4 months old baby screams in the evening for no obvious reason

[katerose2022]

I know babies do scream a lot and especially during the evenings, but I'm trying to figure out exactly what triggers it and how to stop it....

So our four month old baby boy is usually a good night sleeper and doesn't fuss much, only screaming during the day if he's hungry or a bit sleepy. We put him to nap when seeing tiredness cues and he usually goes down without much fight during the day.

But evenings are much more difficult. I was just feeding him a bottle of 180ml formula, burping him along the way as usual. He finished 100ml or so and started to get distracted and refused to take any more. Started rubbing his eyes so I tried to put him to sleep as it's been 1.5hrs since he previously woke up. Dimmed the lights, and he started screaming, despite me playing lullaby and patting him which usually works well when putting him to nap. He's taken three naps during the day totaling around 4hrs so shouldn't be overtired. His milk intake so far is only around 700ml so he should do another 100-200ml before he can go to bed but he's refusing to drink more.

Any thoughts on what's going on here pls? Thanks!

Forgot to say that he usually gets up at around 8-9am, and his bedtime is anywhere between 10-11pm. At the moment it's a bit of a struggle to put him to bed every night as he screams so much and usually needs to catch up a lot on milk intake towards midnight. He can only finish 150ml bottles usually and feeds around every 2.5-3hrs during the day, with maybe one night feed at around 4am but if his daily milk intake is above 900-1000ml he can sometimes sleep through.

Sounds like colic. Usually hits in the evening with some babies. Try some white noise like a hairdryer, washing machine, hoover etc

@Soubriquet Thanks! Yes we tried white noise. It usually works well during the day but doesn't work in the evening. My partner is holding him walking around the room which calms him down a bit, and the screaming has turned into the excitement type....and rubbing his eyes at the same time... He had a bit of colic in earlier months but seems to have grown out of it and it was crying when he had it, not squealing/screaming as he does now, and he doesn't straighten his body when doing it.

4 months was tough for us. The sleep went to shit, the screaming intensified and DS seemed so unhappy.

Unless something is obvious I think its when they start to wake up to the world a bit.

We just had to ride it out. Co sleeping saved us. Contact naps became the norm and walking around with him in my arms for hours. Have you tried a sling? We didn't but I think it might have helped looking back.

It gets better. DS is 18 months now and from 6 months has slept through the night and will not go to sleep unless he is in his cot! Have a whole world of trouble with toddler tantrums but that's a whole different ball game.

Hang in there hun. Once weaned we found our little one was much more content. Do speak to your doctor or HV if you're worried though

Stomach ache probably. Sounds colicky. Ha e you tried keeping him upright for half hour after feeds? My nephew spent a good few weeks sleeping upright in a jumperoo because he was so colicky and could only sleep bolt upright. Couldn't even be gently reclined with him on your chest without him screaming. Improved with goats milk formula in the end.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that they are babies, just little humans. Do you ever have nights where despite the fact that you have done your usual bedtime routine, had a nice bath, eaten a good meal etc you still toss and turn all night for no reason? He might just be having one of those nights, just like we do as adults.

Thanks for the comments! Now 2.5hrs since his last sleep he is finally dosing off again, which is similar to his sleep pattern lately. But most likely he'll wake up in about half to an hour because of hunger and needs another feed before properly going down for the night.

Yes we always keep him upright for 15-20mins after feeding. He's generally a happy and healthy baby so we are not hugely concerned. But just want to decode this weird screaming in the evening so that the 2-3hrs time is less chaotic...

Now I'm thinking maybe he does need that 2-3hrs awake time after the last nap of the day to be able to fall asleep? Question is if there are things we can do during that awake time to make him calmer. Reading books, playing light music etc works to a certain extent but do not totally stop the screaming. He just seems so excited/agitated....

Thanks again for all your advice!

@magicravioli Thanks! Unfortunately screaming has become part of his bedtime routine nowadays... happens every evening that's why we are trying to figure out why.

It wasn't like this before when his daytime naps were crappier. Previously he would just fall asleep at around 8-9pm without much fuss and stay asleep until we wake him up for a dream feed at around 11pm.

Think it is partly due to the four month sleep regression thing and probably related to us trying to eliminate the night feeds at 4am too.

Oh god, DS2 was Ike this not was like a switch was turned on at 7pm every evening and then turned off again at 9pm every night. It was awful and there was nothing at all wrong with him.

What eventually helped a bit was a) a dummy which we only introduced because of this and he never used during the day and b) a glowworm toy we got as a panic buy in Sainsbury's one day that lot up and played tinkly music. He sit in a bouncer with his dummy and his gloworm and just chill out a bit. So random. White noise never worked with him.

There’s a big transition/develooment with sleep that happens to all babies at around 4 months. It often does start a trickier period of sleep. It will settle eventually, but I think trying to find out what works best for all of you and then rolling with it is probably the best advice I can offer.

everyone will have their own tips that worked with their children, and I guess it’s just trial and error to figure out what helps your family. Know that you’re not doing anything wrong though - and there might not be a silver bullet, but that it will pass in time. Take care of yourself too.

@ConflictedCheetah Thanks! We tried introducing a dummy too but he showed no interest in it :(

We've been trying to avoid using sound-making toys before bedtime so not to stimulate him, but may give it a go. The glowworm toy seems to say it's soothing anyway. Thanks for the tip!

Good luck. As someone else.said,. it's just trial and error and what works for one child another will hate. Fingers crossed for you.

It DOES pass though. DS just stopped doing it after a while. It felt torturous while it lasted but it will pass.

From memory it's just a phase they go through, i remember reading about it in a baby book when my son was younger, saying it peaked at about 7 months. I was disbelieving but it did phase out as he got older. Have you tried that stuff that you put in the milk which dissolves all the bubbles, we tried that for a bit.

@IOYOYO Thanks for your kind words! Yes we are trying to get some ideas to try out and see what works... until baby changes behaviour again...

@jennylamb1 Thanks! Yes we tried infacol a while back when he had gas. Didn't seem to have much effect though, and those "bigger bubbles" may have made it worse for him to pass wind so we stopped after a few tries. His "colic" was never too severe though.

I have just got over this bump in the road with my baby. It was almost always over tiredness with her. What are his wake windows like before bed? Do you make sure the last nap is finished under 2 hours before bed? And you’ve got a routine that’s the same every night? The only thing that worked for us with her was sitting her up and bouncing her on my knee gently while rubbing her bank to wind her then put the bottle back up to her lips while she was sitting up and only lying her back on me once she was drinking it (if she wanted it). If he’s genuinely not hungry then it’s fine obviously. Walking up and down in our darkened room was the next step after that. Now she’s started properly sucking her fingers to go to sleep so I am able to lie her in drowsy and leave her. It’s a huge difference from what it was a few weeks ago. Hope it sorts itself out!

@DGHZ good luck with your baby and thanks for sharing your methods! No my baby boy doesn't have a fixed bedtime or routine yet. We usually do try to start trying to put him to bed at around 1.5hrs since his last nap, by feeding and then reading a book and playing some lullaby etc. But like today, he usually starts screaming somewhere along the way and doesn't calm down until I guess tiredness takes over after another 1-1.5hrs. Darker room seems to make the screaming worse somehow as we tried before.

For anyone who's still interested or going through similar things: I've finally sort of figured out what's going on. My baby boy screams or cries still just for one reason: He wants more milk. Even though nowadays he can appear to be rejecting the bottle when offered. Just need to try a few more times or using different feeding positions. He will eventually feed from the bottle can calm down or doze off. This is the biggest difference from previously when he would jump at the bottle when hungry. We also changed to a medium flow teat instead of slow flow one. He can still leak from the corner of his mouth but at least feeding has become more efficient.