Night terror?

[Gataloca]

My 3 month old seems to have night terror. This morning woke up twice screaming and crying. It was really scaring. Before he would sometime just cry softly when he goes from one sleep cycle to another, but now he cries so hard that I thought he was hurt or something.

Lately he has been sleepless also. He wakes up easily, and has hardly taken a long nap. Before, he would sleep on his own when I put him on my bed for his naps, provided that I am near and he can see me. But now, he refuses to sleep and I have to held him closely, or let him suck on my breast till he falls asleep. He is tired and fussy at night.

Any idea about how I should handle his sleep? and for the crying, should I let him cry, or wake him up?

 

[carang]

that, i would not say is a night terror. those don't usually start until the kids are older (i have 2 kids that suffer from night terrors).

with my two, it's very difficult to tell if htey are awake or asleep. everything in them tells you that they are awake, but in actual fact, they are not. they can cry & scream uncontrollably for upto 45-60 minutes.

it sounds to me like your little one is growing up and doesn't necessarily like to wake up alone...

 

[carang]

ps> he's tired and fussy at night because he's not sleeping during the day. even my 3.5 year old sleeps terribly at night if she hasn't had her nap during the day.

 

[Gataloca]

Actually we are co-sleeping, so he doesn't wake up alone. He just started screaming out from his dream. I got really scared cause I thought he got choked or something (but of course, if he were choking probably couldn't be able to scream....). I hope it is just because he was tired, although he had that this morning, after he slept from 1030pm to 5am...

Probably his sleep pattern is also changing.. he seems more interested in things around and refuse to take naps or wake up easily.. he really get tired at night.

 

[southside852]

yes, i would tend to agree with carang - night terrors usually arise in older children . . . my nephew had horrible ones from age 2-3+. It sounds like your little one might be going through a growth spurt? if his napping routine is off then I would focus on that. Sounds like he's not getting enough sleep if he's skipping them especially at 3 months.

 

[shuchisingh]

gataloca - if he has eczema like you mentioned in your other post then that could be the reason. we had our son waking up really screaming and weeping sometimes. basically even if it's mildly hot / humid (for him - you might be freezing), then the sweat will cause irritation and itching. on the other hand if AC makes him too dry - his skin will get irritated. if he's wearing too much cloth then... you get the drift . we used to put light clothes, AC and a good coat of emulsifyn cream when he was baby. it took us a while to get things right and we still kept goofing up once in a while. they are not able to scratch at this age - so all they'd do is scream. cant tell you how happy i was when he was old enough to scratch; atleast we'd know what it was.

i am not saying yr baby is getting up because of eczema... just that do look into that also. as others have said - could be growth spurt, hunger, lack of sleep, too much simulation, general vocal practice (sigh). he is very young for night terrors.

 

[Gataloca]

Yes shuchisingh, I think that may have been part of the reason as well. I noticed that he was also kicking a lot while sleeping. At first I thought it was a development issue, but then the other day I noticed that his toes were all sore and red. They should hurt a lot, cause when I was applying the cortisone cream on their little toes, he was crying and screaming.... poor little thing!

I have been trying to keep his skin dry by applying talc on the folds and on his chest, tummy and back. Yesterday, we bought a pot of Sudocrem, and it seems to be doing a better work than the Mustela diaper cream. I have been applying the Sudocrem on the skin folds on his legs and on his toes, now that the redness is gone. He seems to be doing better now. Hope that his skin condition will improve soon.