Nightmare of epic proportions

[Tufferz]

HELP!

I am a new dad, and my little girl is 7 months old, and has, over the last 6 weeks or so really started to fight sleep - although i have been told not to call it that!

Whenever we put her down for bedtime, she starts to make a really horrible heart wrenching straining noise, arches her back constantly and works herself up into a right old state, couplded with banging her legs on her bed.

6 weeks + of this has broken me, and i cannot bear to be in the same room (borderline house) as her at bedtime as it makes me feel awful....my partner Emma is so patient with her, and although it gets to her, she has the ability to ride it out, where as i cant as i find it too gut wrenching...

The health visitor bangs on about CC, but we both cannot do that, so what else can we do? Has anyone else gone through these type of symptoms? any advice greatly appreciated....as i am a broken man!

Thanks
Simon

what, if anything, helps with it? what does your partner do that calms her down???

it sounds like she could be in pain from something?

she just grinds it out, and then comes back all tense too.....

she is definitley teething at present, maybe that could be it....but we dont get any of this during the day.....she dribbles, has teether and sleeps when she needs to....

could she be constipated?

does she sleep in the same place during the day?
does she have anything different to eat in the late afternoon/evening?? ie, is she breastfed but with a bottle of formula in the evening or anything like that?

nope....she sleeps in a chair during the day...and in her own cotbed at night in her own room...

Nogthing different to eat throughout the day either....

she eats organic pouches, jars and stage 2 milk....

hmmm so maybe it's to do with lying flat rather than being more upright???

did it coincide with putting her on the stage 2 milk? cos that contains more iron and can make some babies constipated or just tummy ache as harder to digest (i believe)

she has a better time of things when she is sat upright, and as soon as she goes on her back she starts this process....

i cannot associate the distress with the switch in milk...

One thing she does seem to do is want to cover her nose (like a soother for her) to help her go to sleep...

sorry you're having a hard time Tufferz. Yesterday's comments and questions seem very sensible and it seems likely that lying down is causing her distress as constipation/teething would surely cause her probs during the day as well. could you try putting her to sleep at night in the chair that she naps in just to test whether she can sleep in that at night. Obviously sleeping in it every night wouldn't be good for her back but at least it could help you see if she can get to sleep at night iyswim.

Not quite the same but our DS used to wake partway about 9 doing something very similar, think it was teething, never was sure. He would settle if given a painkiller. He stopped doing it after we took him to see a cranial osteopath a few times.

My 6 mo ds is teething at present and is relatively okay during the day and goes down for naps - but wakes up a lot at night crying and biting his hands/toys/sleeping bag. He settles if given Calpol and a cuddle/feed. I think I remember reading somewhere that lying down can make the pain worse - so that could be something to do with it? Perhaps see if she can sleep in the chair, as Lovely mama suggests?

If it could be teething pain keeping her awake have you tried just giving her a little bit of calpol to take the edge off the pain and help her drift off?

Sorry if it seems obvious, but you haven't mentioned it so I just wondered.

Thanks to all of you who have responded to me, seems like i am not alone, which is how it feels every now and again....

I dont like the fact that i cant be in the same room as my little girl....but hopefully we can get through this and all will be fine...

Thanks again

It's so heartbreaking when they get so upset isn't it!

Just another point of view... When she's sleeping on the chair during the day is that in a room with others around? Could it be that she is developing separation anxiety? Does she start crying when you take her in the room or literally when you place her in the cot? It sounds like she settles eventually... does she wake up at all in the night? And if so is it easier to settle her then?