screaming fit at 6.30pm every night.Help!

[suzym1984]

Hi!

My DS (9 weeks) has a screaming fit at 6.30pm every night without fail which lasts for about 1 hour. This is usually inconsolable, we have tried massage, feeding, cuddles, swaddling, rocking etc etc. I am pretty sure he is just over tired as he will not take a long nap during the day (usually 30 mins tops). He has his last feed at about 7.30pm when the screaming stops and then goe to bed at 8-8.30 and sleeps til about 1.30 (so obviously tired!)

Does anyone have any ideas how we can avoid the over tired screaming fit every night? its getting pretty stressful!

It could be overtiredness but it could be colic. It's hideous, it is the ultimate nightmare, he will keep it up for a while yet but tell yourself repeatedly that it will pass. Wiki link but there's lots out there. The only thing that ever helped with DS2 was me getting in the bath with him and having a cuddle in the warm water - but then the screaming would resume as soon as we got out.

Thanks for the reply! I had thought colic,but to suddenly start at 9 weeks? and he generally only cries for 1 hour tops and then falls asleep?

Have you tried bringing his bedtime earlier? Our DD used to have evening meltdowns due to overtiredness but once we started her bedtime routine at 6 - breast, bath, bottle, bed by 6.45, she was much better and slept better as well.

I agree with Dreemagurl. Our DD would scream for anything up to 2hrs every evening until we moved bedtime forward, now she is easy to settle and sleeps well (although the lighter evenings have caused a bit of disruption).

hi!

at the moment we start the routine at about 6, bath then feed, but he is so insettled he never takes a full feed. He then cries and screams until he falls asleep (for about 30 mins) and then has his proper feed at 8pm then bed at 8.30pm.

Its such a mess!

Poor you :( It's horrible when they're crying and you can't make it better. We found chamomile granules quite effective in soothing DD when she was really worked up. Sounds like his daytime sleep is affecting his ability to settle due to overtiredness. There's a huge thread on here about daytime naps that might be worth a read through, I'll bump it for you. Fingers crossed for you - just remember it will pass.

I would say bring the routine forward too. Our DS had a similar issue because we were waiting to do the bath when DH got home at 6pm. He would get sooooo upset and scream and scream and then fall asleep on the bottle. Now I bath him between 4.30 and 5pm and he's changed and in his sleeping bag waiting for DH to give him the final feed when he gets home. And no more screaming! My DS is also a catnapper so I just think he needs the early bedtime. Occasionally I have to start the feed before DH is home because it's obvious that DS is just not going to last the distance until 6pm!