Why does my 8mth old scream uncontrollably at 3am EVERY night?

[appletree]

Can anyone help? Its been over a month now where it gets to 3am and he just screams and screams and screams! For months now he has been waking at 10pm, 1am, 3am, 4:30am and then up at 5:45am for the day. Usually a feed gets him back to sleep, but now at 3am he just goes nuts. Why the 3am feed? Why doesn't he sleep? He self settles and has done since birth, but at night time he has been falling asleep during feeds and i burp him and place him back in bed.

[human bean]

I don't know why, but I do know how it feels it is so very exhausting

My DD has just gone through very similar for just over a month, and has just started sleeping through it again, we just had to go with it, DH and I took turns, and just one night all of a sudden she stopped again. I think maybe she's just processing so much stuff that it's a bit overwhelming? I really don't know, but I hope it passes for you soon.

[appletree]

Thanks human bean, great idea about taking turns! I am going to see if DF will take over tonight for me while i sleep in another room!

[Jennie13]

I dont know why, But my DD did a similar thing, prob about 4months old (we were not having a very good time then with sleeping/feeding, we were all over the place) She would wake at about 10pm and scream and scream and scream! for ages, and it would take a while to console her. She did just stop tho one night. It so hard and heartbreaking tho sorry i couldnt be more help

[MumtoA]

I just saw my clinic nurse about this with DD. She is the same age as your little one. Apparently it is very common around this age and usually due to separation anxiety and the massive developmental leaps they are having atm. Like appletree said, it does pass. DD did this for about 3 weeks with some ok nights and some really bad ones, however the last 3/4 nights have been much better. I am not big on the whole controlled crying thing but i had gotten to the point of enough is enough about 4 nights ago and i let her cry for about 45 min (wasn't screaming, just continuous whinging) and she eventually feel asleep. From that night she has not really done it again. I think it was partly habit that she had formed as i would be going in there when she started up in the previous weeks but like i said, after leaving her that one night she did break the cycle and hasn't really done it since...I found that when i went in to tend to her she was getting even more worked up and i just thought it wasn't working me or DH going into her, just seemed to make the whole situation worse and it took forever for her to calm down.

not sure if that helps, just my experience and reassurance that your not alone! xo

[MummaSue]

DD's done this a few times and when I pick her up she does a MASSIVE burp.

[Early Kids]

My kids went through a similar phase however for DS2 it turned out he is intolerant to dairy. Is there something new you've introduced solids/food wise? Just a thought to keep in mind as if it continues it may be worth getting a GPs opinion.

[fi1980]

How difficult for you - the sleep deprivation must be awful!

My DD went through many similar stages and it nearly broke me!! As someone else has said I think in part for us it just became a habit - the screaming became a habit and me going insane trying to console her became a habit. I resorted to contolled crying which I never thought I would do. But you know what? It worked!! I found it worked great for a while but then slowly the habits would reappear and I would have to go back to controlled crying. I know it sounds harsh and may not be something you want to engage in but the way I looked at is was, DD was crying/screaming anyway whether I was trying to comfort her or not. And to be honest, she is a lot happier in herself now that she understands she has the ability to settle herself during the night.

As others have also said maybe rule out other possible causes such as wind or food intolerances.

Good luck. I hope things settle down for you soon

Fi