If you your baby starts to wake up crying in the middle of the night, it might alarm you.
What parent wouldn’t be concerned about their baby crying for apparently no reason at all? Fortunately, if you’re wondering why your baby can’t make it through the night without waking up and crying, the reason is most likely nothing to be concerned about, especially if it doesn’t happen every night.
If you want to keep a closer eye on your baby during the night, investing in a good baby monitor is something I’d personally recommend. This way, you’ll be sure to hear if your baby wakes up crying in the middle of the night.
The 2 Main Reasons Why Babies Wake Up At Night
There are a few common reasons why your baby might be waking up crying at night. Here are things to look for:
1. Sleep Terrors
The most common reason for babies to wake up crying in the middle of the night is coming called sleep terrors. These can affect anyone, but babies seem to be more prone to them. While the name “sleep terrors” might sound horrifying to you, it’s basically like sleepwalking, but more alarming. The most common reason for sleep terrors is being sleep deprived, so the first solution is to be proactive and make sure you can get your baby to sleep soundly.
You can read our previous articles on soothing your overtired baby & recognizing the signs that your baby is tired to help get them on a better sleep schedule so that they’re more rested.
Dealing with sleep terrors: In the case that your baby wakes up in the middle of a sleep terror episode, it’s important that you deal with it the right way. Be sure to check on them, but be quiet and don’t try to speak to him. Don’t even try to sooth him; he’s going to be disoriented and confused, and touching or talking to him is going to only make matters worse.
The only thing you can really do is to stay by your baby and let the sleep terror episode run its course. Keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t somehow injure himself, and with any luck, he’ll fall back asleep again. If not, feel free to comfort him before getting him back to bed.
2. Illness
If your baby has been sleeping through the night fine without waking up crying in the middle of the night, it’s possible that he’s sick. In this case, he might be suffering from throat/ear or other pains, or fever that’s making him very cranky and uncomfortable.
Treating the illness is the best way to deal with this issue, obviously. Taking him to your pediatrician is the best course of action here.
What to Do (and Not Do) When Your Baby Wakes Up
Assuming your baby isn’t experiencing a sleep terror episode, you can try to calm and sooth him so that he can fall back asleep.
Don’t excite him; keep your voice down and speak in calming and soothing tones. Let him know that everything is fine, but try not to talk too much; remember, the goal is to get him sleepy. Also, don’t turn the lights up too high.
With any luck, you should be able to get your baby’s sleep pattern back to normal within a few weeks. Be sure to try to stick to a strict sleep schedule, which is the best way to make sure they get enough sleep every night.Tip: Don’t think every little noise is worth worrying about
Our little bundles of joy can be noisy sleepers. You might hear a whimper or something that sounds like crying at night, but it’s nothing to be worried about and your baby is probably sound asleep. Don’t go running into their nursery every time you hear something like this; just let them sleep through it, because it’s perfectly normal.
What if the Problems Persist?
If you can’t get your baby to calm down and sleep through the night without waking up crying, you have to remember to be persistent. Stick to a strict schedule and don’t give up if you see no results. Sometimes it can take a while to see any positive changes in your baby’s sleep habits. Just remember: don’t give up!
If you’ve tried everything you can to get your baby to sleep through the night without waking up crying, it might be a good idea to take them to a pediatrician. From there, they can tell you what you can do, give your baby a checkup to make sure nothing is medically wrong, and if necessary, direct you to an infant sleep expert.
4 comments
My son wakes up crying in the middle of night, and I pick him up to sooth him and he still has a cries. Like he was hurt or something kind of cry. I don’t know. But how do I sooth him? And why does he continue to cry after Ive picked him up? I figured he would calm down immediately after picking him up, but no. What do I do? #concernedmommy#what’swrongwithhim:(?
My baby wake up every night crying I pick him up talk to him make him a bottle and new Pamper he still crying don’t no what to do
He might have a bad dream,it scared him, just keep doing ur best,my daughter just woke up screaming right now so I llokedup this passage,its scary it wakes u up,but I’ve read so many paragraphs and it looks like they don’t know why baby’s wake up screaming out of nowhere! Ur not alone,I’m up right now trying to see wut happend to her
My godchild does the same thing. She’s 18mos and 4 out of 7 nights she wakes screeching scream And crying. I go to her like article Said . Spoke softly rubbed her lil curls and hummed. She was back to sleep. I grew up with night tremors nightmares so it was Natural for me to jump in and soothe tremors away. She took off running before too freaked me out but would only do these things at my house. Experience the swaddling soft words rubbing your Fingers through their hair/head works every time. #love #godchild