Night Terror or SA?

[pezhead]

My LO is 7 months old and he has been waking up during the night now for the past month.  But the weird thing is he does not wake up he just starts crying in his sleep.  I try to shh/pat him but that does not help, he does not even wake up. If I give him his paci he sucks to sooth and then he falls back asleep. If the paci falls out he does not wake up. If I don't give him his paci his cries get worse and worse and its hard to resettle him.  He does not go to sleep with his paci and does not nap with his paci. 

Here is his schedule:

6AM-wake up
6:45AM-solis
7:30AM-bottle
8-10AM-nap
11:00AM-solids
11:30-bottle
12-2PM-nap
3:00PM-solids
3:30-4:00PM-bottle
he may have a 30-45 min cat nap here
6:00-6:30PM-bedtime routine and bottle
7PM-sleep
1AM-bottle

He wakes at different times, but when he wakes for a bottle he wakes up and I know that he is ready for his bottle. I tried doing the DF, but I found that he wakes up for more bottles in the middle of the night.  He used to be such a good sleeper till he had his 6 month growth spurt.I am not sure if it is nightterrors.  I am afraid to continue with the shh/pat and wake him if it is a night terror.  Sorry for the long post.

Oh,he criesout sometimes only twice and sometimes he cries out 5 times.  there is no consistancy.

Thanks for your help.
Katy

[pezhead]

I was reading on another post about someone who had almost the same problem and she shortened her naps and increased his up time and that in turn made him sleep longer. Was thinking of trying that.

Also I was wondering if his crying out is a mantra cry?

[momofclaire]

Katy, you aren't the only one going through this.  There was a post recently and another mod explained that night terrors usually get worse if you try to intervene.  I will try to find the like as she did a good job explaining it.
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=91213.0

[pezhead]

Thank you for the post.
I read the post and I know that it is not SA because he is not looking at me when he cries out, he is still sleeping.  And when I shhh/pat he does not even respond to it.  The times that I have let him go for the most part it just gets worse and eventually he wakes up.  When I give him his paci it helps him and he gets through it.  He does not fall asleep with his paci, he does not use it with his naps, and I have woken up in the middle of the night and he has spit it out and it has not bothered him.  I find that he usually cries out between 10:00pm-11:00pm, sometimes earlier.  I give him his paci and he sleeps till 1AM which is when I give him his middle of the night feeding (tried to do the DF and I found it makes my son sleep really bad).  He then goes back to sleep and may cry out one more time a few hours later, still sleeping, I give him his paci and then he wakes up at 6AM to start his day.  Sometimes he wakes more than that, but I find its usually twice.  Thanks in advance for the help.

Katy

[pezhead]

I should also let you know that after going to other sites I read that night terrors include sitting up and the child cries out excessively.  When my child cries while he is sleeping, its just that when I look at him he is still asleep unawaare that I am even there and he can't hear me, but he is crying, not loud but he is crying.  And I know that if I let it go it will get worse.  So I am not sure what it is.  He never looks at me or at anything when he cries,its weird.  But I am so tired...so so tired I just need him to sleep, because I am pregnant and am so exhausted.  Any help is apppreciated.

[momofclaire]

Does the cry sound as though he needs you?  If he isn't really crying for you and just crying a bit in his sleep I would let him work it out on his own.  Are his eyes open when he does this?  How long would it go on if you didn't intervene?  If you don't go in what happens?

[pezhead]

he is not looking at me he is asleep.  I have let it go on and his cries get worse until he eventually wakes up.

[pezhead]

How long should his A time be before bed?  Sometimes his afternoon nap is only an hour, and alot of times it is hard for me to give him an afternoon nap.  Could that be part of the problem? 

Well today he started daycare, he cried when I left him there and then I left and cried in the car.

[OliverRowland]

just want to give u hugs!

[pezhead]

You will not believe it.  At day care he took 2 naps, one for 15min and the other for about 40min.  He then passed out at about 6:15PM.  From then to about 9:30PM he woke up twice because he rolled over to his stomach and got stuck, but when I turned him over he went right back to bed.  He then woke up at 12:44AM, I gave him his paci and he slept the rest of the night.  He tossed and turned alot, but did not get up.  He did not even wake up for a middle of the night bottle.  He then woke up at about 5:15AM because his diaper was so wet.  At that point I was about to get up and get ready for work that I just kept him up with me. 

[OliverRowland]

last night no cry outs?!?!?!?!?  nothing else has changed....let's hope for more no cry out nights!!!!!

[pezhead]

The only thing that changed is he went to daycare and instead of his 2 1.5-2 hour naps he got 1 15 min nap and 1 40 min nap.  He dropped to sleep at 6:15PM from exhaustion.

[momofclaire]

Oh, pez, I am sorry you cried in the car. I can imagine how hard it is to leave him. 

I would hope, actually insist, if you can, that they encourage your lo to take better naps at daycare.  My fear is that you will end up with an overtired baby who can't sleep at all at night.   He needs more that 50 minutes of naps during the day for sure. 

Have you checked out the sample easy sch page.  I think it would help you get an idea of what a good easy sch would look like.

[pezhead]

My son is now on a 4hr easy schedule and I gave them a copy of it, but I knew when he started there that his naps were going to be an issue.  He is a co-sleeping baby and to go from my bed to a crib, I knew would be hard for him.  I am hoping everyday gets easier for him, and for me.

[momofclaire]

Keep us posted.  Maybe on the weekend, for naps, you can try to get him used to sleeping in the crib.  In the past, when he has taken naps, have you always been with him?

I really think this time is probably hard on the two of you simply because of transioning.  It will get better.  I think every mom who goes back to work has a hard time at first. 

Take it easy.
Myia