Behaviour change in 3 month old...

[MumNAK]

I feel like I don't know my baby anymore. He goes from happy to crying almost in an instant. The only comfort that seems to soothe is to breastfeed him. I'm not even sure he's hungry as he doesn't give his normal hunger cry and doesn't stick out his tongue like he used to. He does stick his hands in his mouth but he is doing that even in his sleep now so I don't think its a reliable cue anymore. He's not napping well anymore but he was last week. He's up more frequently at night and its harder to get him back to sleep. Last night he would nurse to sleep like we always do but as soon as we put him in the crib he was wide awake with his hands in his mouth. I gave up and just laid in bed and let him nurse away. I have no idea how long or often he ate or slept last night.

I had thought it could be teething but now I'm just confused. I thought giving him tylenol had helped him fall asleep the other night but it didn't help yesterday. The other recent change is he soaking his onsies with excess saliva.

This started about 4 days ago. Does this sound like just a growth spurt? Or could he be in pain and nursing for comfort ?

Thank you in advance.

[tifttu]

It could be a lot of things, but one important thing to note is his age. Babies really actually start to notice the world at 3mos. Some say that the first 3mos is actually the 4th "trimester" when baby is really very much still needing the womb. At 3mos, everything changes. They want to see what's going on, they sleep less, they interact more, they have more needs and know better how to ask for them. I really think this is what you're seeing. My Dd had a very abrubt change at that age as well. DS never really slept anyway so i didn't see much change.

Teething is possible, but most babies aren't teething that young. Comfort nursing may be his way of getting away from the overstimulus of the world he's now noticing. Some babies can easily fall asleep to get away when it's too much, others need nursing or other form of soothing to help them get away from the overwhelmingness.

Change is the one thing your baby will do consistantly ;)

Continue to meet your baby's needs. You're not doing anything wrong by doing that. I'm trying to remember where the 4th trimester info came from, I think it may have been "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (a great book).

Good luck!

[crystal555rose]

I think my child started teething at this age. For him teething is gnawing and drooling for 3-4 months then a tooth pops out.

I think the more probable cause is growth spurt and what tifttu described. Try to remain flexible and accept that you cannot predict what baby does. This is normal. Once I did that I felt a lot less anxious- but I stressed out for a good 9 months before letting it go. "Will he sleep tonight?" became "Sleep, no sleep- whatever!"

Once I was able to ask my son questions things became a lot easier (around 11-12 months). Now at 21 months I am trying to decipher what he says. He laughs at me as I try to guess what he is talking about!

[MumNAK]

Thank you both.

Crystal555rose, Your son sounds so cute. I want that. LOL

I called my doctor's office and left a message with my concerns. The secretary forwarded the message to our doctor's nurse. Great system, I know. The nurse called me back and says she thinks he might be teething and also might be going through a growth spurt. She recommended baby tylenol if he seems uncomfortable.
I don't want a cranky baby for 3-4 months who nurses more frequently to soothe his gums. =( I miss my happy baby who would squeal and talk to me. It breaks my heart to think I won't have my happy baby back for months.

[tifttu]

He probably won't stay cranky for months. It ebbs and flows. Dd has been working on her 2yr molars and they'll get red and puffy and she'll be cranky and have trouble sleeping for a while and then she'll be fine and her gums will look like nothing is going on. Have hope :)

You may find that motrin works better than tylenol if it's teething. Tylenol never helped either of mine. The package states for 6mos and up, but if you go to the Dr. Sears website he gives you weights and says it can be given younger than 6mos.

[crystal555rose]

You will get your sweeite back! But it is miserable when they are cranky.

I hate hate hate teething. Just when you think it is over- bam- here come the incisors and they are so unhappy. There are periods where they do not want to eat (but nursing 5 times during the night would be great- thanks mom!).

I promise it will get better!

[Nipple_nectar]

I never used tylenol for teething, it just seemed ineffective. I preferred motrin but didn't use that unless pain persisted. For every day teething relief, we used Hylands teething tabs, they worked really well but we did have to use the full dosage recommended. Some nights were so difficult, we ended up using both motrin and Hylands, they are safe to use together.

It does sound like your baby has begun teething. During the day, giving him something cold to gnaw on, that will help him. Frozen wash cloths or teethers work well. I also made frozen breast milk cubes in an ice cube tray and popped one into the mesh feeder and my babies loved gnawing on that, their little cheeks would get red from the cold!

[MumNAK]

Thank you for thr advice, support and hope!

He's too young for teethers. He can't grasp them or hold them in his mouth. Heck his mouth is too small for most of them. Great ideas for the next round though, thank you! I'll try the washcloth again tomorrow. He didn't accept it today.
I can't find the teething tablets here in Canada. He's eating so frequently and is so cranky I can't leave to look at more places anyway. Maybe this weekend my husband will have time to look for me. If we survive the week.