Member Questions

Ask a question

My son is about 10 months now and he usually sleeps through the night. However 3 times in the past two weeks he has gotten up around 2am screaming nonstopfor at least an hour or more. Nothing we try works to calm him. He he has never been like this before at night. Any one else have anything happen like this with an older baby? Could this be teething?”

Asked by oceans mom on 22nd June 2008 | 8 replies

8 replies so far...

Get the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth. It is absolutely a ust have for all moms I have reread parts of it so many times as different sleep situations occur with different ages.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by lit-teach-ma on 16th July 2008
I am leaning towards night terrors, but would need more information. They are more common in boys and with night terrors, you can't console them. You just have to ride it out. Does he seem to know you are there or not? Does he eventually just seem to wake up and then be calm? They are different than nightmares because with nightmares you can wake them and comfort them and it's over. With night terrors, they have no memory of it the following morning.

You may want to make sure his bedtime is early enough and he's not overtired. Adequate sleep is a must. My whole website is dedicated to child sleep, so if you want to "pick my brain", just come on by!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by PickNicksBrain on 26th June 2008
My one year old is going through this right now . . . but it´s every single night. :P His molars are coming in. I found that the only thing that helps even a bit is to give him ice chips to chew on and walk around with him in the sling. The good news is that this phase eventually passes. :) Good luck!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Genesis on 24th June 2008
It's not the ears, because he just went to the doctor's and his ears had no fluid and there appears to be nothing wrong. He's not constipated and feeding him only soothed him while he was actually eating and then the screaming starts back up. He is getting four teeth right now and I tried Orajel but the taste scared him and made him scream more. So, the last two nights he has slept soundly. The next time, i will try Tylenol or Motrin because this is the only thing I haven't tried yet. In the morning when he wakes up, he is smiling and acts like nothing ever happened! That is the weirdest part.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by oceans mom on 23rd June 2008
Definitely sounds like something is up. We go through these phases every so often, for various reasons. It could be growth spurt, teething, ear infection or even gas.

Will a bottle soothe him? It could be a growth spurt and he's just waking up hungry. I used to give in and give our son a bottle in the middle of the night when he would wake like this and he never had issues going back to sleeping through the night after a few nights when it "passed."
Is he grabbing at the ears or has he had ear issues?
Is he knawing on stuff non-stop? And do his cries sound like pain? Have you tried Motrin or Tylenol?

Flag as inappropriate Posted by BrendaG on 23rd June 2008
teething

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Susan on 23rd June 2008
My first thought is teething -- our daughter would scream in pain.

Have you tried giving a bit of Tylenol?

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Nataly on 22nd June 2008
I would go for either teething or possibly constipation?! It does sound like a long time for him to be crying though -- I usually find with my little ones that they may wake up screaming, but will settle quickly once we pick them up and comfort them.
I hope it gets better soon!!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Linda on 22nd June 2008