“Could be his molars coming in.”
With that simple sentence, I lost a bit of love for our pediatrician, which is okay because I have enough love for him that losing a bit is tolerable.
The baby had been waking up for a few nights running, and since he had an ear infection the last time that happened, we were there to rule out that possibility. With it ruled out, I was left with no simple answer to this maddening new trend in my baby’s behavior.
As the days went on, he did it over and over, waking between 2 and 4:30, upset but easily calmed, sometimes soaked through, sometimes dry. One night, for extra fun, he woke up an hour after the first time, just as I was drifting back to sleep.
Naturally I turned to the Internet and books for possible reasons. None of them seemed fun:
– Molars. Two-year molars coming in seven months early, could take a few months to fully erupt. Neato.
– Separation anxiety. Really? I’m with him ALL THE TIME.
– Overtiredness. The more tired you are, the worse you sleep. The worse you sleep, the more tired you are. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
– Night terrors. He’s a little young for this, but one of the hallmarks of this lovely phenomenon is a freaked-out kid who suddenly calms down and passes out again, which is pretty much what he was doing. He also paused during a crying jag to chirp, “hi!”
– 18-month sleep regression. This is where the kid starts waking up at night for no apparent reason, and you get to decide how to deal with it. Regardless of your course of action, you still end up with a tired baby and shredded sleep.
– Just a fun new limit-testing behavior. Because making Mommy get out of bed is fun!
– Full moon.
Go ahead and laugh at that last one. He stopped his wee-hours wakings the night after the full moon.
Apparently I’m raising a werewolf.
Mama-Come-Lately 