10mo Night Wakings Due to Hunger!

[Casseopea]

Long night again last night.  I gave in and fed him at 5:30am. 

He is still teething.  3 of the 4 canines have poked through and the last one is a decent bump.  We give him motrin and the teething gel along with allergy meds (when he went to the doctor last he had fluid in one ear) but don't really see a difference.

I do think he is finally getting to the age where he wants to be more social and therefore wants to be with us.  But sometimes he will scream even when I am right next to him- just not paying attention to him or holding him. 

7/7:30am Up & Solids
8am Bottle
10-11am Nap (have to wake him)
12pm Solids
1-3pm Nap (have to wake him)
3pm Bottle
5pm Solids
7pm Bottle
8pm Bed

I feel like I am living with a newborn again.  I am exhausted and cranky all day long and live off of caffeene.   

[*Ali*]

Does the dr know what is causing the fluid in the ear? Could it be hayfever?
The fact he is not eating well during the day could mean it is something other than routine or habit. Has your dr recommended that you make the allergy meds a long term thing?
I know lots of LOs want to be held or played with all the time when they're awake. I experience it with my DS all the time. I try to keep him involved it what I'm doing by sitting him in the hhigh chair to watch me cook or whatever. Or I set him up playing with something next to where I'll be and then talk to him about what he is doing while I work. It doesn't work all the time of course, especially if he is OT or teething.
Maybe when the teeth come through he'll be a bit happier.

[Casseopea]

I took him to the doctor a couple weeks ago (before I knew he had three teeth coming in at once!) and she noticed some fluid in one ear.  We had given him some allergy meds a week or so before that because he had a runny nose, itchy eyes, etc but stopped when it got better.  The doctor told us to go ahead and give him the meds for a little longer to help with his ear incase it was allergy related and that she would write him a prescription if he got a fever- assuming that meant an ear infection.  He never got a fever so we never put him on more meds but we have continued the allergy meds.

He did not used to be as clingy which was nice since he is the third and his older brother has Autism/Aspergers and his older sister is spirited.  Ever since he learned how to crawl he hates to be confined- pack-n-play, high chair, exersaucer, jumper, etc.  If I put him in the pack-n-play he will scream (which he did last night while I was doing baths), even if he has his favorite toy.  I can't leave him in the high chair for much longer after he has eaten and he isn't a fan of just sitting in it.  He has even begun to hate being confined in the stroller.

We have a great room and he has access to the whole room- which is where pretty much everyone is all day long.  He used to play much better on his own, more contently.  It seems like the craziness and crankiness and really been at a high for the last month or so.  I thought it was a routine thing but now I am not so sure.

And he has the most awful screams- I practically get an immediate headache from them they are so loud and high pitched. 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I just saw this thread and I am suffering horribly from hayfever, even the meds I am on are not doing alot, could it be that?  I'm not running at the nose or eyes, but my ears feel popped and my throat is scratchy all the time. Frankly, I would love to sit here and scream all day (oh wait, I did lose it on DH earlier  maybe that is why!) 

[JennŠ]

A weird thought: what are you using for the fluid?  Maybe a different antihistimine would work better?  Humidifier or dehumidifier?  That part is tricky, a dehumidifier inhibits mold and dust mites.  Dry air is not as fun for breathing.  KWIM?

[Casseopea]

Generic Zyrtec- it is what Keira's allergist recommended as a daily thing for her and he said it was safe from 6 months old.

We have a humidifier though it is currently out of water- we have horribly hard water so we have to fill up the humidifiers with filtered water and we just haven't gone and gotten any yet.

I was thinking today that maybe he is getting old enough that I need to start combining his bottle and solids at *mealtimes*.  I honestly can't remember when I did it with the other two and I don't have any notes on it (and I am a major note taker).  And I wonder if I am stressing for no reason- if this is all just part of the normal intake slowing that happens at/around their first year?  Though that doesn't account for the screaming/crankiness.

He woke at 2:30am last night and ate 4oz.  This morning he ate a good breakfast at 8am (3.5oz baby food and 3/4 of a waffle) and drank almost 4oz at 9:30am and then lunch was a disaster- he ate nothing (1oz tops).

And then to go with everything hubby told me yesterday that we (meaning me) need to not let him have his paci all day long.  Yes- then he will twice as loud!  Not that he cares since he isn't the one home with the baby all day long!   

[JennŠ]

I ask medwise because I use zyrtec, hubby uses claritin.  Zyrtec does nothing for him.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Yeah, its the claritin (and reactine) that do nothing for me...is Zyrtec OTC? I wonder if it is called a different name here.

I could see that he might be slowing his milk intake, but you are right, it doesn't account for the screaming.

And  to DH for thinking you should listen to him all day when the soother helps.  If his teeth are bothering him, have you seen the teethers that look like a soother only are made out of harder plastic?  I think the ones we had were made by playtex. 

Maybe it's just a bad combo of teeth, allergies, SA and milk dropping all at once?  Yikes!

[*Ali*]

Zyrtec is OTC in the UK. It is a brand name. The active ingredient is Cetirizine. Claritine is Loratadine.

Maybe it's just a bad combo of teeth, allergies, SA and milk dropping all at once?  Yikes!

Yikes indeed but could be this exactly I suspect.

[Casseopea]

He woke up twice last night to eat.  Once at 10:15pm and ate 3oz.  And once at 4:15am and ate 4oz.   

I understand what you mean about the allergy meds.  I got Clariton for me because hubby recommended it but it didn't help so now I am going to try zyrtec.  Ye generic zyrtec is cetrizine.

So hubby said he noticed some bumps in the molar area!     If that is true he has the three canines that had already poked through (one is just about all the way in) plus the last canine which is a decent bump and at least two molars!!  So we are going to up his motrin (mainly just give it to him consistantly whether he looks like he needs it or not) and see if that helps.

I am also thinking of going back to his old schedule of 2- two hour naps just to see if that makes any difference. 

I bought him a couple wooden ring teethers and he doesn't seem to care for them.  Plus another one that is beads covered with material.  I thought these would work better for the back teeth but he has no interest in them.  Mostly he uses his paci as a teether- pushing it to one side and chewing on it.

So if he is slowing his milk intake should I begin offering it as part of the meals and then do actual snacks inbetween?  Or keep offering it at snack time?

And I would like to point out that I went to the grocery store this morning while hubby watched the two younger ones and when I got home I saw that he had given the baby a paci!  ha!!   

[*Ali*]

And I would like to point out that I went to the grocery store this morning while hubby watched the two younger ones and when I got home I saw that he had given the baby a paci!  ha!!

Ha!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

And I would like to point out that I went to the grocery store this morning while hubby watched the two younger ones and when I got home I saw that he had given the baby a paci!  ha!!

lol!  Yeah, reactine here is same as zyrtec, so I guess I need to try something else!  Poor boy, molars on top of everything!!!

[Casseopea]

So I read something in a magazine today- that you shouldn't let your baby bottle-feed horizontal because milk could flow into their middle ear and not drain immediately.  This caught my attention because about a month or so ago we started letting Clyde feed himself.  And since he hasn't figured out how to tip the bottle enough we just lay him down on the floor and give him his bottle.  Have any of you heard of this before? 

[*Ali*]

It's a new one on me!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I've heard that before...we used to prop the kids up on a pillow!