Baby Would Be Sleeping Through the Night, but One Problem.

maybe it's the feeling of the socks he likes? Have youtried trimming his nails short and doing away with the socks?
Also, when you lotion him do his scalp too. I used to use that aquafor (sp) (stuff they give you for cracked nipples) on my boys forehead and scalp.
Also, when he does wake up try rubbing his back and head gently to put him back to sleep.
I am sugessting the connection could be the dry skin, or the sock feeling on his hands?
Also, to distract him, you could give him a little bit of water in a bottle to put him back out. Don't give him milk at night if he doesn't need it! Trust me, My son is 11 months and still wants that 4 AM milk!!! Big mistake.

My first daughter used to do that too, even though she wasn't really doing it throughout the day, at night she was scratching her head I believe because it itched. Maybe they don't notice as much throughout the day. I recommend using cetaphil cleanser to wash his head with instead of baby shampoos. You can even leave a little in his hair when rinsing and it will keep his head and hair very soft and not dry. This should help him sleep more peacefully. Cradle cap can be easily scrubbed away. I know that for some first time moms you try to be extra careful but you really only need to be that gentle on their softspots the rest of their head isnt as sensitive as you might think(of course you should still be careful, I just say this because some moms just barely touch their babies heads when washing them)Also having two children(one of them just born in may) who have a lot of hair, at about three months the hair on the sides of their head vanish leaving them to look a little like monks. Its perfectly natural and has little to do with his itching/rubbing if anything to do with it at all. My daughter who is three months has a massive head of hair and never itches it but just like my first hairy daughter the hair on the sides of her head is almost completely gone. I think its because their heads are growing and maybe also because of where their heads lay when they are laying down.

I don't know if this would help at all but thought i'd throw it out there anyway... when my daughter was an infant she used to use a pacifier and rather than clip it to her (i thought that would be uncomfortable to roll on and such) i clipped it to a burp cloth. ultimately the burp cloth became her security thing i guess because she'd hold onto it and kind of hit/rub her head with it until she'd fall asleep. we began calling the burp cloths "huggies" and she carried them for quite some time but eventually grew out of it and now she has a few she uses for her baby dolls. (she's 4).

I agree with the last repsonse about the detergents. You'd be shocked to know that they put detergents and fragrances in your baby's shampoo and body wash. Detergents like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate that are found in your soap as well as your household cleaning products. Since baby's skin is more sensitive they can have reactions to it more easily than the rest of us. But it really isn't good for any of us. It basically dries out our skin and then they put chemical moisturizers in the soap to try to put moisture back in the skin. Also harsh fragrances can also start an irritation to sensitive skin. As well as a chemical called Propolyne Glycol (the main active ingredient in antifreeze). This chemical is known to cause death if exposed to in high doses. Yet they think it is safe to put in our toiletries in small doses even though our liver can not proccess it causing it to stay in our bodies for life. But I could go on about that! haha If you google these chemicals you can learn more about them and the effects on our bodies.

Once your sons soars get bad enough continuing to use lotions and soaps with these chemicals is going to make it worse. I would stop using any name brand soaps and lotions and switch to a brand like burts bees. They have a great baby line of products from washes, lotions, powders and more. That's what I switched to when I discovered the chemicals they were putting in our soaps and shampoos. You can find it at wegmans in the organic section. I have also seen it at Walgreens. But really just look at the back of the bottles and if you see those chemicals or even if you can't pronounce the words on the back, it is safe to say don't buy it b/c it is going to irritate your son's skin.

To get the irritation to die down I would put desitin on it. The original kind. It's going to be messy but it will sooth it so he won't want to itch it and it will heal it the fastest. Then after that make sure to use laundry detergent without any harsh fragrances and fabric sofetner on baby's clothes and everyone's shirts and only wash him in soaps that are free of harsh chemicals such as one's I described. To try to prevent it from happening again.

Hope this will help.

If his cradle cap is stil an issue, I may be able to help! I am an independent consultant for Arbonne and I swear by their baby care line! I use it on all 3 of my children ages 5 mos., 4 yrs. and 7 yrs. My 7 yr. old got upset the one time I grabbed another product because he said it's the only wash that doen't make him itch.

The baby had very bad cradle cap but the wash, oil, and a comb were all it took to get rid of it. The products are pure, safe and beneficial which I love!

Hugs,
L.
____@____.com

I know this is an old request....but it was in the spotlight on the side of the Mamasource page.

I just wanted to share a strange allergy...it is not to detergent. It is to irritation.
Your cells individually release histamine when irritated.
If you notice when you get a bad scratch, sometimes it gets red and blotchy...and sometimes even weils up ike a cat scratch would.
Well....I happen to have an allergic condition that makes me do that all the time...well...when I am not taking antihistamines for my hayfever.
At night, the heat changes make my legs itch....but if I scratch them once, I can't stop. I get it when I take off tight clothing....stockings, socks, the waist band of jeans...
Once I was going nuts thinking one of the children in the house had head lice. I checked my daughter and my friends kids...none of them had lice....so then I had my friend check me....well I did not have head lice either. But it felt like something crawling on my head....biting, itching. EEEEwwwwwww.
I noticed some time later that after brushing my hair, my scalp was on fire....crawly itchy feeling....drove me nuts...My entire scalp was red....right to the hairline.
The hair brush scratched my scalp all over and caused hives all over my scalp. I couldn't stop scratching....but the more I scratched the worse the hives got.
Since I have hayfever, I see an allergist annually...I asked him about the hives....he played with my skin a little. It's sort of funny, the slightest scratch maked me look like I was attacked by a cat. I never noticed it before.
He said it is called dermatographism (something like that).
It makes me look awful if I scratch my cheek....
lol
But I choose not to live on antihistamines year round.

The hormone changes in a baby could cause that temporary immune response....or it could be a sign that he may have sensitive allergies.

SO...if you find nothing works....you may have hit it right on the head the first time, holding his arms, forcing him to stop. It goes away on its own when it is no longer irritated. Calamine topically will sooth too, but may get messy. Antihistamines prevent it, but I do not recommend medicine for babies when it is not absolutely needed.

Congratulations on your new baby!!

That doesn't sound like soothing to me...are you sure it's not an allergy to fabric softener, or detergent, maybe even bath soap/shampoo? Have you tried a different shampoo to see if it stops? Or maybe try an oil on his head kind of like what they tell you to use for cradle cap. Try placing a hat on his head make sure it’s NOT one he can pull over his nose or mouth. Sorry I’m not a whole lot of help just a couple guesses!!!!

Hi. First of all Propolyne Glycol IS used in antifreeze, but it's the NON TOXIC kind. This is a moisturizer. You can look it up on wikipedia. Second, my thoughts lean toward an allergy. If you aren't already, you might need to use baby detergent when you wash your sons sheets, blankets, and clothes. Also, are you sure there are no holes in your window screens? It could be a mosquito or fly bothering him in the middle of the night. You might also want to have him checked for an ear infection. Maybe his ears hurt, and he is trying to rub them. Even a wax build up can cause his ears to hurt or itch. If you rub his head as he falls asleep with you-you might want to stop doing that. If he is doing it to self soothe.

As for the cradle cap get a firm, but not stiff brush and scrub his head when you bath him. Some of his hair will probably fall out, but that's ok. My youngest son had cradle cap pretty bad last winter. I picked at it and picked at it until I was tired of looking at it. I finally got a nail brush and scrubbed it all completely off his head one night during his bath. He hardly cried, and it never came back. I don't remember exactly how old he was, but he was still laying in a baby bath tub over the kitchen sink. Good luck with both of those.

Congratulations on becoming a stay at home mom! I'm always for mom's being home with kids! :)