Did your newborn always wake up crying?

[lynn07]

I am having serious issues remembering what DS1 and 2 were like when they were newborns (I think I blocked out that time in my mind). DS3 will be 3 weeks old on Saturday. Every time he wakes up during the day, whether I'm wearing him or he's in the car seat or he's laying down, he screams bloody murder as he wakes. Like, not just crying. It's a full on scream. I don't remember the older boys doing this, but I'm not sure. Did your newborn wake up screaming/crying or no? Just wondering if I need to be concerned. DS1 and 2 both had reflux, but it didn't show up until they were a bit older and it was obvious - they would spit up then scream. DS3 barely spits up at all, and when he does it doesn't seem to bother him, so I don't think its reflux. I'm a bit at a loss with this kiddo. He likes nursing and sleeping, and can only be awake for about 30 minutes before he starts getting overtired and then screams as I try to get him to sleep. Blech.

Sorry for the vent. Any insight is much appreciated.

[Poppy]

No, mine did not. That sounds rough, sorry.

[gibbinator]

Sounds like he might not be ready to wake up yet. Not a lot you can do except maybe try to get him back to sleep right away.
Ds1 was always pretty cranky waking up, and never took good naps. I attribute a lot of his fussiness and afternoon witching hour to being over tired.

[Brie]

P wakes up with little "ehh ehh" cries but cranks up to full volume pretty quickly. In fact, he's doing it right now.

[turtlegirl]

Yes! Both my boys woke up screaming 99% of the time as newborns. For the first 3 or 4 months of their life basically. They were almost always catnappers and I'm sure they weren't ready to wake up, but I could never really get them back to sleep.

Sorry, it's really frustrating and can get really old really fast. Just wanted to sympathize and let you know that both my kids were like this and I never really found a "solution" to it other than them just getting older and out of the newborn phase.

[lynn07]

Apr 1, 2015 16:37:03 GMT -5 turtlegirl said:

Yes! Both my boys woke up screaming 99% of the time as newborns. For the first 3 or 4 months of their life basically. They were almost always catnappers and I'm sure they weren't ready to wake up, but I could never really get them back to sleep.

Sorry, it's really frustrating and can get really old really fast. Just wanted to sympathize and let you know that both my kids were like this and I never really found a "solution" to it other than them just getting older and out of the newborn phase.

Thanks for this. At least I'm not alone. Part of the thing is, he wakes up screaming even if he's been asleep for 2 hours. It's so frustrating

[jeaniebueller]

My DS did for about the first 6 weeks.

[luv2rn4fun]

C is like this and it's so frustrating. He only takes 20-40 min naps unless I hold him or baby wear him. He's constantly overtired (wakes up rubbing his eyes, yawning, etc).

gibbinator- Did you find anything that worked to break the catnapping? I'm spinning my wheels over here trying to get him back to where he was (he was like this at 6 weeks old and then got better but I'm not sure if it's reflux or the fact that he refuses to nap...he has always been a horrible napper but at some point, a month ago, was STTN consistently). We have an appointment with a GI specialist, PP doula, and likely a LC all next week to try to figure this out. We all need sleep (he's not sleeping at night either)...which reminds me, did your DS also not sleep well at night even though he was a catnapper or was it just naps?

[scribellesam]

I don't think DS2 had many moments where he was both awake AND happy (and not nursing) until he was about two months old.

He'd be all angelic sleeping in my arms, I'd get so excited to see his little eyes open and then ... crying. It was not fun. I like him a lot more now.

[estrellita]

Apr 1, 2015 16:36:36 GMT -5 Brie said:

P wakes up with little "ehh ehh" cries but cranks up to full volume pretty quickly. In fact, he's doing it right now.

This. E will fuss for a second, then start crying pretty loudly right away. He gets into screaming territory pretty fast if he doesn't get what he wants very quickly. He's also usually crying for something if he's awake. He's just now starting to be awake and not crying but it's not for long. It's frustrating!

[trufflefries]

Sometimes they started out as the eh eh like Brie said, but escalated quickly if we didn't get to her fast enough. It was like that at least the first 2 or 3 months.

[azurely]

No, C doesn't. He wakes up fussing usually, but sometimes he just wakes up and lays there happy or making noises till we get him.

[carfar]

Not every time, but very often, and he was extremely rarely happy and awake at the same time. Poops made him cry, burps made him cry, being changed made him cry.... It all made him cry until about two months , then he had more and more alert, awake happy time.

[gibbinator]

@luv2run4fun, sadly I never did manage to get ds1 to take good crib naps until he was over a year old. I spent a lot of time walking outdoors because he was a motion junkie... It was great for pp weight loss
He also stopped sttn at 4 months and was a poor sleeper until 1.5 years when dh took over bedtime. We didn't sleep train though, so maybe he'd have slept better earlier if we had. Hard to know.

[luv2rn4fun]

Apr 1, 2015 17:17:39 GMT -5 gibbinator said:

@luv2run4fun, sadly I never did manage to get ds1 to take good crib naps until he was over a year old. I spent a lot of time walking outdoors because he was a motion junkie... It was great for pp weight loss
He also stopped sttn at 4 months and was a poor sleeper until 1.5 years when dh took over bedtime. We didn't sleep train though, so maybe he'd have slept better earlier if we had. Hard to know.

Yikes!  Not what I really wanted to hear.  Sorry you had to go through that- I honestly cannot imagine.  C is a motion junkie too and I stopped walking him everywhere to try to establish a routine...now he's simply not sleeping at all.  We have to rule out reflux issues and I'm talking to a PP doula to address the sleep routine/training side.

DH stepped in for bedtime last night for the first time and C went down relatively easily.  Nursing to sleep takes 1-2 hrs so not sure how much longer I can keep that up.  I have a feeling we will be sleep training earlier than later...never thought I would but I can't function on zero sleep and constantly having to move with him.  I also can't bear to hear him cry though so not sure how sleep training will even work...praying the doula is a magical sleep worker

[spwspw]

Apr 1, 2015 17:34:08 GMT -5 incogneato said:

Kid 1: yes. I never understood what Weisbluth said about "well rested babies wake up happy" because she NEVER woke up happy.

Kid 2: no, hardly ever.

It was just personality. Still is.

This, but in reverse kid order.

[meltoine]

Does the thirty minutes he's awake include eating time? If its 30 mins plus the time it takes to eat/change diaper, that's a lot for a 3 week old and he's definitely overtired. I'd try putting him down earlier and see if that helps.

[nextbigthing]

That sounds rough, I'm sorry, lots of hugs

T is 5 weeks and he starts making squeaks and squawks about 30 mins before he wakes up, then it's a slow cry. If we get to him within about 5 mins were good, after thst he gets mad and red faced

[formerlyllizzyb]

DS did, yes.
DD just fusses.

[mandymay]

My daughter did. My son would either make noises (not crying, not really fussing) at night and just open his eyes and be quiet during the day when he was less than a month. Now he just babbles.

[luckyno7]

Mine is also 3 weeks and the same way. It's OMG feed me now.

[lynn07]

Apr 1, 2015 18:08:22 GMT -5 meltoine said:

Does the thirty minutes he's awake include eating time? If its 30 mins plus the time it takes to eat/change diaper, that's a lot for a 3 week old and he's definitely overtired. I'd try putting him down earlier and see if that helps.

Hard to say. He still keeps his eyes closed a lot of the time he is nursing, so although he's not all the way asleep, he doesn't seem awake either, kwim? He nurses so differently/so much less efficiently than DS2, so he's on the boob a long time. I'll definitely try earlier, though.

Thanks for all of the commiseration/info everyone. It helps to know that some other have gone through it too.

[Deleted]

Apr 1, 2015 16:46:17 GMT -5 scribellesam said:

I don't think DS2 had many moments where he was both awake AND happy (and not nursing) until he was about two months old.

He'd be all angelic sleeping in my arms, I'd get so excited to see his little eyes open and then ... crying. It was not fun. I like him a lot more now.

Exactly this. It was a bit longer for us though - sometime between 3-4 months.

[sent]

Yes. It wasn't until like 5 months when she finally stopped one morning. It was a weekday and my mom was over and we were both like "whoa, finally, that's a first."

[litasail]

Yep, DS woke up screaming and continued until he was being fed. Lasted until... 2 months? maybe?