My 13 month old daughter is having night wakings or "cry outs" as I call them. After she has been asleep for a couple of hours she will cry for any where from 10 seconds to a minute several times a night. She seems to stay asleep or fall back asleep before I make it into her room. Of couse it wakes me up several times a night and it is always hard for me to go bck asleep. The only time she really is up at nights is when she is sick with a cold. Has anyone had exerience in this behavior? Is it night mares? Is there something you have done to decrease or stop these "cry outs?"
My son would do the same, I think it was when he was cutting some teeth. When his eyeteeth were coming in, this went on for a while. He would cry out, but not actually wake up. I don't think the "night terrors" stuff actually starts until they are a little older.
My four-year-old daughter has done this since she was about one year old. It worried me at first, she will sometimes even call for me. When I go in, she is still fast asleep, and usually quiet by then. The times I have tried to wake her, she just looks at me like I'm nuts and goes back to sleep. I think it's just like talking in your sleep. Sometimes she cries in her sleep. It's not a big deal, and she never reports scary dreams. To be honest, she whines a lot at her brothers during the day, so she is probably just dreaming about that!
My son did this for awhile,and would even get out of bed and run around like he was scared or hurt. He was about three at the time. After about six months, I figured out that he was needing to go potty but was too asleep to know what was wrong. Your daughter is probably too young for this problem, though.
Good luck!
All three of my kids have experienced everything from night terrors, to sleep walking, to just plain old bad dreams. Because it's all we ever knew, we just thought it was part of our normal and just managed it by calming the kids without waking them (when it was necessary). If this continues into older years, one thing we did that worked was a "bowl of dreams." We had our daughter think of and tell us things that made her happy. We wrote each one down on an index card and put it in an old fishbowl that we happened to have. Then, every night before she went to sleep, she drew out "a dream." It was a way to put a pleasant thought in her head before she went to sleep. It helped her not to fear going to sleep and it actually seemed to reduce the number of bad dreams.
Good news, they have all mostly grown out of it! I've still got one sleep walker, but that's it.
Our 20-month-old does that, too. It can be hard to figure out if there's something wrong or if he's just going through a normal partial awakening. Generally going in to check wakes the child up more. We tend to leave our son alone unless the crying gets really insistent; I'd say almost every time he settles back down on his own and there's nothing wrong.
It sounds to me like she is having a night terror but not as long as ones my son has had. If that is the case you can only just while still in bed reassure her and be there till over. I have noticed that with my son it occurs when he is totally exhausted at 13 months she should be getting a morning and afternoon nap (or could be needing only one a day at this age) and 12 hours sleep at night. This would possibly keep them at bay. It does with our son. Also anything new could trigger it if really attached but I know as long as all is same and stuff the adequate sleep will help, As I am a new mom I could be wrong but on based on my limited knowledge that is how it seems to me. C.
Hi S.,
My daughter did the same thing from the time she was 24 months until the time she was about 31 or 32 months old. All in all...it lasted about 6-8 months. After talking with the pediatrician about it, we decided it was most likely because of the developmental milestones she was going through and because of a new baby in the house. She was learning to talk and really express herself by this time and she was experiencing a big change in our house. I think it was all of her frustrations coming out during her sleep.
Has she been learning to talk? walk? What about food? Is she learning to eat table foods? I think all of those things could possibly contribute to her sleep troubles.
I was going to try giving my daughter a homeopathic remedy, but it started to subside before I got the chance.
HTH!
When my son was about the same age he started the cry outs also. He was actually waking up just not completly. Even if I got up with him nothing satified him. I talked to his doctor and he said it is common for this age. If they are waking up then let them learn to go back to sleep on there own, either way as long as the child is getting plenty of rest it's ok. Like you said it seems to effect us more than them. I ended up turning off the baby monitor and just leaving his door open that way I could hear him he just wasn't as loud. Thankfully the stage didn't last very long and it only happens occasionally now. My son also sings in his sleep and I have noticed if he is feeling bad or teething it seems to occur more often. Hang in there, it gets better.
I have a 2 month old going on 3 and he does the same thing sometimes. I'll hear him cry and think he's waking up so I go running in there to see about him and he's sound asleep. I've been wondering the same thing. I've always just thought he was dreaming and don't think you can do anything to stop it. I know this wasn't any help but thought I'd respond. Good luck in the future and hope you get some sleep.
My daughter (7) still does this from time to time. If I go to her and try to wake her up, I just get a drowsy smile. Well, sometimes I get her grumpy face, when she's very sleepy and doesn't appreciate the lap in her eyes LOL
My youngest son does it pretty regularly. Last night, in fact, I got a bad case of the giggles in the middle of the night when I woke up from a bad dream, knowing I'd been talking in my sleep, to hear my husband whimpering slightly, the baby fussing to himself, and the dog growling and "running" in her sleep! It made me wonder how any of us get any rest in this noisy house LOL
As long as she's getting enough rest, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It may be that she's going through a big developmental milestone, and her brain is working out the details while she's sleeping. It could just be her way of releasing tension, or it might just be a "thing" she does sometimes. It could be some discomfort, like teething or stuffy nose/ears/sinuses from allergies, a little cold or something of that nature. Does she wake up stuffy? Have any sign of an ear infection or other fluid in her ears?
Night terrors last a lot longer than a minute, and are very, very loud, and really creepy. Both of my kids were prone to them, which is unsurprising, since I'm a sleep-walker, and the two are related somehow (in this case, they seem to be related by blood LOL). The crying is usually more like screaming and thrashing, and, even if the eyes are open, no one's home. I can also say that night terrors are harder on the parents than the kids, since neither of mine ever seemed remotely upset after one, while I was shaking and clammy for 30 minutes afterwards!
Check what else is going on with her (ie teeth or learning a new "trick") and go from there. If she's teething, a little medicine before bed might help her rest easier. If it doesn't seem to bother her, try to let it go and not be bothered in yourself. Kids do weird things sometimes, and, as soon as you have one figured out, they find a new weirdness to worry you with! LOL
Good luck!
My daughter does it.I am not sure what it is or why she does it, I just deal. I have to work 8 hours a day outside of the home & I have trained myself to fall back asleep quickly.
