A bit long but I need advice...

[mernie]

I need help ladies. Brianna for the past week has been going to bed, falling asleep on her own, then waking up SCREAMING like a scared scream 15 minutes later. She does this every time the only thing that soothes her is to pick her up. Then once she's being held she'll go back to sleep but when I go to put her back in her crib she immediately wakes up and starts screaming.

We've tried feeding her, seeing if she needs a change, burping her, we've put orajel on her teeth and none of its worked. We've tried giving her a nightlight and that doesn't work either. She literally wakes up and screams like she's terrified and only wants to be held and comforted and even then she whines. Some nights its worse and the ONLY way to get her to sleep is to put her in bed with us. Some nights are worse than others. But generally her bedtime is 830 and she starts this around 845 and eventually wears herself out from crying at around 11 but sometimes not til 2am.

Someone mentioned to me that its a slight possibility that she's having nightmares?! Is that even POSSIBLE at her age?! Nothing has changed with her daily routine, she hasn't had any new foods or anything that she'd be having a reaction to. Is there ANYTHING I can do to help my poor girl go to sleep?! She's wearing herself out and its making for a very cranky baby during the day

If you made it with me this far THANK YOU lol I realize its long but I have no idea how to help my little girl

 

[helenbun2005]

im no expert. but i my reaction would be to say that she did this a few times and got a reaction and she keeps doing it out of habit...not contiously of course, but have you tried just leaving her for half hour? sounds horrible i know but it might be enough for a couple of night to just leave her, or go in after 15 mins and stroak her face, say "shhhhh" a few times and then walk out. repeat this every 15 mins for an hour if you haev to, that ways he knows your there, but your not physically getting her up.

or try a dummy for a few nights to sooth her.

good luck!

 

[mernie]

Thing is, she always sleeps with a dummy anyway its never out of her mouth. We've tried the CIO thing and it didn't work. I've tried the stroking her face and shhh thing too and it hasn't worked either.

 

[channy3232]

What about a radio?? We put a cheap little clock radio that we got at Target for like $8 in there. We have it turned down low so it's more like background noise. It's so while he's sleeping he hears it and I think he almost thinks we're in the room with him and doesn't get scared and wake up. We don't have it on every night but rough nights we'll turn it on.

 

[cerilou]

A friend of mine went through this with her little girl. She said it was separation anxiety. I think lots of children go through it. It should just be a phase and lots of reassurance from you will help xx

 

[jms895]

Caine went trhough a stage of doing this last month, it lasted a few weeks and then stopped

Could be dreams? Could be habit? xx

 

[Lu28]

We went through this a few times a couple of weeks ago, she'd go to sleep well and then it'd be a terrified scream. I was out of my chair and in her room in seconds and she'd be hysterical by the time I got there and would snuggle into my neck with really ragged crying breathing. She'd settle after a few minutes of cuddling and go back to sleep and eventually she got out of it. The only thing I could think of was nightmares...

I hope it's just a phase like it was for us and she grows out of it soon, it's a horrible thing

 

[dali]

A friend of mine went through this with her little girl. She said it was separation anxiety. I think lots of children go through it. It should just be a phase and lots of reassurance from you will help xx

exactly whati was going to say , she is about that age now, maybe she just needs to know that you are still there
CIO didnt work for us either atall but instead we would try to calm him ( cuddle or stroke etc..) then put him back down and leave the room even if he started crying straight away, then if he is still crying like 30 secs / 1 min later go back in again and calm him put him straight down again etc,.... for the first week or so it took like 20 / 30 repeats before he would actually go to sleep, but eventually he got the idea that if he cried i would go in and cuddle him but then out him back again, and he just ended up going to sleep after 1 / 2 tries.
anyway, however you decide to deal with it lots of reassurance is what she needs by the sound of it
just try to be patient and remember that it wont last forever.. they grow up so fast

 

[mernie]

Thanks ladies. I'll try just stroking her and stuff before getting her up out of the crib. Hopefully it gets better. Silly me never thought of separation anxiety!

 

[babymama]

OMG! I'm going through this right now for the last 3 nights. I am up almost every hour cause LO will wake up, sometimes just crying, sometimes screaming. Also putting him down whether for a nap or bedtime is hard now too because of all the screaming (something he's never done before) Tonight I'm trying "controlled crying" so let him try to soothe himself before I go in (I have a tendancy to go in at the first peep) We'll see how it goes. Good luck to you too. I'm taking everyone's word for it that they will grow out of this soon.

 

[NicolaT]

could be night terrors if they are happening about the same time each night and you comforting doesnt help - they do suggest waking them a little bit before the time they would scream and get upset, giving them a little drink or a cuddle putting them back to sleep, and trying to break the cycle. Not sure if this is of any help but good luck XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

What about using the 'pick up / put down' method...pick her up as soon as she starts crying, then put her down as soon as she stops. You might have to do this a lot of times but apparently it works, and is also good for teaching baby to trust that you come when she calls.

 

[bibswy]

I just read somewhere babies can get night terrors, which are different from nightmares. Might be worth a google (sorry, I can't remember what website it was).