20 Month Old Wakes up Screaming

First of all, if your 20 month old is not talking at all, he should probably be seen by the dr. anyways. My daughter is 20 months old and communicates well enough to tell us if she is hungry (num-num), thirsty (juice) or is hurt (owie). I think that by 20 months they should be saying a lot of different words. As for the waking at night screaming, it could be night terrors. My son (now 4 yrs.) used to get them. You might look into it. You might also think about turning the TV off right before bed and reading a book or something else. Also, if you don't have insurance, you should check into DSHS (at least for the kids). It's so important to make sure that your kids are covered in case of an emergency. We had it for a while when my husband was new on the job and insurance hadn't kicked in yet. You can call the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services to find out more or check out the gov't website. I hope that this can help. I know that's it's hard to tell in an email, but I mean all of this lovingly and without critism. Good luck and I wish you the best!

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I would agree with the moms here about it being nightmares/night terrors. My son was getting them about the same age, he is 28 months now and still has them occasionally. I would also agree with Old Mom, aka Judy, about the cartoons before bed being part of the problem. I know even as an adult, if I watch something that could be very stimulating before bed, I don't sleep as well. I am not judging you for having the tv in their room, you just may want to try removing the tv altogether and see if that helps.

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Sounds a bit like Night Terrors to me. Almost something like a nightmare, but they seem awake and can be way more terrifying. My son went through Night Terrors and it was horrible to go through. I talked with my doctor and was advised not to touch them if at all possible when they go through this because it could wake them up and scare them even more. Not sure if this helps, but something you could look into.

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All three of my children had "Night Terrors" they appear to wake up screaming. They aren't awake. They scream for a while then stop and go back to sleep. When they get up in the morning they are perfectly fine.
They were all done with this after about 6 months. We were reassured that there wasn't anything wrong and that we didn't even need to pick them up. They usually fought us anyway.
It's hard to listen to, it make you want to scream, and cry yourself.
Hang it there, it won't last forever.

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He may be starting to have dreams that scare him, which is natural. I have a daughter that just turned 2. She also didn't speak much at all at 20 months, but understood most of what I said. She occasionally would wake up crying or calling for me. I would bring her into bed with us to comfort her and that seemed to calm her down. When she fell back asleep, I put her back in her crib. I eventually asked her if she saw something or was thinking of something in her sleep. She nodded and I asked her if it scared her. She nodded again. I tried to explain to her as best I could that I did that too, and it was okay.

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My daughters both did this and I believe they were (and at 5 one still does) having night terrors. They are screaming/yelling/talking but aren't really awake. I noticed it when they are extra tired or overstimulated. You can't reason with them or calm them down. We usually just tell my daughter everything is ok just go back to sleep. At the younger ages we would just hold them for a little bit. But they usually need to calm themselves down. Most doctors/websites say it happens within the first 2 hours of sleep but my 5-year-old can have it several times a night. Hope this helps!

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From the time my daughter about this age until almost 5 she suffered from night terrors. From your brief explanation this could be what you little one is having. Night terrors are very different from nightmares. My daughter would wake screaming at the top of lungs, she would fight us when we tried to comfort her - her eyes were open but she wasn't really awake. It scared the daylights out of us at first. We talked to her pediatrician and came to the night terror conclusion. It took a few trys but we finally came up with a solution to get her calmed down and back to sleep. She fought us, like I said, so we would wrap her tightly in a blanket and hold her closely facing away from us. Then we would put in whatever her favorite disney movie was at the time and sit in a rocking chair right in front of the tv with the volume way, way up. As the familiarity of the movie started to get through and she became more aware and realize she was in a safe, familiar place she would calm down and the tv volume would come down with her. Eventually, she was back to her normal self and we could put her back to bed. Her terrors seemed to come in clusters. If she got we knew that there would be 3 or 4 coming over the following days. Then they would go away for awhile, a month or two sometimes before returning again for a few days. We could find any pattern, no rhyme or reason to when/why she would get them. They are not fun to deal with at all. On the flip side, I had read that this is a sign of creativity - if a small child can come up with something in subconscious that can scare them that much with the little bit of knowledge they have of the world. That's pretty creative. I tend to believe it. My daughter, now almost 11,is very musical, dances, and is on her way to becoming a very good author.
Good Luck.

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I agree that he's experiencing night terrors which are common at this age. You can learn more about them on the internet.

I noticed that some posts expressed concern about your son's speech. I was thinking that he could not tell you what was happening and not that he doesn't talk at all. I'm including the following information if he doesn't talk at all.

Because my grandson is 5 and still having difficultuy with speech I'd like to tell you about the process of learning speech. At 2 he should be saying single simple words that are related to his world. If he's not saying words by the time he is 2 I suggest getting an evaluation thru your county's school district. Sorry, I can't think of the office name right now.

Schools are mandated by federal law to provide assessment and treatment of any condition that will or does prevent learning. The people involved are trained professionals in whatever area the child is having difficulty. It's free paid for by our taxes.

Many babies start talking later than the norm and the evaluation may be able to tell you if he's just a late learner.

If he's not saying single simple words by the time he is 2 I recomend taking him for evaluation then. The school district has more funding and therefore can provide more intense treatment. My grandson was just a couple of months short of his 3rd birthday and everyone wishes he had been evaluated at 2. Maybe that would've made a difference. He's entering kindergarten this fall and he will continue to have both speech therapy and vocational therapy.

I'm very concerned about this transition. Change and/or chaos causes him to be very angry. He covers his ears when there are loud or unexpected noises. At 2 he was a reasonably able baby and was not upset by change or noise. By 2 1/2 he was beginning to be overly sensitive to noise and needing strong touch. He still runs at me so fast that I have to brace myself so that I don't fall down. It's like his nervous system has a glitch in it. Finding out early the possibility of a nervous system disorder and beginning treat may increase success better than starting later as my grandson did.

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My 2 year old started this about a month ago, and we believe it to be nightmares. I have also caught her laughing in her sleep. I have been told its not too early for them to have nightmares.

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My son did the same thing when he was around that age but he did not have an older sibling I finally asked his doctor and she said that it sounded like nightmares. So i had him sleep in my bed and he stopped and was able to go back to his own bed in about a month or so. I dont know if that is an option for you or not but it could be something to consider and I would just call his doctor and ask if nightmares could be causing his night timescreaming and see what the doctor suggests. Hope this helps you and goodluck.

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I have to tell you my son did the same thing - he quickly grew out of it but what happened with us is that a little before 2 we found out that he was scared of chickens and rockets. Sounds a little weird but most of the cartoons have chickens and rockets (little einstiens, wow wow wubzy, tiger and pooh). Sounds a little wierd but we stopped watching cartoons about 2 hours before bedtime. Books and games only. A couple of our friends had the same problem. Good news is once you figure out what he is dreaming about it is easy to put a stop to it. Maybe try some pictures and see what he dreamt about the night before.
Hope that helped.

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I have a nineteen month old that wakes up every night screaming all he needs is a hug and for me to lay him back down on his pillow and I sit with him and rub his back until he falls asleep. Sometimes he will scream but is asleep. I suppose it depends on how long he is screaming? Can you console him at all? If you can not console him or he does not seem to fully wake up when he is screaming he might be having night terrors and he will outgrow those.

Sometimes in the past with my son when he cried so much in the middle of the night I would sit with him and turn on Noggin and that took his attention off of what ever he was crying about. I haven't had to do that in a long time, but he still wakes up every night.

Good luck, wish I could help you more.

N.

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These are called night terrors and they happen if you are concerned talk to your Dr. My daughter had them real bad at about two years. They do grow out of them and have no harm to the child. I know that these also were accompanied by sleep walking with my daughter. Do not worry.

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It may be night terrors which many children get. I googled night terrors and read some about it on Healthline. My son used to get this and just out grew it. I know it is not fun, but my doctor said it is common, although 20 months seems alittle young. good luck susan

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M.,

This sounds like my 16 month old about six months ago. Is there a night light in the room? Is there a dimmer switch on the light?

That's what it was for us. Suddenly she was afraid of the dark. The outlets aren't in good places to put a night light but we did get a dimmer switch and installed it. Since then those problems went away. The only problem with the dimmer switch is that the energy saver bulbs that are all twisted up don't work with it. We have to buy the "regular" bulbs and put them in the kids' rooms.

Hope this helps,
M.

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If he doesn't seem to be truly awake and with it when you go in then it could be night terrors. They are harder on the parents then the kids from what my sister-in-law says. If they are night terrors the best thing you can do (i think) is to comfort him until he goes back to a real sleep, it is kinda like sleep walking as you don't want to wake them up. Good luck.

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Our first had night terrors. Books say they occur at a certain age, but our daughter started pretty early. THe books also say they don't last too long, but our daughter's lasted a while (30 minutes?) It was always kind of freaky as it seemed like a mixture of sleepwalking and nightmares. She would sometimes appear awake, her eyes open, but she wouldn't really see us. So comforting her didn't work. We would just hold her. After the terror passed, you could see her eyes start to focus and our comforting would then help her calm down and she would be able to go back to sleep.

They are not fun, but the good news is it is just a phase and will not last forever! Good luck.

-D.

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Sounds like Night Terrors - from what I've read, it is a developmental stage for some. Maybe do some research on them and decide for yourself if that's what it is. Good luck!

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Hi M.,
My name is T. and I am a 33 year old mom of four. My youngest daughter would wake up screaming in the night, and the Dr. said it was growing pains. We gave her some Motrin before bed and that seemed to help her. You could try that and if it works than great if not than might be night terrors. None of my kids have had that so I don't have any ideas about that. Good luck.

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I recently talked with a friend of mine who has a 2 year old son who was also waking up screaming in the middle of the night. She took it personaly at first cause she was scarred that their may have been something emotionaly off kilter with her son. She then came to realize that some of the films that had been watching that are technicly rated okay for children still had plenty of "ammunition" in the forms of imagrey that was enough for her son to conjure up some really really scarrey scenarios in his sleep. Apparently he's afraid of bears. So, he's getting less t.v. exposure, she's making video choices with a more critical mindset, and he's not watching them before bed. He hasn't had one since. good luck

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- This is just a suggestion- but cartoons can be very agitating for children-. ( is the tv in his bedroom?) - If he watches tv as he goes to sleep- this could very well be the issue -- studies show that tv watching before bed truly does create more night disturbances - sorry- I can imagine how unwelcome this counsel may seem- but I'd surely take it out for a couple of months and see what happens -.

Old Mom
aka - J.

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My son has been doing it forever, I've had him checked, nothing. I read that it sometimes happens for kids who were rocked to sleep or slept with parents and never learned how to put themselves to sleep, to be a self soother. I used to go in all the time, had a monitor on and would wake up to that high ear piercing scream and would go in there rock him back to sleep and it would be fine. Then it started being every 2 hours it would happen. Finally I just let him cry it out. He goes down for bed and nap fine too just middle of the night screams. Mine is almost 2 and they seem to be getting less, maybe once a week. A friend said her daughter does the same thing so I think it is a somewhat common thing, and before someone says something of course you want to be sure that nothing is wrong with your child and they haven't pooped in their diaper or something. Good luck!

Hi M.,
He just might be having a nightmere or waking up and getting confused and scared. Both of my girls started having nightmeres at about 20 months. I would just rub their backs or hold them and talk to them and they would fall back asleep.
I would not worry about this since he seems fine during the day!
Best of luck to you...
MJ

He may be having night mares

Ok i know this sounds crazy but i would suggest taking away all refined sugars. my son who is now 3 and a half does that every time he has sugar durring the day. doesnt matter if it was at breakfast or right before bed. its worth a try! good luck!

My youngest daughter started that when she was about that old. You should ask your doctor about night terrors. My family suffered with that for about 3 years before i knew what it was and could manage them. My daughter is know 9 yrs old and only has them occasionally. Your doctor can help with tips to help you out.

Married mother of 5

I agree with Aimee...sounds exactly like night terrors. My son had them when he was about that age. Its a developmental thing for the most part. The baby is not completely awake when they occur and really all you can do, in my experience, is comfort them back to sleep.

Another idea is that he may be starting to get ready to potty train, and is either peeing/holding it in at night. My son did this for a long time, even after he was trained, as he was too sleepy to know what was going on. I'd also suspect molars coming in. They can be pretty sneaky, and only show discomfort in the middle of the night when everything is calm and quiet. Try some teething med/Tylenol at bedtime and see if it makes a difference.

From what you are saying, it may just be that he saw or heard, experienced something that is causing him to have a nightmare. Troubled digestion may also cause nightmares.
I live with my daughter and her 2 children, 8 and 4 and while they are much older, my grand-daughter had a similar experience a couple of days ago. Because she is able to express herself we found out that something we saw at curio shop the other day really disturbed her, we had no idea it would have that impact on her, as she didn't even talk about it during the day. Somehow the memory twisted and scared her in her dreams. 2 nights in a row she hardly slept, in between cuddling with me in my bed.
I would suggest you enjoy comforting him for a few nights before stressing yourself over a possible medical condition.

Hi M., its normal for some kids to scream at night . I used to have friend whose kids would wake up screaming and she asked a bout it and nothing happened to her kids , theyare grown up now and they complain no problem.