tips for preventing meltdown needed!

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

DS will be 4 weeks on Friday so still tiny I know. We're still being led by him (bf on demand etc) but are suffering severly from meltdown evenings - I don't want to put the colic label on him yet, he does suffer quite badly from wind (he's on infacol which has helped up to a point, onto gripe water this weekend) but I suspect a lot of it is to do with overtiredness. He screams from about 8pm til 11pm or midnight and finally falls asleep after being rocked for hours! (though with the rocking we are trying not to over stimulate even more)

He seems to go from happy to meltdown really quickly so I don't always get a chance to spot the tiredness signs (yawning, heavy eyes etc) - should I be encouraging him to sleep during the day if he's been awake for two hours? If so, how exactly if he seems awake and alert? Ought I put him in a dark room in his moses basket? Would prefer not to have him have to be in the dark and quiet during the day if poss but willing to try anything to help him sleep at night

We do occasionally get meltdown during the day too, but the signs are a bit clearer then.

any tips or ideas?

No advice but hope someone comes along with it for you as I feel your pain, DS was just like that at that age, we didn't get rid of meltdown till we started doing bedtime routine when he was about 9 weeks, that might help but maybe at this age he is too young? Would certainly say he needs to sleep after 2 hours in the day, can you try taking him for a walk in the pram or a drive to get him to drift off? Even now at 4 months plus DS needs to sleep every 2 hours...

The trick is to plan around 2hrs as the maximum he should go between sleeps. At this age they definitely need a wind-down period too, for about 20m before they go down.

With my LO I used to start winding down after he was awake for 1.5hrs, even if there were no signs. Take him into his room and change his nappy, get him into sleep stuff, cuddles, gradually darken the room, play his lullabies on the monitor etc., then sleep.

Its up to you totally whether you do it in the dark, the pram whatever. I think most people find babies sleep longer and better in a darkened room later, I'm not sure if its so important at this stage. They pretty much sleep anywhere right now - make the most if it!!

Hi Gabster! I agree with Gabster. If you can't get him to settle in him basket during the day but you know he needs to sleep, bung him in the pram/car and get him to sleep that way.

We had a few horrendous screaming evenings. We thought it might be colic but as soon as we made sure dd was getting good sleep during the day, she would sleep in the evening.

thanks everyone, i really don't want to put the colic label on him as i'm sure it's a combination of overtiredness and horrid wind...so upping the ante on the daytime naps, hardcore winding, bath time routine (his feeding is still all over the place to try a formal bedtime routine) and making it as calm as poss in the evenings

Just thought - you know it could also be to do with hunger. I think I am right in saying that lots of babies cluster feed in the evening and seem insatiable - I know mine did. Even if he had only fed an hour ago, he often took another feed. I seem to remember he fed something like 6pm, 7pm and 9pm in the beginning.

I definitely remember starting a bed-time routine with him about this age, but it took until he was about 8 weeks before we started to reap any benefit with it, so stick at it.

Good luck.

Just wanted to add that between 5 and 6 weeks my DD's meltdowns reduced dramatically. So with any luck, things will improve for you. Good idea with the bath and bed routine. We also had no fixed schedule apart from the bath, and things just gradually fell into place. Good luck!

I would talk to a LC about the wind; it could be oversupply or too much foremilk, which contains a lot of lactose and can be difficult to digest causing wind. It's unusual for that to happen in the evenings as you have more foremilk in the mornings, but who knows? Block feeding (offering the same side first for a 4-hour block of time instead of swapping sides at every feed) helps to control oversupply if that is causing the wind.

A lot of babies like to cluster feed in the evenings, which gets them lots of hindmilk and helps them sleep longer. They also have loads of growth spurts around this age, so don't rule out hunger.

thanks - I've heard about the cluster feeding in the evenings, I've been looking for signs of rooting but maybe I should attempt feeding him more frequently in the evenings anyway and see if that helps?