Every once in a while, my 15 month old daughter wakes up crying hysterically in the middle of the night. It's as if she saw a ghost and she's inconsolable. The usual things that I do for comforting don't work when this happens -- holding her tight, rocking her, singing to her. When this happened just two nights ago, I went to her and reached my arms out to her. For a split second, she shook her head and refused to come to me as if she didn't recognize me, but after quick moment, she came. I ended up holding her for a while and she was crying hysterically the entire time before calming down and eventually falling back asleep.
This first happened when she was about 6 months or so, but only happened 3-4 times between 6-9 months. It seems to be occurring more frequently as she gets older. When I mentioned it to the pediatrician some time before my daughter turned 9 months, asking if this was night terror, she said night terrors happen to kids who are 2 and older. Since my daughter's not 2 yet, the only thing I can think of is that my daughter had a nightmare, but she hasn't been exposed to anything "scary," so what could she possibly have a nightmare about? Have you had any experience with something similar?
Not that I have any expertise on this subject but... I think she certainly could have a nightmare. She could dream she cries for you but nobody comes to get her. She is hungry but no one feeds her. She could be dreaming that her needs are not being met.
My youngest used to regularly wake up screaming and inconsolable if she did not wake up in my arms from her naps.
After my daughters first birthday she woke up screaming, which I could control. When I put her down to go get a pillow so I could lie down with her, she slammed her head on the dresser. The ER nurse asked if she had a busy day and I said it was her first year birthday party. The nurse was nodding her head to agree that was the cause. So I guess so. I have read it is helpful for them to have some unwind time before bed.
The fact that she was hysterical and inconsolable made me think of night terrors over nightmares. I don't know about your doctor, but BOTH of my kids had night terrors before they were two years old.
So, yes I think it's very likely that she's having nightmares/night terrors. She doesn't have to see something scary to trigger them. Most dreams people have are their subconscious processing events from the day. That can result is some very ODD dreams.
It sounds to me like night terrors. It's like the body is in too deep of a sleep and the brain is trying to wake itself up. There's not an actual dream occurring, and there's not much you can do about it. Resting your hand on her reassuringly can help and making soothing noises... but one way to help is to try to prevent them. Don't put her to bed over-tired. If you don't think that's the issue, then it usually happens about 2-4 hours after falling asleep. So what you need to do is before the time span of when it usually happens, go into her room and slightly rouse her. You don't need to fully wake her but gently rouse her a little at least to see if you can get her to change positions. That may be enough to prevent it from happening.
My eldest daughter used to get them frequently. They do outgrow them. They do NOT remember the night terrors... it's similar to sleep walking. The night terrors won't harm them. It's more scary for you than for her. Truly.
At this age, though, yes children can have nightmares. It doesn't have to be something "scary" but it can be about things that children find upsetting or unpleasant.
I think they can. My son used to have night terrors, which occurred shortly after he fell asleep. He would wake up crying and screaming. At times, it almost seemed as though he wasn't even fully awake. He is now three and hasn't had one for awhile. Making sure that he doesn't get overheated helps (wear lighter PJs). Also, not being exposed to things that we consider scary does not mean that kids cannot dream scary stuff. Like mom not being around, etc.
Just want to agree that it sounds like night terrors. My son started having them around 16 months, I couldn't understand why I couldn't calm him down. It's really scary, my son is now 6 years old and still has them once in a while. Google night terrors, it's interesting.
My DS started having night terrors around this age too and they finally started to end for him right around age 4. He has a really hard time sleeping in his bed alone and i think he remembers a lot of his night terrors! My DH had them really bad when he was our son's age. He falls asleep in his bed with one of us laying with him and then usually about 1-2 am he wakes up and jets towards our room crying, once he lays with us in bed he is fine.
Not really much you can do to stop them, just make sure you are there to comfort your daughter when she wakes up. This is such a hard thing to see when our babies are scared! Good luck mama!
ps, we tried everything to help my son too, like night lights, soft music, hall light on, stuffed animal... nothing worked. :(
I don't think it's what we would call a nightmare or a night terror.
I think those start up around 2 to 3 yrs old and it's almost a development milestone.
I think it's an unconscious display of separation anxiety.
They feel like this during the day and that doesn't stop just because they are sleeping.
Babies/toddlers like sleeping near adults - it's an instinct that kept them alive when were developing from primates into people because unattended young in the wild are prey.
Over the next few years you will have all sorts of half awake states - sleep walking, sleep talking, etc - and then gradually they grow out of it.
Night terrors. My son was 14 months old. Try changing her bedtime. Maybe 20 minutes later. Sometimes you just have to break a cycle and as crazy as it sounds adjusting bedtime might work. It did for my son.
