Saturday, July 31, 2010

Holy SCREAMER Batman!

So our wonderful sleeper has decided to be a falling asleep nightmare.  It's gotten to the point where every nap and every night before bed he SCREAMS.  It sounds like someone is murdering him.  There's not a whole lot that I can do that will help him.

We've been swaddling since birth and he's still getting swaddled.  If we don't swaddle him, he flails hysterically.

I nurse him before this starts, usually.  He won't latch once he gets started anyway.

Rocking doesn't help, walking doesn't help, noise doesn't help, silence doesn't help...nothing helps....he just screams himself to sleep.  I hate that I can't put him down awake anymore and I refuse to put him down screaming.

I've tried giving him Tylenol just to see if it would help...it's hard to tell if it's setting in and helping or if he's just screamed enough to settle.

I just don't know what to do.  I tried putting him down sleepy, go to him after a few minutes of lower level fussing, pat him or stroke him until he settles, then walk away again.  Only each time he fusses it gets louder and more panicked until we're right back into the screaming.  I've tried just cuddling him until he falls asleep, but he'll eventually work into screaming.

It kills me that he's getting so worked up and I want so badly to teach him good sleeping patterns (I've battled with sleeping issues since infancy).  Once he's out, we're golden...it's just getting there :(

Please help!!

4 comments:

Tina said...

Might have been me, but yes, I've done them all together. :( And his theory is supposedly only for the first 3 months :(

Emily - faliLV said...

Have you tried a woombie instead of swaddling - it was awesome and a lifesaver for us!
I'm a new follower from CDing bloggers btw! Hope you get some rest soon!
EMily
www.familyandlifeinlasvegas.blogspot.com

Karen said...

I recently read "The No Cry Sleep Solution." It's packed full of advice. We were having cranky issues at night, too, along with letting him set his bedtime, which would be 7, 8, 9, or 11pm, depending on his mood. And always lots of walking and crying. But we started doing some of the things from the book and things are looking up.

Tina said...

I'll have to check out "The No Cry Sleep Solution." I've heard of it before.

He seems to be over his screaming. He's still fussing a good bit, but it's not the all out SCREAMING. Thankfully!