[MNStarr]

Olivia has been home with us now for one month and a few days. She seems to have adjusted quite well as she knows who me and my husband are and is getting a little more picky about who holds her. Tomorrow she will be six months. She always gone right to bed really good and only woken up once during the night for another bottle. However the last 3 nights now she goes down to sleep and after an hour or so she starts screaming. To me it looks like she is having a bad dream and can't wake up. She just screams and screams and her eyes are completely shut. The only thing we have been able to do is pick her up and try to wake her up out of her sleep. Once she wakes up it takes her a minute or two to realize where she is at. And then when she does she snuggles right into us but doesn't want to be laid back down. We have to hold her and rock for a good hour or more before she will go back to sleep. I know she is teething but am wondering if this is more of a homesickness issue with all of the adjusting. I know it is perfectly normal for babies to deal with the loss of their foster mom but am more looking for reassurance that it is normal. Did anyone elses baby go through something similar? How long should we expect it to last and is there anything more we should be doing? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Annee]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's an adjustment issue. Or even just the teething. Or maybe nightmares...it's so hard when you can't ask them what's going on.

On the other hand, I wonder if it's possible that she's having night terrors. There's a good description of night terrors at http://www.nightterrors.org/ The site states they can occur as young as 6 months.

We finally figured out after several months that our son had more than one sleep issue. One of his problems was "confusional arousing" at night, which is related to night terrors but not as severe. He'd scream and holler and thrash about and would seem like he was awake but he really wasn't. Trying to soothe him just exacerbated the problem. The trick for us was learning when he was actually awake and in need of soothing and when he was still asleep. The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley really helped us figure out what was going on with him.

Kudos to you for trying to figure out what's going on with your little sweet pea!

[acjmn4ever]

It seems like you are describing my son! He came home at 6mo. He is 9mo now and we are still having the same problems. In some ways they are worse and in some ways better. My son is not teething. I think it is all adjustments. I think the reasons it gets worse before it gets better is because he is really bonded to us now and he does not want to be away from us. The night terrors really bother me. I really don't have answers for you, but wanted to tell you we are in the same boat. Good luck to you! MoMo

[Mandy4President]

I had two (bio- nothing to do with adjustment) sons that had night terrors. My first had them when he was a little older, but my second had them when he was really young. The only thing that you can really do is cuddle them (even when they are kicking and screaming) and try your best to wake them. My boys would actually look like they were awake when they had theirs, they just looked terrified like they were looking straight at a monster (I'm not THAT scary when I wake up in the middle of the night) but they would look like they were looking right through me. It helped my boys to make sure that they did not eat before bed (harder with a baby) but also to try to have a good hour of complete quiet time before bed. Like turn off the tele and many of the lights and just let their little minds rest. Eventually both my boys outgrew it. I hope this helps because I know they can be very scary!