Anyone else’s baby screams at bedtime?

[Bluemamma]

Hi all, I have a 3 month old, happy and smiley baby during the day. Naps great but always in his pram (falls asleep when moving and stays asleep after). At bedtime however he cries every single day which breaks my heart. Sometimes for 10 mins, sometimes for 30 mins. I don’t think it’s colic as he probably would cry for longer and during the day/evening too. Once he falls asleep it’s fine, he wakes up every 4 hours for milk but then either goes back to sleep or plays for a bit in bed and soothes himself to sleep. It’s only in the evening once he is put in his cot. Obviously he is not hungry/has fresh nappy etc. anyone else experienced this with their baby? Oh and it only started about 3 weeks ago but it does happen every single night.

Mine is 16 weeks but the screaming first started at night after vaccinations. It's hard to tell if it's the same reason behind it, but like you he seemed to have a full tummy, changed, not too hot.

I have no idea. It's not every day, but some nights it's like playing sleeping lions and the slightest twitch from me and he'll be screaming for another 20 minutes at a time.

Come 7am perfectly happy. Only at night.

(No solution, sorry, just solidarity!)

Does he cry for a certain amount of time then just drop off? My now 4 month old definitely did that at 3 months, would fuss/cry for up to 15 mins then abruptly drop off. Like you, he definitely wasn't in need of anything. They call it "powering down" in the sleep training world.

I found he settled sooner if I left him to it rather than continually picking up to soothe - however every baby is different and need to follow your instinct (sometimes I couldn't stand hearing him cry and would pick up and rock - but he would just continue to scream in my arms!)

As you say, definitely doesn't sound like colic, and that's basically not a thing in babies after 12 weeks.

It is lots better already and hopefully will continue to improve for you too.

@Namechangegardens yes he cries, cries and then just stops and falls asleep. I also like you found that it’s much better if I don’t touch him/try to comfort him. If I pick him up he stops and is very happy but then screams twice as hard when I put him down so I don’t do that at all anymore. Also if I try to kiss him, stroke him etc it does the same thing, he stops but then screams back again. Best thing is just to leave him alone, keep passing soother and wait it out…:(

@Bluemamma sounds very similar - it can be soul destroying!
I ended up doing "fuss it out" from the book 'precious little sleep' - you do bedtime routine, get them safely into crib then close the door and let them fuss it out for 15 to 20 mins. Sometimes if fussing descended into proper crying I intervened, however even if I didn't, 9 times out of 10 he would fall asleep after less than 10 mins. He now goes down awake without any protest the vast majority of nights.