8 wk ds wakes up with a wail

[deliakate]

My little son has started to wake from some of his daytime naps with an instantaneous wail/ scream and then continues crying for a while afterwards, usually until I let him suckle.

Yesterday he was napping in his baby bjorn, because he'd been hard to settle earlier and I took him gently off me when he started. Today, he was in his baby chair, and had seemed very happy when dropping off. Without warning, he awoke with a wail.....

I don't think its hunger, as he does the normal hand chewing, lip smacking and jerky movements when he's hungry. This is quite a new thing, and its a bit worrying... anyone got any ideas why it could be?

[cassell]

I experienced something similar with my ds at about that age and he still wakes like that sometimes (he's 5.5mths now). I was really worried he was in pain or something but from observing him it seems to be triggered by a range of things e.g. waking up somewhere different to where he went to sleep, waking suddenly (startled by a noise/his own movement etc), wind. Generally ime he will calm down with a cuddle (or a suckle which is the easy remedy for everything!). I also found that usually when he had woken like this he was still tired and needed to sleep a bit more. I likened this behaviour to how I feel if I wake up from a really deep sleep and generally feel awful! No idea if it's the same for your ds but best of luck with him

[leftangle]

Mine does this too - no idea why, sometimes it does seem to be because it's somewhere unusual but sometimes she does it in her moses basket. Also think sometimes it's happened when she's not been warm enough. Agree it's different from hungry waking up. No suggestions really - but mostly she is still more or less asleep and goes straight back down after a cuddle.

[deliakate]

Aww, its so heart rending when they do it! I guess it could be bad dreams, or just shock at being cold/ not in the cot. Mysterious boy that he is!

[MyCatIsABiggerBastardThanYours]

Apparantly at around 6 - 8 wks they realise that they are no longer attached to you and become a bit tearful for a while. Lots of cuddles, suckles and kisses and he'll get over it soon.

[deliakate]

I thought that was much later - they get separation anxiety at around 6 - 8 months usually....?

[MyCatIsABiggerBastardThanYours]

As Leningrad says it is about them realising they are a separate entity and apparantly its a bit of a shock to them. With DS it only took about a week and he was fine (can't remember with DD but as she screamed most of the time anyway it would have been hard to tell!)