Screaming at bedtime again! 😬

[TeamOwen2020]

Hello, some advice would be great please!

Our 6 month old son is combo fed with a bottle at bed time for dad to feed then solids and breast the rest of the time. Up until the last few nights he has been having his bedtime bottle with daddy after his bath then falls asleep and is put in bed. He always wakes after 30 mins before his main sleep. He has more bottled milk then back to sleep for the main sleep. However, that is not the main issue. He is sometimes having his bottle then waking and screaming and won’t settle til I take him for a breast feed. The last couple of nights he hasn’t taken his bottle the first time and has started screaming. We think he is teething could he be seeking comfort? Will this phase pass? Not nice for my husband who enjoys feeding but of course hates him crying.

He has done this before but we have always been able to calm him down. Before we realised the issue it went on for hours.

TIA

[Hidden]

Could he be a bit windy? Or try a dummy if he doesn’t have one.

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. Yep tried the dummy but never took it unfortunately! Not sure about the wind tho. He seems to wind himself now

[Ema1234]

Hi!

Around 6 months changes to sleep routine can change. Babies start teething which can cause issues like what your describing & also have normal developmental changes which can cause sleep regression. I often mistook this for my baby being hungry but it simply was just natural changes. It should settle but always speak with your health visitor or GP if concerned.

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Ema1234]

Thank you. Will do

[BethJ7]

have you looked at his wake windows? if he’s waking up 30 mins after i wonder whether he has enough sleep pressure to get him through the night. whenever we have a difficult bedtime phase, i always go back and look at my LGs routine and most of the time, it’s a nap too late or too much sleep in the day etc.

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to BethJ7]

Thank you! Funny you should say that. You are prob right. We thought this could be a possibility so yesterday made sure his last nap of the day was done by 4:30 and guess what. No screaming. His naps weren’t great yesterday either but must have been enough to stop the screaming but not to stop the night waking. Will keep the similar nap schedule today and try to extend them and see if that helps night waking.

Seemed super hungry so will try more milk today

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to TeamOwen2020]

He also has 2.5-3 hr wake windows

[Blue1986]

‘It’ll soon pass’ is a phrase which has helped me throughout the first year and a bit 😃 It definitely sounds like teething though, have you tried camomile granules? They help my son when teething. Also you could try giving him some calpol before bedtime. Hope it doesn’t last long!

[TeamOwen2020]

Thank you! Will give that a go.

[TeamOwen2020]

Just an update. Thanks again all for your advice. Since posting we have made sure his naps are finished by 4:30 at the latest and we have had no screaming in the same way. He will scream if dad goes to him but hast night he managed to settle him without me! He hasn’t always had the prescribed amount of sleep for his age but I guess every baby is different. His dad can function on little sleep so I think he has got that from him!

Naps till 30 mins but wil live with that if there is no screaming

[Solly-44 in reply to TeamOwen2020]

Glad it’s improving! We had a very similar situation - my partner does the last feed and deals with bed and all of a sudden babe just started screaming every night. Only a boob would calm him. It went on for about 2 weeks and then all of a sudden stopped so perhaps was some kind of gas or pain? Babies are little oddballs! X

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Solly-44]

Thank you! They certainly are. If only they could tell us what was wrong. Would save so many tears!!!

That’s good to know. We are still getting screams if hubby goes to soothe him in first wake up. It last couple of nights he managed to calm him without me.

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to Solly-44]

Hello again, just to let you know that like you, it just seemed to all of a sudden stop so that’s great. Now to try and fix the frequent night wakings. If there was only two I could manage that. It’s when the become every hour or more that I struggle!

[Solly-44 in reply to TeamOwen2020]

Yeah the night wakings are killer. He’s 7 months old now and apart from a couple of nights (I even remember the dates 😂) nights are completely unpredictable for us and often full of wakings. I feed him back to sleep which I imagine isn’t the right thing to do at his age but tbh I don’t know what else to do x