What's going on - teething? growth spurt? developmental leap

DS, who typically goes down so easily, has had such a hard time of it these past 2 nights. Normally, it's BF, a little rocking in the rocking chair and then plop into the cradle and he's down. For the past 2 nights, he starts out with a grizzle and then escalates to a full on cry (full blown hysterics) - and this is while either DH and I are holding him (we get him after a few minutes of grizzling when we can tell it's not going in the right direction). It took us from 6:45 - 9:15 tonight to calm him enough to put him back down in a relaxed state he could fall asleep from! (there are nappy checks, clothing checks, hair around finger toe checks, burp checks during this time).

He's going down for his daytime naps without a problem and doing his normal long day naps. We can feel a tiny nub and he's drooling like crazy but this has been going on for weeks now. I know he's also at a wonder week (adjusted age 20 weeks on Thurs) and he seems to be changing daily in terms of what he can do. Could this be the cause? I guess it doesn't really matter why anyway, but I'm wondering.

Firstly :hug: gee these tiny tots can be confusing, cant they?!? I remember DD hit an awful phase at about 17 weeks and I just couldnt work out what the heck I was doing wrong! It is a phase and it will get easier. He may be teething, DD started the same things at about 16 weeks also and then never cut a tooth until 10 months :o I remember reading that during a childs developmental leaps, its like if you were chucked up on mars with everything foreign and terrifying to you and nothing you understood. He is clinging to the only thing he finds safe and comforting. Not much advice sorry, except that it will pass. Hang in there :comfort:

Thanks for the reply.

The other really unusual thing is he's not feeding very well...he's happy to hang out, but he isn't sucking in that much (and it's there - I tested) and his nappies are not very wet (they usually are). He is so easily distracted and I keep putting him back on but he doesn't seem to be that hungry. He's definitely not sick as he has zero symptoms of a cold.

Hey buliej
I'm actually having the same wonderful time with my little man, although he's quite a bit older than yours at 9 months now. We've had a few weeks like this, and every time people have said with a knowing look on their face and a firm nod "Teething, yep, definitely teething". He doesn't have anything yet ;)

So. We took him to the doc to check for ear infections after reading a thread on here that said they can be present without fever, the only symptom being non-sleeping. He doesn't have an ear infection.

He's not feeding as enthusiastically as usual, isn't interested in food and is irritable and won't sleep at night without Mummy, when every other night he goes down in his cot like it's his favourite place on earth.

If it keeps up for more than a few days, and you're feeling uneasy, take him to the doc. What they need to hand out is a program you can give the babies to chew so that when something is wrong, they have a print out that tells us what to do x

I hope he (and you!) gets some good rest tonight xx

It's often a few days of 'off' behaviour before symptoms become evident, too, so it is possible he's feeling unwell. Is anyone around ill?
The other thing is that around 3-5 months, they can tend to get very, very distracted in teh day time - it puts them off eating and sleeping, which can throw all your routines etc out the window. This can mean they're hungrier at night and feed more often and may also get overtired and cranky during the day.

That wonder week is a dooooozy. My whole MG were about ready to sell our kids on ebay at that week, it is SUCH hard work. But that seems to be pretty common, especially the sleep bit. For us it was about DD wanting her own space to go to sleep - she doesn't like nodding off in arms anymore since that WW. She settles in cot now, and for a few weeks we went back to 4-7 wakings per night, but just this week (26, I think?!) she is back to sleeping through. So it passes.

Hope that MadB is off the mark with the illness thing. That would be awful.

I don't think he's getting sick - at least I hope not (no one around us is sick that I know of).

DH just told me that the book on WW said this could last 4 weeks! But it was a bit easier tonight...NOT easy but easier.

4-7 wakings/night - poor you Audax - that is tough!

I hope he's not sick either!

Hey, maybe this is what DD's doing now too :) She was getting back to a decent 2-3 wakeups, but the last week it's been 6+. I just thought it's my husband's poor sleep-related DNA