No rhyme or reason? Is that possible? Losing it.

[Mjaz]

I posted 6 weeks or so ago about constant NWs.  I got great advice.  I tried everything.  We had 2 weeks of STTN. Randomly?  Now we're back to ridiculous NWs.  DS is 7.5 months.  EBF.  Mobil.

Last night he was up for 2 hours straight.  Screaming.  Fussing.  Refusing to be still for a minute.  Only wants me when he wakes, so I'm basically with him 24/7.  I am developing anxiety/insomnia/panic attacks over his sleep.  It's awful and I'm not sure how much more I can take.

Our days are awesome.  He routinely does this:

wake: 6:30am
E: 7, 8 solids
A: 3
S: 9:30-11:30 (2 hrs)
E: 12, 1 solids
A: 3
S: 2:30-4 (1.5 hrs)
E: 4:30 solids
A: 3/3:30
E: nurses before bed
S: 7-7:30

Please.  Help.  What in God's name could be going on with him?

Thank you in advance.
Melinda

[Bex09]

Hi there, hugs for the long NW, they are just the worst I know. For us long NW were always teething or UT. Seeing as your routine looks so good I doubt it is UT though, plus if DS is screaming and upset it is more likely to be dicomfort. UT NW are usually happy ones. So any pain going on, from teeth or anything else?

Does your DS show any signs of SA in the day? This is the age that SA can really become an issue and with your DS also only wanting you I wonder if that could be the problem here. Is he generally happy again when you go to him or does he still cry? Does he have any props that he relies on for sleep? Like a dummy/paci or a lovey?

[Katet]

Teething was a Huge issue for us in the 7-9mo age. The other thing was the introduction of solids, I discovered that any orange foods (pumpkin, carrots, Kumura (orange sweet potato)) all had a negative influence on his sleep.
It might be worth keeping a food diary & looking at the food that he eats (& you eat) to see if that has an impact.
If you think it could be teething, try some pain meds too... but on that Neurofen (ibiprophen) was not good with my DS1, infact I learnt that also made night waking worse, needed to be paracetamol based for him.

[Mjaz]

Thanks ladies.  We've been going through this for so long now...when his first two teeth popped through and we saw no change in his NWs, DH and I could not believe it.  He does seem to want me a lot.  Doesn't let others put him to bed. Not a ton on SA in the daytime, but isn't as happy for the nanny as he is for me.

Interestingly, he did 2 good naps yesterday with 4 hrs A to BT and though he squeaked a few times, we didn't have a single NW till 4am.  I seriously needed to nurse, so I did and he went back till 7.  DH and I are like new people.  Ha!

I think bc of the good night his A times needed lengthening today and we didn't quite do that, so we had 2 1:15 naps, cat nap refusal, long A to bed and multiple NWs already.  SIGH.

He has a lovey and a pacifier.  He quiets/calms when I attend to his NWs, it's a toss up when it comes to DH.

What do you think?  We're going to try our best to duplicate yesterday's EASY tomorrow and see if that long A to bed is the key to this puzzle!

Thank you!

[Bex09]

Does sound like maybe there is some SA going on. This got worse for us when teething was going on though too. How many teeth does he have now? My DD suffered worse with some than others, some teeth never bothered her and others she would scream all night! How are the longer A times going? Did you try again?

[Mjaz]

No couldn't try longer As today because he was up.all.night.  Like - 20 NWs?  So today he was exhausted.  We tried to catch him up, but got the same 1:10-1:15 naps.  So we forced a CN in the car and have our fingers crossed.  If he's suffering from SA is there anything I can do to help?  He has 2 teeth . Thanks!

[Mjaz]

Please help.  In the middle of inconsolable screaming NW for 1+ hours.  I'm losing my mind.

[Katet]

Thanks ladies.  We've been going through this for so long now...when his first two teeth popped through and we saw no change in his NWs, DH and I could not believe it. 

So he's only got 2 teeth? For us there was lots of issues before the teeth even seemed to make their way throught the gums, so that doesn't rule out teeth.

The screaming in the middle of the night says more for pain than for routine. Not much help here as my 2 were horrid around the 7-9month old age & for the younger it was definitely teeth & the older a mix of teeth & daycare messing with any chance of routine.  For me if it was a quick/multiple wake up/s then I'd be more likely to say it was routine, but the longer & screaming makes me think less about routine & more about uncomfortable - either food that he eats or teeth are the first 2 that comes to mind.

[Mjaz]

Yes, he's only got 2 teeth.  No signs of new ones...but like you said, who knows.  I'm contemplating taking him to the doctor, but my gut says he's fine.  He was up all night though.  Wouldn't sleep unless I held him.  Didn't want my husband.  Ugh.  Seems like this happens anytime he has even one short nap.  Yesterday he did 2.5 hours in the am when I was home and 35 min in the pm with the sitter.  I couldn't force a CN - he wanted nothing to do with it.  So I got him down at 6:45 and hoped for the best.  Well...one of the worst nights we've ever had.  I hate this.

[Katet]

What foods has he been eating since all this has happened. The long periods & being up all night was what happened with DS1 with some foods.

[Mjaz]

He eats a lot - I mean, a big variety.  He's very into food.  I don't see any rhyme or reason to it.  I've written stuff down - but it doesn't seem to matter.  We had a nap of 2.5 and 1.0 today.  We'll see....I'm starting to get ridiculously anxious about BT.  Ugh.

Thanks, Katet.

[Mjaz]

I am going to post on the EASY board - I'm convinced this is strangely all due to routine!