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Friday, January 10, 2014

Bloguary Day 10: Infant Screaming Fits and Early Teething

 

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I’m going about day 10 as if we were buddies chatting through email. I didn’t want to post a crap blog just to get content up so I figured we could talk about what’s been going on in the Huie house. Real life ya know! I’m all about sharing!

In my last post I said I was going to take a little mental break for the day. We had a hard few days with Mr. Weston and I was spent. I didn’t have it in me to put together a post so I took the day off. Then I missed yesterday. So I’m cheating a little bit and back dating this post for the 10th even though it’s the 11th. I will have another post for day 11 up later tonight.

Here’s what I’ve been dealing with this week………

Little dude has been doing these things I call screaming fits. They happened when he’s dead asleep. Sometimes he wakes himself up other times I go in to comfort him and wake him while doing so. Usually after a few minutes he’ll stop and continue sleeping as if nothing happened.  They are baaaaaaad really bad. They started about a week ago and freaked me out! He’s a fussy one but I’ve never heard him scream and cry so loud. It literally sounds like someone is trying to cut his arms off. It’s horrible. I’ve checked his fingers, toes, and little man parts to make sure nothing was hurting him but didn’t find anything. He’s fine during the day (besides being exhausted from the fits).

When it 1st started it was happened every couple of hours during the night and naps were completely out of the picture unless I was holding him. There was a couple days where we just stayed cuddled up in bed because he was so exhausted from the night before but wouldn’t nap so the only thing I could do to make him happy was to nurse off and on and hold him while he slept.  It worked so that’s what we did.

It’s gotten better……well the fits have gotten better. The last 4 days he’s back to sleeping through the night and only has a screaming fit during his morning nap. The fits have gotten shorter and he usually falls right back to sleep if I don’t go in and wake him. Things are all out of whack though. He’s not eating as much sometimes fights the bottle or he wants to eat all the time and has no problem with the bottle. He used to eat every 3 hours now it’s a little here, some there, and several big meals close together. He was napping twice a day 1 nap around 10:30 and another around 5 now he’s napping 3 times a day but goes down like a champ. I’ve started charting his feedings and naps along with his behavior to see if I can find some sort of pattern because I’m pretty much at a loss as to what’s going on.

Maybe early teething, a growth spurt, night terrors, a little of all three. Who knows?

We went to the doctor last week. I saw the PA who was very sweet and helpful in some ways but she kind of poo-pooed some of the things I was concerned about. He’s drooling a ton and has a rash on his chin and lower cheeks which I’m guessing was caused by all the drool. She said it was baby acne. I don’t think so. It comes and goes and gets worse when he’s hot from crying or drooling. I mentioned that to her but she stuck with baby acne. He did have a pimple under his eye but the rash is a rash.  I suggested that he might be teething (yes it’s early for that but seems like he has several of the symptoms). She smiled at me and shook her head. She said he has a little cold (cough and congestion) which is another reason I brought him in. She recommend some great natural remedies for his cold so that was awesome but I left without answers for a few things. We have his 4 month check up with his doctor next week so hopefully she’ll have some better ideas as to what may be going on. I still think he’s teething which may also be a reason for the screaming fits as well as some of the other things that are going on but I’m not a doctor so we shall see what she said at his appointment next week.  He’s eating, has pee and poo diapers, he’s not running a fever, he’s happy most of the time so I’m not as freaked out about the fits as I was when they 1st started but it’s been a little rough in the Huie house this week.

It’s been hard to get post together but now that things are getting a little better (he’s at least sleeping again) I have some down time so I can get back to working on post! I’ve challenged myself to finish this through so it’s going to happen! 

I’m really enjoying Bloguary! Not sure if people are following along but I’m having a lot of fun with it!

Check back tonight. I’ll have Day 11 up this evening then should be back to our regular 8am cst posting.

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4 comments:

  1. Poor little guy! That's unfortunate that the PA didn't fully address your concerns, hopefully his doctor is better. I'm a new mom too (10 week old), so I know how scary and stressful it can be when you think something might be wrong!

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  2. E went through that right around 4 months. I think they were night terrors because he didn't even seem fully awake most of the time. We are big on crying , it out so I would go in there, pick him up and rub his back and then lay him back down. He would always go back to sleep after a little bit. I really think he will get through this soon. You're a great Mama!

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  3. Poor guy :(. If he's only doing the screaming fits while he's sleeping it sounds like a night terror type thing. He's also in a period of increased dreaming, so that probably is really playing in to it. Here's an interesting article on the subject: http://www.drgreene.com/qa-articles/truth-dreams-nightmares-night-terrors/

    For the other stuff, he may very well be teething. My son was on the later side to actually get teeth in, but experienced discomfort early on. His pedi said that the only way to tell if it's actually teething or not is to see if his fussiness is relieved by tylenol or teething tablets (I use Hyland's for both of my kids and had great results). I would definitely say, without a doubt, that the rash on his face is from the excess drooling. I think I remember that putting petroleum on the chin will help, but don't quote me on it. The drooling itself may be teething or also drooling really kicks in to gear starting at 3 months to help with the digestive system.

    I hope he feels better soon with everything. It's tough on baby and tiring for mommy! My kids are 3.5 years old and 18 months now, but I still feel like those infant days were just yesterday.

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  4. It sounds more like gas pain/indigestion to me more than teething. It is true that babies as young as 4 months can already start teething but from reading your story I would lean more towards gas pain. If he is formula fed, some of the different formulas can have proteins that can be unsettling in babies tummies. Luckily, there is a huge selection of formulas out there you can try. If your baby is breast fed then he could be having a reaction to something you are ingestion and, in turn, transferring to him via your breast milk. I know some babies are sensitive to certain gas-producing foods that their mommies eat or various other foods (i.e, dairy, soy, some veggies, spicy foods).
    I am a NICU nurse and a mother of 2. I have experience at work and at home. I had to watch what I ate when I was nursing and even change my first child's formula to a soy based one when I was done nursing. My second one would wake up from a comfortable sleep as if he was in excruciating pain. My pediatrician told me to give mylicon which didn't work. I found this stuff called "Colic Calm" that worked almost instantly! Like clock work I would give it to him every evening to help him have a comfortable night. Hyland's tablets worked very well with both of my kids when they were teething. LOVE that stuff!
    And as a medical professional myself, I would say that you don't let anyone poo poo any concerns you have for your child. You do, in fact, know your child better than they do. :-)

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