6-month old suddenly will not sleep at night. Screams and thrashes her head!

[Foreverawake247]

My daughter just turned 6 months. She used to sleep like an angel. It would take nothing to rock her to sleep or even just place her in her bassinet and she would be out cold for the night. She never awoke through the night and we never had issues. She got covid 2 weeks ago. A week prior to having covid she refused to sleep in her bassinet. Everytime I rocked her to sleep - I would place her in her bed and she would start turning her head side to side and lifting her legs up in the air and slamming them down! Waking herself and screaming. It's now been 3 weeks and it's all just getting worse. Now - she will not even let me rock her to sleep. As soon as she knows it's bedtime.. she just screams.. we tried the "cry it out method" because that was my husband's lovely advice... and she screamed for 3 hours straight.. even as we were trying to soothe and comfort her every few minutes. She will scream and scream. She will now only sleep in my bed but I won't allow her to sleep vertically as I'm nervous about it.. so she has to sleep horizontally and she kicks me in the chest and ribs all night. We sleep in a king and it's now more like a twin for 2 adults. She takes more then half the bed. She is on neutrimagen, so that's cow milk free and hypoallergenic. She has no issues eating- other then when she had covid she didn't have much of an appetite. She eats 5, 6oz bottles every 3 hours from 7-7 approximately. She maybe naps for an hour each day. She also refuses them unless she is in her car seat in the car. She refuses a swing.

• I have tried establishing routine
• bathe at night time
• stories before bed
• dark room in complete quiet
• sound machine
• bought a teddybear that minicks breathing motions and heart beat sounds/lullabys
• cuddling
• massage
• cry it out
• fresh air 2x a day
• exercise and stimulating activities
• winding down time
• weighted sleep sac

I've done it ALL! nothing helps...nothing works and I'm just at the end or my rope. There's nothing else I can do... I haven't slept in weeks. I also have myoclonic epilepsy and lack of sleep triggers my seizures.. she's so happy during the day.. has no issues for the most part (some days she will have crying fits like any normal baby but generally she's happy and smiling)

I don't understand the head rocking back and forth when laying down going to sleep though. She will do it so aggressively and it will last for HOURS!! Back and forth and then her legs kicking like crazy. I'm taking her to the doctor but just wanted opinions on other parents and to see if they went through anything similar!? Please help! 😫

How long have you had the sleep routine in place? Did you have it before she was ill?

The head rocking thing sounds a bit like a self soothing technique - if it’s only at bedtime and not other times?

Does she only have a bassinet, or a proper full size cot?

She seems like she’d be too big for a bassinet now. My kids were all out of theirs by 4 months, so that’d be something I’d try.

I’d also work on her naps, as at her age, the typical daytime sleep would be about 4 hours. She could be overtired.

She used to nap perfectly! We always aim for 2-3 naps per day. Generally for an hour or so each. Her usual routine would be 10a.m, 2p.m, 6p.m and then asleep for 8 or 9. We tried having her sleep earlier but she would end up waking up multiple times throughout the night and wanting to play. I have also tried naps 2x a day and earlier bedtime and it was the same thing. She now will not nap at all. Everytime I see her rubbing her eyes, I take her upstairs and turn off the lights and rock just sit and rock her. She will fall asleep.. but as soon as I put her down she wakes up from lifting her legs to the sky and kicking down as hard as she can. I even tried sitting there for half hour holding her legs down the whole time.. she will then sway her head side to side and wake herself. I have put her down and walked away and she instantly screams. Nothing I do works 😫 I also tried transitioning into her crib (which will not fit in my bedroom) and then it got to the point where as soon as she seen the crib she would scream. I transitioned her out of the bassinet because she is too big...I put her in her pack n play with a pack n play mattress and that's when the issues got worse.

Get her ears checked. Lying down with blocked ears / ear infection is torture for a small child because of the length and angle of their eustachian tubes.

She's had a sleep routine since she was 3 weeks old! She always followed it and I've never had any issues. She did do the swaying of her head back and forth but not like how she does it now. She would do it for maybe 2 minutes and go back to sleep...now she does it for HOURS and lifts her legs in the air and slams them back down on the mattress. I've even tried holding her legs (which helps a bit) but she never gets into a deep enough sleep. I transitioned her out of her bassinet because she is quite frankly too big... into a pack n play as she will NOT sleep in her crib. She was good for the first month and then out of nowhere she won't go in it at all. She just keeps waking herself.. like the head swaying back and forth is vigorous. She does it so hard she just wakes screaming.

I have a doctors appt tomorrow so ill get her to check then.. although she has done this head rocking for months. It's just never been this bad before. I did think about her ears though so I will be making sure she looks at them.

It sounds like she needs something to soothe her. Have you tried a dummy? My dd is 4 months and does the same thing, even the turning of the head. She only truly sleeps in the car seat during the day too. She is combi fed and I find she won't settle down to a deep sleep at night unless I breastfeed her to sleep. Sometimes if I put a lullaby on and rock her crib she will nod off depending on how she is.

@Mystro202 she does! It's the only way she will go to sleep but when she gets in the state of flipping out - she won't even take it. I have a rocking chair in her bedroom. I turn off the lights, turn on the mobile with either soothing music OR white noise and try to get her to sleep. She will if she is tired enough.. but as soon as I lay her down.. she instantly wakes herself by kicking and rocking her head vigorously. The rocking of her head has got worse and it lasts for at least 2 hours. They last for 2 minutes straight with a 1 minute break in between. Then she wakes up screaming and settling her is impossible. She's currently laying beside me now, kicking me in the ribs and chest. Another night of no sleep for me as my husband is snoring loudly beside me 😫😭

I’d definitely check ears, could also be teething

I'd give her a shot of calpol 30 mins before bed time. If it calms her and she sleeps, you know she's in pain for some reason and you can investigate further. My baby often needs calpol due to teething, but I give it as sparsely as I'm able to

I second the calpol suggestion.

TBH though it could be a sleep regression if it started around the 5 night mark. I generally advocate a dark quiet room (no music which can be stimulating) and put in cot. But if she’s crying for 3 hours then it may be something else.

The head rocking isn’t a cause for concern: my brother still head rocks in his thirties (drives his wife mad but there you go).

Calpol is a great idea. She is probably teething too which must be uncomfortable for them. Although you would think she'd be taking the dummy if this was the case. Could you get a nest/snooze pod and put it in the middle of your bed so that you feel safer with her in the middle. Then you won't be as anxious and hopefully no kicks in the ribs.