3 month old - VERY strange behaviour!!

[bunny85]

Hi all,

FTM so everything is new to me, but this is something really out of the ordinary for our baby who is 3 months and 1 week old. He naps well during the day and normally sleeps well at night too (wakes up for feedings every 2h though, he is breasted, but that's fine as he eats quickly and goes back to sleep).

But for the past 3 days he's been acting very very strange! All of a sudden, he becomes absolutely hysterical every evening at around same time (around 7pm) and nothing can calm him down! He cries with tears rolling down his cheeks and he gets red and hot and he screams and wails and starts coughing. He refuses the boob and the dummy. On the first night, we thought smth was wrong with him and went to A&E. However as soon as we started the car he fell asleep. So we just drove around and he slept, he then slept at night as usual. Last night I managed to make him take a dummy and eventually he fell asleep in my arms after lots of rocking. Tonight same thing, he was not himself. Absolutely inconsolable and hysterical. Finally after an hour of this he took a dummy, calmed down, then he took a boob, ate, then dummy again and fell asleep next to me hugged up (we co-sleep).

What on earth has happened to him out of the blue? He has never had colics and he has never acted like this before. Any advice very much appreciated.

Btw to add, i started a bedtime routine about 3 months as well but for us it didnt really make mych of a difference (you might be completely diferent though). I also found that in the early days we gave him a bath (which ds found really exciting rather than relaxing) and then he would come back into loud/bright living room until he fell asleep.

Whats helped us tremendously is:

• actually putting him down (or doing a sleep related thing like bottle or boob) either as soon as he shows sleepy signs (i mean straight away!) Or if you can predict it best go actually before sleepy signs (my ds rubs his eyes, rubs his ears, scratches his head, quietens down but then gets grumpy and looks for boob)

• dark quiet environment. I have 1 small very very dim nightlight in ds room and honestly almost complete darkness has helped so much. The last 30 mins before bed i usualy go in his dark room and boob/sing a lullaby then put him down

• sometimes it will work, sometimes it wont but i found rather than give in and take ds into living room etc just repeating : cuddle, boob, staying with him until happy then back into cot (some nights it takes hours).

Put the Hoover/hair dryer on in a dark room with him next time :)

Shaun the sleep sheep really helped us

Perhaps her has trapped wind/sore tummy.

Try bringing bedtime forward a bit? Out done was getting very wound up in the evenings. When I started putting him to bed at 6-6:30 he was visibly relieved.

Thanks to you all for the advices. I reeeeallyy hope it's not colic... I haven't heard of it starting at 3.5 months? Thought it is actually meant to be gone by 3 months old.

Anyhow, tonight he's turning in at 6.30pm sharp. Let's see if it makes any difference...

Hi Skiptonlass! I remember you from the pregnancy board. How are you doing?

Fugghet, we've got Ewan the dream sheep. It usually helps somewhat, but these few incidents were too bad for any sheep to handle...

I know everyone swears by ewan but he isn't really loud enough for my DC. They both loved white noise but the volume needed to be audible over their screams and they preferred pure white noise to tinkly harp music or whatever. I have a white noise app on my phone which worked better.

Sounds like colic. We put the dishwasher on in the evening and the only thing that would calm DS down was to be right next to it in a baby bouncer.

Of course see a doctor if you are worried, but it sounds like normal overtired, over simulated, 3 month old behavior to me. My son was the same, slept well until 3 months then was difficult to get to go down at night.

Ewan didn't help for the screaming during the witching hour colic - hair dryer or Hoover did as it was louder.

Ewan was good for keeping ds asleep once he was asleep.

Oh god I'm so glad I saw this! Dc3 has turned into a hysterical mess at bedtime the last few nights, from about 5:30. She's also impossible to settle after a night feed whereas she was previously just eating and going back to sleep.
What sort of nap routine should a 3 mth old be in? I've been wondering that today. And also wondering if a dream feed is worth it to avoid multiple night get ups...

Good thanks bunny! Slightly hairy c section (spinal wore off midway, what fun) but safely delivered of an absolutely adorable little chap. :) he's a real joy! Hope you're doing well too.

I've found a womb sounds white noise app helps a tiny bit too. Our bedtime routine is now:
Bath
Pjs and cuddle
Lie him in bed on a cellular blanket
Womb sounds on
Feed in bed until zonked
Transfer to cot along with the blanket - it's warm, smells of us both and has holes in so safe. Plus it's textured and he likes to feel it.
He wakes during the transfer and so goes back to sleep in the cot.

He'll generally then sleep for 4-5 hours, although the four month regression has been...awful. He's still not good at daytime napping and still wakes a lot after midnight. I feel about 400 years old :)

Earlier bedtime was a big improvement for us - made a huge difference. How has it worked?

For the first few months my DS would nap downstairs on my lap till about 10pm. When he got to 3 months he wouldn't settle downstairs but would fall asleep quite quickly in the dark bedroom. Maybe he just wants to go to bed?

Just popping on to suggest he's overtired/overstimulated? My DS1 was like that at times - could be if he's having a bit of a growth spurt/development leap he needs a bit more sleep at the moment?

Hi again, just a little update. So yesterday night we decided to put ds to sleep at around 6.30-7pm. He was wide awake but quite, smiling and laughing and looking around. But we were ready! So as soon as he started rubbing his eyes, off to bed we went. He just about started turning red, sticking out his lower lip and filling eyes with tears as I put a boob in his mouth, light off and kept shushing. All worked! He slept at night as usual afterwards. Tonight same thing so far, only he started crying earlier so is asleep already now after 30 mins of boob/dummy/rocking/shushing. So that I assume means it's not colic? I'm just so scared of it.
Darkness and quietness definitely help. I'm inclined to think it's a leap and hopefully if we stick with early bedtime things will get back to normal.

Twolittleboys, my baby naps for 30mins-2h every 1.5h. I try and put him to sleep as soon as he starts yawning or rubbing eyes. Generally id say he sleeps a lot during the day. I'm sorry it's happening to you too but nice to know I'm not alone. What's your baby's nap routine atm?

Skiptonlass, spinal wore off?! sounds horrendous! Glad your little boy was safely delivered though. I'm fine thanks, got a little boy too, who is an absolute sweetheart until the evening comes!

Only skimmed but can't believe no one has written 4 MONTH SLEEP REGRESSION. Textbook

Can start at 3-4 months, was bang on 3 months and 2 week for my DD. Google it and you will see it all over the place and you won't be able to believe you've never heard of it before.

My DD turned into a mobster (haha meant monster but autocorrect thought otherwise and I'm inclined to agree mobster is a better description) for about 6 weeks. I was ready to throw her out the window when it suddenly got better. IME of peers and also from Internet reading 90-95% of babies go through this.

You just have to buckle up and hope it ends soon. It will eventually. Good luck.

NoPlanYet, thank you for reply, I've heard and read lots about it but thought as he's not 4 months yet that it was still to come? I was petrified of it in advance. So is that it then, you think? I didn't think it was sleep regression, more of a trouble falling asleep, but it actually makes sense now, because that in itself can be considered a sleep regression. Oh so relieved to hear it'll get better! Tonight it took only about 30mins to get him to sleep (so far!). So not too bad.

He's 3 months old hence why no one mentioned the 4 month sleep regression

It doesn't sound like the four month regression to me, that came a bit later with dd and involved her waking hourly through the night

I think 3 months is the age when they start to get overstimulated and overtired rather than just falling asleep when they are tired and for both of mine it has been the time to start to introduce a bit of a routine.

CutYourHair, you are right, we haven't had any routine before as ds would just fall asleep wherever he laid his head if he was tired. He would often go to bed with us as late as 11 or 12. Now the routine has been introduced and things are looking very different already. Last night he started crying at 6.45pm! So it's clear he needs to be in bed before 7 o'clock.

Sounds like very normal "witching hour" baby behaviour to me - overtiredness would be the first thing to eliminate as per fatedestiny's advice.

Babies often cry for no reason unfortunately!

Babies have a big developmental spurt between 15-17 weeks. DS had a pattern similar to this and went bonkers for a week. He woke up one morning with a host of new skills and calmed down considerably.
Yes to a more definite bedtime/routine. It also helps in the long run.
And don't eliminate teething pain as a cause. It tends to hurt more when they lie down at night. Ours started at 3 months and I could feel the bumps but the teeth didn't cut for another 5 whole (v v long) months.