My 4 mo. old little boy cries every night at around the same time for about an hour. He's been fed, changed, and had plenty of naps during the day. I don't know what else it could be. After he calms down, he goes to sleep. Then may wake up an hour later in a great mood. I thought he might just be over tired so I really focused on getting him good naps during the day and he still does it. He's so perfect during the day. All smiles and plays well. Is it colic?
We discovered he had acid reflux. Put him on meds and he was a different baby.
My 9 yr old son did the same thing when he was a baby. I read in a T. Berry Brazelton book, Touchpoints, that some babies just get over-stimulated and have to cry to calm themselves. My son was like this for a few months. Sounds like a long time, but he'll be over it before you know it. The book was very helpful to me.
All I have to say, is hopefully it will pass. When my daughter was young, she used to cry every night for two hours. It was like clockwork. I was completely freaked out, but it turned out that this was just her "fussy time". Sometimes, taking her outside (although it is a little warm for that now) always helped! The fresh air helps, I think! Good luck!
It actually doesn't really sound like colic but it's possible. I think at his age it may be hunger, gas, or maybe even teeth! At least he goes back to sleep. Also, maybe he is waking up from bad dreams or is too hot or too cold. My first son had colic and boy did I know it. he screamed all the time. Good luck!
N. B.
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Our twins went through a similar stage about the same age. You could almost set the clock by it. Verify that it is not gas, hunger, or dirty diaper. If you have checked all of that, it's probably just a fussy time of the night for them. They will eventually grow out of it. Seems to me that it started around 3 or 3.5 months with ours - and maybe only lasted a 1-2 months. To calm ours during those fussy times, there were a couple things that seemed to help...1) swaddling them tightly 2) swinging motion. At the time I didn't have a swing that you could put an infant in (wish we did)...so we would sometimes put them in their car seat and swing them with our arms or rock them until they calmed down. You might experiment with a few things to see what works best with yours. I know it's frustrating - hang in there...it will pass.
Best wishes to you. :-)
Hi H.,
Many babies have "fussy times" that you can almost set a clock by. If you know he is fed, dry etc... it is best to just leave him be- you can lay him down, put him in a swing- what ever works best for you.
D.
It doesn't sound like colic. Colic is much more persistent. It could be his "fussy time" - is he doing it in the evening, or in the middle of the night?
If it's afternoon/evening, it might be something he's eating. Have you started solids? If you're nursing, is there something new you've been eating for the past few days?
If he's doing it in the middle of the night, it could be just a normal part of his sleep cycle. I learned after a while with both of my kids (3 1/2 and 16mo) that they had phases of light sleep where they'd cry or fuss for 5 or 10 minutes in the middle of the night. Once I realized this, I quit going in to mess with them. It still happens with my 16 mo old most nights at 11pm and 3am (thought it's now about a 2 minute interruption). We can almost set the clock by it.
That's very normal, it wouldn't be colic unless he cried for a few hours at a time. My first son did this, it was like clockwork, about 9 at night every night he would get really fussy. All of his physical needs were met and I would try to cuddle, nurse, whatever to calm him down. But the Dr said not to worry, a lot of babies have that "magic hour" at night. It's just their way of unwinding and letting out the stress of the day (even though it may seem their day wasn't very stressful!) Of course it was worse if we did a lot that day, or a lot of people were around, he just got over stimulated. Check out this link from Babycenter.com (i love this website!) http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babycare/babysoothi...
Just hang in there, it shouldn't last forever!
Doesn't sound like colic to me either. Something you might try is infant/baby massage. There are several people in the Dallas area to teach it and it really helped my daughter who has special needs when she was a baby. Even now, at 8 years old, she still asks for her massage sometimes when she really needs it. I hope this situation will get better for you soon.
My daughter is 4 1/2 months and she does the same thing when she is tired. I call it fighting sleep which all you can do is find where he is most comfortable and just soothe him the best you can until he falls asleep. I was blessed that the hospital where i had my daughter sends me emails each week that explains their development and in one it address this and this is how the baby relaxes himself at night and is completely normal. If you child was colicky, they would cry uncontrollably alot (to the point of driving you a little nutty). My daughter was colicky which was quickly remedy with a formula that helps with colic. I would consult your pediatrician to rule out any health issues but I bet you will find he is fighting sleep.
