My 2mo DD cries when put down in evenings..

[mammainlove]

My 10week old DD has just started throwing her head from side to side when she's in bed. This often frustrates her and wakes her up. Apart from picking her up and stroking her to try comfort her, can anyone suggest ways to stop her from doing this, and why is she doing it?

Hi and congrats!

I think she's doing it for a number of reasons

1. she has wind

2. she could do with a cranial osteopathy session as her neck could be tense after the birth

3. she has an ear infection

4. she might need to be put to sleep on her tummy?

Hope it sorts itself out for you - wind is a bugger and the most obviously (and therefore likely) cause. lay her flat on your knee on her tummy and rub her back to bring up any wind before you put her down... repeat as necessary...

Zazen
I hope you did not mean that the OP should leave her DD to sleep on her tummy?

Mammainlove
Does she seem to be in pain? When she throws her head from side to side, does she cry? Does she pull her knees up (which would indicate wind)?

I did madam lindt - I know I know I know BUT research shows that if a babe is put down on her tummy all the time the risk of cot death is the same as if a babe is put down on her back: it''s the changing from one to the other that confuses the brain / breathing function.

My guess is wind.

I have not heard that research, but then my DC are older now. When they were babies, the advice was no tummy sleeping.

I do know that the incidence of SIDS dropped dramatically after the advice was given to not put the babies to sleep on their tummies.

zazen, has the advice for sleeping changed? I can't find the research you mention?

The incidence of SIDA was declining per total of population before the back to sleep campaign due to better hygiene (lack of bacterial infection) increased breastfeeding, and better nutrition, better climate control for the baby, and not to smoke around a baby, or when the baby is in utero.

In real terms the incidence of SIDS has not dramatically reduced just because of the back to sleep campaign.

Research shows that babies put on their backs to sleep have slower development and gross motor skills associated with lack of sleep, as they have lighter sleep and never get the deep sleep pathways associated with proper brain development.

Some researchers recommend prone sleeping on clean ie. new) mattresses in a well ventilated room (even with a fan) without fluffy toys, bumpers etc as a way of reducing gastrointestinal problems such as colic and to reduce the incidence of scoliosis.

There are new studies showing that it's bacteria Staph a and E coli infestations that are a significant cause of SIDS, although they do say that it's easier to reduce the incidence of infection with supine (back) position.

Most pediatricians now recommend the back to sleep position, but in cases where the baby isn't getting enough sleep, if might be worth looking at a prone, or side lying position for the baby if she's just howling night and day, and not sleeping.

OP have a chat with your HV and your GP, and remember that all babies are put in a prone position in NICU... it's not the great evil that some posters on mumsnet paint it to be: there are many factory involved in SIDS, not just sleep position.

I suppose that if the baby has a lot of wind than she can be rubbed lying over a knee and left back to sleep.

Prone position sleeping, or side lying, with a new mould free mattress in a ventilated room without cot bumpers or teddies and without secondhand smoke, and not co sleeping with any other person - siblings included, may well be the answer for your problem.

Of course breastfeeding will reduce the chance of SIDS also - even one feed a day has been shown to have a very positive effect and alters the occurrence of SIDS quite significantly, by 50% in fact.

Check if the baby hasn't got an ear infection also: damage to the vestibular apparatus (the Eustachian tube etc) in the inner ear with infections or a traumatic birth (increased blood flow to the right ear from the placenta) may interfere with the respiration control when asleep.

Get her ears checked for infection. Though I have to say, it sounds like wind to me.
Good luck.

Zazen, I'm really sorry to come back to this, but I'm genuinely concerned about this not being debated.

I don't know what your background on this - you sound highly knowledgeable. I'm not in any way a specialist in SIDS, nor do I have any work connections to an organisation related to it. I have some training in a profession allied to medicine but not one that's relevant for this issue. I have a personal connection in that a cousin of mine died at 6 months for unexplained reasons in the late 80s.

The evidence that I can find,which is only via Google/Scholar, includes this 2007 article which suggests that the acknowledged developmental disadvantages of a baby sleeping on its back don't currently appear to cause longer-term problems providing that the baby gets time on their tummy while awake. That article also gives figures for reduction in SIDS figures in the UK - to me, there is a very clear and definite reduction following the initial Back to Sleep campaign in 1991, and the article also acknowledges that information about lower temperatures/less smoking around babies was having an impact on SIDS death rates before this, but that this was not anything like as strong as the impact of the sleeping position campaigns.

I'd always understood that the deeper sleep of the baby sleeping on their front was well known, and was one of the reasons that position was a risk factor for SIDS - that there are babies that may be less able to rouse from that deeper sleep when bacterial infection or other factors are involved.

As far as the sleeping position of neonates in special care is concerned, well again I'd always understood that it was the good response of preterm babies to sleeping on their fronts that caused that position to be recommended for all full-term babies in the 70s and 80s - which turned out to be inappropriate.

I'm really, really not trying to attack anyone, nor am I trying to prevent mammainlove's life from getting better, but as far as I can tell, there has been no recent change in official advice on sleeping position, or on the other factors which appear to make a difference to SIDS rates. Naturally as more factors are understood, there will be fewer SIDS deaths because they won't be unexplained any more.

hi mammainlove,

Did your dd settle herself to sleep prior to this? Her behavior sounds alot like my ds. He also does it on waking so i have to catch him before he works up to full blown heartbreak, which is the first time he'll make a sound!

Your dd is very little and may just need the security of being held while she falls asleep. It may be that she has recently reached a stage where she is more aware of her surroundings, and you, and wants the comfort of being with you at the moment. Perfectly understandable for such a vulnerable little thing!

All babies chop and change their needs and patterns and this may be her latest development. Once she realises she is safe and that you are never far away she will get over it. You can't spoil a baby as young as your dd so just cuddle her if that's what she wants.

Ime it's fairly unusuall for little babies to settle themself to sleep, though i know one who did this for a while. It can feel a bit like you are tied to them when they are this little and need you so much. When my ds is like this i try and picture him as a teenage boy who's embarrased and doesn't want to be seen with me! That helps me enjoy it a bit more! Also he sleeps well in his buggy so i can go for a walk while he has a nap!

Hope that helps.

zazen, I too am concerned about the statements you are making.

I think it's sensible to link to research, or if you cannot link to it, put the source of the research.

Many of the points you are making are far from established.

The slowed brain development you mention in particular is, I think, a misunderstanding of some of the commentary about 'back to sleep', so I'd be really interested to know more.

mammainlove - my ds is 5 months old and has been thrashing his head from side to side in his cot for quite some time, he also does it in the pram but not very often.

He does it when he is trying to get to sleep (and I must say it seems to work if you leave him to it) it gives him some sort of comfort i think. The first times he did it I was v concerned but Ive mentioned it to my doctor and hv and they say its nothing to worry about.

Also, as Ive been chatting to other mothers I think there are a few babies around that do it. Obviously check it out with your hv etc just thought Id let you know my experience.