5 month old sudden crying in night

[sunnyfields25]

Hi

DH and I are baffled as to what's going on with our 5-month-old DS and wondered if any of the wise people on here can shed any light.

DS has had a cold for the past week and a half. It's gradually getting better, but he's still snuffly and coughing up yucky stuff. I know how rough he feels as I've got the same bug. He's turned from being a happy baby to very unsettled and crying a lot during the day, which I presume is because he feels rubbish. He's also not feeding much during the day, which is worrying as I can feel my supply is dwindling, but I'm offering him feeds frequently.

The biggest issue is in the night. Prior to this he was sleeping well, waking only once in the night for a bottle of expressed milk given my DH. I now realise how lucky we were! The past few nights have got worse and worse, and last night he woke every hour or two. Not always due to hunger because sometimes I would offer a feed and he wasn't interested. He was waking up crying and we'd struggle to console him.

He's had cradle cap for months and it's never bothered him before, and it's now nearly cleared up. But watching the monitor footage of last night, he seemed to be stirring, then scratching at his face and head vigorously, and then waking up screaming. Not sure if this is because he's all bunged up, or his head is itchy (seems unlikely), or something else entirely. We've started putting scratch mitts on him for sleep as he was making his head bleed.

DH helped out a lot last night but once he's back at work on Monday I can't expect him to be doing that much, so I'm getting very worried about tomorrow night onwards. I'm under the weather myself, and due to insomnia don't get much sleep anyway, so wondering how we'll cope!

This is DS's first ever cold so I have no idea whether what we're experiencing is normal, in terms of how long it's lasting, the fact that his sleep is getting worse and worse, and what's actually causing him to wake up.

Any ideas would be massively appreciated.

Thanks.

It might not be related to the cold, my DD scratches and hits her head and pulls her ears when she is teething. She also wakes suddenly crying too. It could still be the cold though but something else to consider.

Hmm that's interesting. He dribbles non stop but he's been doing that for a couple of months so I've assumed it can't be a sign of him teething. But also he has lately taken to biting everything he can get in his mouth. There are no signs of any teeth coming through though.

It does seem odd that he's more upset and sleeping worse now, when the worst of the cold has passed, compared to last week when he had a fever and was coughing constantly.

The process of teething starts before you can feel teeth so not always easy to tell.

He might have slept better in the worse part of the cold as you feel more tired when ill and now it's clearing it could be annoying him more.

Sorry if me saying it could be either doesn't help.

Ha that's fine Bluebelltulip, I'm happy to hear any suggestions even if they are only possibilities. Good point you make about the cold annoying him more now he's not as exhausted.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tonight is better but realistically I think it could be just as bad.

We’ve had similar this past week with my DD who’s 4 months. The cold is mostly better but now her sleep seems to be getting tons worse. So no tips but I emphasise!