done that at various points a few times. We normally cosleep, but he would still wake up crying and upset sometimes. A few times a new tooth has popped up days later. Other times he has started a new skill. They do wake up a lot when they're about to reach a new milestone. But other times, we never really figured it out.

The good news is that it always seems to pass. When they're this little, nothing ever stays the same for long. I know that doesn't mean much at 2:00 am, but most likely, it will be a distant memory in a few weeks.

I would suggest that you read the book The No Cry Sleep Solution. I think the author's name is Elizabeth Pantly. It's the best book on sleep I have ever read. The premise is that there has to be a solution in between crying it out and just going along with whatever the baby feels like doing. The author offers numerous suggestions on things you can try, and she doesn't get judgemental and act like anyone who doesn't do things exactly like she did will have rotten kids.

 

[CRB#33]

Give the doctor a call and have his ears checked. Sounds like it could be an ear infection. They don't always have a fever with one.

Good luck!

 

[CEDmom]

The boy little guy. I remember when DD was that age she got a lot of ear infections. Many times I'd take her to the doctor with nothing more than a cranky baby and mothers instinct that something was really wrong. Sure enough everytime it was something whether ears, strep or a virus. Good luck. Hope all of you get a good night sleep really soon.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If it is an ear infection then next time he gets one you will know he has one because he can't go to sleep. It is hard to tell with those teeth coming in. Taking him to the doc is probably a good idea just to be sure.

Did you try some pain medication like Tylenol? Sometimes it can get you 4 hours of much needed sleep.

 

[amid chaos]

Yup, thought of the ears too...

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

When I read your post the first thing I thought of was EAR INFECTION.

Children also feel teething pain more when they are still and quiet. The pain could be waking him up.

Hugs to you.

Lori

 

[Sonya]

We have been doing pain reliever, didn't seem to help. Also, he has several ear infections before and we never even knew he had one, he handled it well. We had taken him to the Dr for other symptoms.

 

[MosMom]

I remember my babies going through a period where they wanted to be held and rocked to sleep. I was told I had to let them fall asleep on their own, just let them cry it out, but I never could do that.

Yes, Elliot went through this as well. This is when we started a ritual of when we tucked him in we would blow him 3 kisses and make a big deal out of it. "It's nite nite time Baby E so mommy is going to blow you threeee kisses!" Then each kiss gets progressively louder and sillier as I move towards the door. Then I tell him I'm going to give him 10 minutes to try to get to sleep. Usually he is out in a matter of minutes and if he isn't, I don't really give him 10 minutes unless he is quiet. I can tell if it is a "I'm not going to sleep anytime soon" cry.

If that failed, we would rock him but most of the time the ritual would get him settled enough to fall asleep. Sometimes we dance to his lullabies as well.

I find if E is going through a growth spurt, he has a hard time sleeping as well. Appetite goes up and need for sleep goes down.

Hope some of this helps!

Go to sleep little Sam!

 

[Duchie]

I was thinking ears as well. When my kiddos were getting their first teeth, they always got ear infections to go along with them, especially my youngest. They'd never run fevers, rarely got cranky during the day, and didn't change eating habits. So I'd just hand them to the pediatrician and shrug my shoulders. Luckily my pediatrician has 4 children of her own and knew exactly what I was going through.

A friend of mine always uses the two week rule: Give the kids two weeks and they will usually work it out on their own. She used this for all sorts of "phases" - not eating, not napping, wanting to sleep with mommy and daddy, whatever. Usually whatever they were doing that was unusual would pass within the two weeks, but if it didn't she'd take them into the doctor.

I hope the little guy gets to feeling better soon!

 

[huey duey & luey]

I also thought ear infection. Much more painful when laying down. Also he could be getting his 1 year molars, it tends to be worse than other teeth. Hope everyone is sleeping better soon.
Tara

 

[gymnasticsmom68]

Sounds like an ear infection.

 

[kadaten]

Could be an ear infection, but I must tell you, when my DS was getting his molars (right around his first birthday) he was nearly unbearable. Didn't sleep, always crying, you could tell the poor guy was miserable. Turned out he was getting all 4 molars at the same time and it was nearly the end of us all! One LONG month later they were finally in and he could finally sleep again. He's always been a fussy baby, but that month was just beyond belief!

After the doc checked him over ensuring nothing else was wrong, and being able to see the huge swells where the teeth were coming in, we used infant tylenol as much as we could and his doctor also had us using infant motrin at the same time....since they're different meds they were ok to use at the same time. We also found a natural remedy thing that seemed to offer some relief....they're called Hyland's Teething Tablets....the tiniest things you ever saw....put it in his mouth and they dissolved instantly. Seemed to take the edge off.... (They also have Earache tablets but we've never used them.) We found the Hylands at WalMart on the herbal aisle....way down on the bottom shelf.

Good luck to you and Sam and wishes for a speedy recovery!

 

[olena]

Poor Sam...

I hope he returns to his happy self soon.