Colic and PTSD

[CoffeeChicken]

Okay, so we all know how utterly awful colic is, and my poor 10 week old has been stuck with it for 6 weeks now. I work from home, care for him, do the housework etc all while DH is working.

I don't get to sleep much as you may imagine, but my baby's cries now ring in my ears while I try to sleep. I fly up out of bed in a panic thinking he's inconsolably wailing, and he's snoring away in his cot while I stand there in a daze, puzzled.

Is this just my PTSD? Or has this happened to other mums? I'm not depressed or struggling, but this is confusing. It's happening less as time goes on.

It’s not PTSD, please don’t call it PTSD.

It’s just your brains’s response, probably because you are expecting to hear that sound, when you’re in REM sleep. I still hear my kids crying in the night when they’re not now and they’re older.

@Isolateykatey

It’s not PTSD, please don’t call it PTSD.

It’s just your brains’s response, probably because you are expecting to hear that sound, when you’re in REM sleep. I still hear my kids crying in the night when they’re not now and they’re older.

I should have clarified, I am diagnosed with complex PTSD, therefore wasn't sure if this was an unknown symptom.

Ah sorry. I thought you meant your baby’s colic had given you PTSD!

No, I’ve heard my children crying in the night when they haven’t been and have jumped up to nothing!

It’s a parenting symptom rather than a PTSD symptom

I don’t think it’s a symptom but in saying that I can only go by my own experience and everyone is different. I would say it’s more you are expecting a cry and are stressed but not necessarily a symptom of ptsd specifically. For me after a bad birth the smell of bleach would make me panic and I would get flashbacks from it and be in a panic but i know the symptoms can be so personal and different for everyone. I often wake thinking the baby is crying too so who knows it could be related!

I don’t hear crying, but sometimes I wake in a panic, thinking I have left the baby somewhere - meanwhile he’s sleeping peacefully in the next to me crib. So I would also guess it’s a sleep deprived parent thing.