Baby waking screaming

[preggersteach]

Lo is just about 16 weeks old and has always slept well. First wake up in the night is usually between 5-8 hours after being put down then will wake about 2-3 hours after. When he wakes he cries but as soon as I pick him up is fine, he'll scream the house down if I need to change his nappy but other than that is pretty quiet. Anyway he had started waking much more frequently which I'm assuming is the sleep regression kicking in but he is waking up screaming and won't calm down when I pick him up only if I feed him. He is then sometimes taking ages to settle back to sleep, again something that would take minutes. Just wondered if this was also common in the sleep regression or if something else is may be going on and if anyone had any advice or experience of this? TIA

Is there a build up of wind maybe?
Or yes possibly sleep regression which hopefully passes soon.

When my 6 month old does this, its sometimes teething. Could it be this? The feeding will be helping gum pain. I usually give mine some pain relief.

That's great thanks - what do you give for the teething pain?

DD is similar and has been for ages, I think it is a developmental thing with sleep, but you can't rule out things like pain etc, it is trial and error a lot with babies as they can't tell us what is wrong. I think the not wanting to go straight down to sleep is because they are getting more aware of the world and nosy and want to know whats going on rather than go back to boring bed! Iyswim. Are you BF or bottle feeding? Does baby have a dummy? Are they in a cradle you can rock at all? What are their sleeping arrangements? Sorry for all the Qs just might have some suggestions if I have some more info. But really it sounds perfectly normal and it's just trial and error to see if anything helps, if not then you'll just have to ride through it til they're a bit bigger I'm afraid, it is tough but it will pass .

My DD is 5 months btw, and we have tried Anbesol and Dentinox sometimes as we think she started teething around the 12 week mark, but neither of them seem to have made any noticeable difference to her. No teeth yet either, just very bumpy gums.

I give either Calpol or Ibuprofen for babies (liquid)

He is ebf and in a next to me type thing but we don't have it attached to the bed, it is also tilted due to some reflux. He has been kind of okay today just a bit clingy at times, if he can't see me or dh he has a bit of a melt down. Anyways fed him at 5ish and had a massive scream and just got to my parents a couple of hours ago and he has screamed and screamed uncontrollably with tears and everything. I want to give him some Calpol but dh doesn't as he said he is sometimes settled on both me or him so mustn't need it.

I'd probably try the Calpol, it won't do them any harm. You might get some idea whether they quickly settle once it kicks in (around 20 mins?) as to whether it's pain or not.

Does baby have a dummy? My DD is a crier and uses her dummy a lot, we would be lost without it. We use it to settle her in the night multiple times too instead of feeding her, but she's had the dummy since she was around 2 weeks old and I've been exclusively bottle feeding since around the 12 week mark, so I appreciate BF is very different like and lots of BF babies really do need the breast for comfort over night even if they're not actually hungry. But might be worth trying to introduce a dummy or using it during the night wakings if baby will take it, it might help them settle back to sleep without needing a feed? It is very normal what you're describing though and needing to feed a few times a night is still normal at that age, exhausting though it is. Does rocking him to sleep help? E.g. in your arms, in a rocking cradle, moving back and forth in the pram, sitting on a rocking chair, bouncing on an exercise ball? Those things all help DD fall asleep and calm down.

If your baby is a cryer, come and join us in the 'Parenting' section, we have a thread for parents of criers where we all support each other as it can be really tough.

Thanks so much @meadowhay I'll try and find the chat room! We had a better night last night but he is still being very dramatic with the crying today but hopefully this will be a very quick phase!

Here is the link to our thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/3398261-Parents-of-Criers-Support-Thread-Respite-from-the-Screaming . Hopefully it will pass soon but in the meantime make sure you're getting as much support as possible, it is really tough having a baby that cries a lot. Mine is 5 months and has always been that way since about 1 week old, but there has been slow, gradual improvement from the 3 month mark and even more so since the 4 month mark so she is getting there!