Infant Cries Out in Sleep but Is Sound Asleep

It won't last forever - hang in there! I am exhausted as well - baby momma's always are! Mine is 5 months old and she is not sleeping through the night either....but I take naps with her when I can - hard in the summer though because I have 2 older children from my husband's first marriage...and I started laying down with her in the guest bed instead of going to and from the nursery every time - that way my husband can sleep and she seems to sleep better when I am with her. Plus, I can go back to sleep immediately and don't exhaust myself waking up all the time. She won't have these issues when she is older, so I figure I can hold out a few more weeks/months until she is at least 6 months old and then see if she can sleep better....(I also tried the HTTJs method and that seems to work sometimes...and also the W2S method which only worked once...but hard to follow through with). In the meantime, try to take naps and take it easy in the day time when you can - or have Dad babysit for a couple hours in the evening so you can get some rest. Good luck!

It's completely possible that he's experiencing night terrors, but they usually occur much later and generally don't occur that frequently.

It's not a bad idea to ask your pediatrician at the next visit or to call and speak with a triage nurse.

4.5 months is REALLY young to try sleep techniques (usually 6 months is when they're developmentally close to being able to work on this) - you will find people who are successful, but I'd guess they're a small minority at that age.

Here's some information that might help you:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddle...

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/s...

It sounds like night terrors... does picking him up actually make it worse? Send me a message if you want more info, both of my daughters went through that for years and it's terrible for us as moms, not so bad for them :)

my son does this and started around that age too. he'd scream out, i run in, he still sleeping. he also started laughing in his sleep now. its a full laugh, then it wipes off his face.

My baby went through a short period of crying while asleep (usually only once a night). At the time I researched past questions that mothers have asked and found that I was not alone and that the other mothers noticed that it only lasted 2-3 weeks and worsened when the baby was overtired. I think my baby was around 6 months when he started doing it, but it only lasted a few weeks.

That being said, my baby was 5.5 months before I could nurse him to sleep without burping him. Prior to that, if I did not get a burp out of him, his gas would wake him up in frequent intervals like you describe.

Have you thought about moving the crib into your bedroom? Or better yet, co-sleeping. I find having him close by helps me respond quicker. I use a video monitor when I am out of the room, so I can respond to him before he starts crying and wakes himself up.

If it is related to your baby's sleep cycle, you might try this advice I received from my pediatrician for my daughter. Although this was suggested for night terrors, it impacts the sleep cycle so maybe it might help. Since it was happening at the same time every night, he suggested going in about 15 min before the usual outcry started and waking my child to disturb her sleep cycle, keeping her awake for a few minutes and then putting her down - for about a week and then stopping to see if the terrors go away. This worked for us, but not sure if it would work for you. It's a thought, though.