Help me with 12 week old scream fest

[corrianderisevil]

Would really appreciate any insight into this mystery.....12 week old baby, sleeps excellently during the day, has 3 decent naps during the day and manages to settle himself in his cot with the he'll of his thumb sucking. He's a breastfed baby with no feeding or pooing issues (as far as I know) and generally settles well for the night between 6.30/7pm.

Then......out of no where he wakes up around 30-40 mins later and screams blue murder and I then spend the next hour walking around the house with an inconsolable baby until he eventually falls asleep again at around 9pm.

What is causing this??? It's driving me insane. Help me please. All I'd like to do is eat my dinner with my husband and perhaps watch the news?? Is that too much to ask?

I call this the witching hour! My daughter is very much the same, pacing the floor with her for ages! We offer more milk, change her ect but not a thing works other than nursing her till she's in a deep enough sleep to be put down! The relentless screaming though awful!

It definitely IS the witching hour. Sorry that you are going through it too. I remember my DS2 doing it too and seem to remember reading about them having 45 mins sleep cycles and coming into a light sleep after this time and not being able to settle themselves again. With him, it was just time that sorted the issue, and as he got older he grew out of it. I just really don't want to go through all that again and am hoping someone will come along with a magic cure

Willo how old is your daughter?

fourth months and one week, but she was born about nine weeks early, so her corrected age from her due date is about 2 months! so we've had her for four months but she's still really like a newborn! my husband put her in her pram tonight and walked with her for a while, seemed to calm her down xx

What happens if you settle into a long feed at this wake up?

Have you tried offering a dummy?

FATE I've already done his last feed at 6.15ish so when I try and feed again when he wakes up he ends up being sick as it's he's not hungry and doesn't need it. Tried offering a dummy months ago but he's not interested. All 3 of mine are thumb suckers which I like and would prefer over a dummy (personal choice) so happy to keep things this way. But he's so upset when he wakes that he's too angry to even attempt finding his thumb. He just flings his arms around everywhere.

My DS was exactly the same. He just grew out of it after maybe 3 weeks or so.

A dummy helped, but appreciate it if that's not your preference. Also took him to a cranial osteopath - I think it helped, but could have been a coincidence.

All 3 of mine are thumb suckers which I like and would prefer over a dummy (personal choice)

My third born threw me a curveball and was very different in his feeding and sleeping needs to to his two older siblings (and his at-that-point unborn younger sibling). This included baby having preferences that did not match my preferences as a parent. I soon realised that baby's preferences were more important than my preconceived ideas.

Your personal choice could be irrelevant if they don't match the baby's preferences. You may want a thumb sucker but you may have sucky baby who isn't satisfied with his hands, for example.

FATE, as I said I have tried a dummy but he spits it out and then gets even more frustrated. Not ignoring his own preferences, it would just seem he is like his siblings and is able to self soothe by sucking his thumb. This works for all other times during the day but once he wakes 45 mins after going down in the evenings nothing will settle him no matter what I try. He's just gone down for the evening, I've given him an extra good wind tonight so we'll see what tonight has in store