[3mummy3]

Last night bub went down for the night about 8:30pm as normal. Dh and i went in to bed at about 11pm and ds was fast asleep (deep sleep, not moving, have to check that he is breathing type sleep!).
Acouple of minutes later he all of a sudden starting screaming, a real painful kind of screaming so dh jumps up and puts the light on and i pick ds up and put him into our bed.he calms down pretty quick and is lying there smiling at dh when all of a sudden his head starts shaking from side to side (like saying no). I sit him up and he continues to shake his head for a few more seconds then starts to cry again, this time just a whingy type cry rather than the painful cry.
I put him on the breast and he feeds and goes back to sleep. I transfer him back to the cot where he gets a bit restless but stays asleep. He then wakes at 2am and 6am for feeds then back to sleep. Normally he has been only waking once at around 3 or 4am.
The head shaking really freaked me and dh out as its something hes never done before so just want to ask on here if anyones bub has had a similar experience and whether we should be concerned that something might be up with him?
Today he seems ok but is refusing to sleep whereas normally he goes down around 9am for about 2hrs or so, today he just lay in his cot for about 30minutes before starting to cry, so went and tucked him back in and heard him making noises for another half hour ir so before he finally fell asleep but then woke half hour later.
We have appointments already booked tommorrow at health nurse for 4 month old check and doctor for 4mth immunisations so will obviously discuss this with both of them tommorrow.

[lilybet]

Just a guess here. He may be teething, and the head shaking may be a way to divert pain - like we do sometimes if something is sore. Check his lower gum.

Teething can be the pits!

[Mummy Em]

My dd2 used to bobble her head side to side and it was a self soothing thing when she was tired. My guess is he was either in some sort of pain (teething like pp said) or over-tired/overstimulated from the day.

[KC1979]

My son used to violently shake his head from side to side as a way to settle himself to sleep. It worried us at first! He is 16 months old now and rarely does it anymore unless he is super tired. I think it is pretty normal but of course check it out with your Dr in case its an ear infection or something else. Good luck

[MotherClucker]

DD just turned 4 and still does this but she has done it from birth (even when being cuddled) It still freaks me out!!

[Tenacious C]

My DS did this when he was younger when he had an ear infection, but that would be accompanied w by a high temp as well.

[PurpleNess]

My DS started doing this around 4-5 months, I think it had something to do with his first teeth. He didn't seem upset when he was doing it though.
Agree maybe have his ears checked or check his gums ;-)