6 month old restless all night, constantly rubs eyes

[MrsWeir1980]

Apologies if there is a thread on this, the last few weeks with my LO have been a nightmare at night.
I posted a cpl of weeks ago about him constantly banging his legs off the bed which tbh now ive gotten used to it and know its normal however recently hes been waking up constantly through the night rubbing his eyes, at first i left him as i thought hes maybe just trying to soothe himself back to sleep but nope he does it then the dummy pings out and hes wide awake crying, some nights i have to hold his arms so he can try and get himself to sleep. He was always a decent sleeper at night until the dreaded 4 month mark and never cried during the night but now hes awake alot mostly between midnight and 4am then i feed him and have to sit up with him sleeping on me as he wont settle back down in his bed. I literally get abt 3 hours sleep a night if im lucky.

Has anyone else experienced this eye rubbing? Or know of a reason for it? I really want to move him into his own room but im worried ill be up constantly with him doing this.

Any advice is appreciated

Hay fever is my first thought?

Thrashing around is often a sign of being over tired and desperate to be asleep.

Your best thing to do when this happens is to help baby be as still as possible. Holding babies hands in one of your helps. You could place the other hand over babies thighs/hips to still his legs.

A tightly tucked in sheet may also help still his legs. When he gets really frustrated with the thrashing around it might be helpful to wrap him up in a sheet- like a burrito! The idea would be to loosen and remove the sheet around him one he calms down though, because 6 months us too old to be sleeping in a swaddle.

Thanks guys for your advice

@passthemustard i thought that might be the case as he sneezes loads in the day, can u get hayfever stuff for babies?

@FATEdestiny ive tried holding his legs whilst holding his arms but when i think hes settled 10 mins later hes off again. Im not too fussed abt the legs as that normally doesnt wake him up its more the constant touching the face and rubbing the eyes as this is what tends to wake him. I normally have him in a sleep bag at night as he hates being swaddled would u still put a sheet round?

I’m pretty Sure you can, check with the GP it might need to be prescribed. Good luck. My middle two dc have allergies but I don’t remember what age they started on antihistamines , probably not til they were toddlers....

Do you use anything like air fresheners or body spray that he could be sensitive to? Washing powder on sheets and pillowcases?
I open my windows for many hours through the day because dust irritates my eyes.
Just anything that could be irritating and making his eyes itchy try eliminating and see if it makes a difference.

I was hoping to find some answers too,as my 6 months old does exactly the same thing,the dummy flies out of his mouth...it started 3 nights ago.. my gp is always rushing on the phone and everything we're going through is "normal"...

I know this is a really old thread but currently in the same situation. Did you ever work out what was causing it? Or when did it get better/stop?