Is My Child Dreaming or Hallucinating??

Sounds like a very vivid dream to me. My father and I both have dreams so vivid that we act them out. He once dreamed that my nephew was drowning and he dove into the water to save him. He dove out of the bed, and my mom had to take him to the ER for stitcehs in his scalp because when he dove, he hit his head on the corner of the dresser.
I once dreamed that someone was trying to take my daughter and I took a swing at them. I woke up when my fist went through my bedroom wall.

It's a form of sleep walking/talking and it's very common in kids.
The normal process for adults is we are somewhat paralyzed while we dream.
It keeps us from acting out what we are dreaming about.
But this mechanism hasn't developed for some kids yet.
Most do outgrow it sooner or later.
But a very few sleep walk their whole life (somnambulism).
I don't walk - but I talk and sing sometimes in my sleep (somniloquy).
My husband over the years has had some interesting conversations with me during the night that I have no memory of.
He got up for a drink one night and I apparently told him "they are coming" (I pointed to the window).
He says who's coming?
I told him "The seals. They are following the wire".
I can go on about what ever for 5 or 10 minutes.
He tells me about it next morning.
For the most part I don't make a lot of sense when I talk while sleeping.

If he had a fever, probably hallucinations. It can also be something called Lucid dreaming where the child/person describes what's happening in his dream, he may seem awake, but is fully asleep. Kinda' like sleepwalking, minus the walking....you are asleep, yet people get up to eat, walk around,clean things...etc. Could also be all the meds and him being sick taking it's toll. Keep an eye on it & talk to your pediatrician if you continue to experience it.

My daughter is 3.5 and had an episode like this recently. She had a 102 temp and was screaming and crying while staring off into space saying "I can still see it!" We prayed, I gave her ibuprofen, put a cold rag on her head until she calmed down. I thought she was hallucinating too.
The night nurse said it was more likely a night terror as they are pretty common at this age, over a hallucination. She said hallucinations can occur but the fever is typically much higher than 102-103.
It sounds like that is what he had the first time and the other was just dream state/sleep walking like others have mentioned.
One other thing the nurse told me that I thought was a good piece of advice is when kids seem to be having a night terror-our first inclination is to grab them up in a big hug to comfort them, but not to do that. Her reasoning was since they were in a dream state, us grabbing them would actually be like the "thing" scaring them in the dream has caught them and would cause even more terror. She said it was best to talk in a calming voice and say things like, You are having a dream. I can tell you are feeling scared, but you are ok. Try to wake up. etc.
HTH,
A.

It sounds a lot like fever dreams, and sleep walking. Then later he was having a pleasant dream that was interrupted.

When it doubt call your doctor. You could call the nurse advice line at your local hospital (They are free) and see what they say.

Since he doesn't have a fever anymore, I would guess that it's just dreams. But that's just a guess.

It could be a night terror brought on by being sick. That has happened to one of my kids, though there was certainly no giggling involved.

Dawn

It sounds like he had a night terror. You can't wake them up but they talk and scream/cry etc. Its very scary but it passes. It probably wasn't halucinations b/c you said the fever was down but could be residual effects from fever.
Night terrors come in all different forms---I have seen my kiddo laugh hysterically at nothing and then to seconds later he was crying. Hang in there!

I think he was asleep!

Hi, J.,
He could be sleep walking!

Good luck.
D.

Could have been the Tylenol. If my husband takes Advil, he talks in his sleep.

My son's fever got to 104-106 (he was behaving normally) and he never said a thing. Fevers are your body's way of fighting off infection. Bringing them down will only cause a 1-2 degree change, which brings in back into the range that the bacteria grows amazingly well - turning them into a petri dish. (I took a LOT of microbiology in grad school....so I've growing strep and staph, etc.) So, allowing the fever to run it's course, within reason will allow him to heal faster. The more you bring down his fever, the longer he will be "sick" or symptomatic. Symptoms are caused by the body fighting. Like with cancer, there are no symptoms because the body doesn't fight.

He's sleep walking and talking. My y ounger borther (now 46) did this frequently - screaming about the spiders in his bed, pulling hte covers back, and trying to get rid of them all. (There were none.) He had no memory of it the next morning. Another time he was found sleeping on the stairs (dangerous) and answered that there were creatures of some type in his room so he was hiding from them - again no memory the next morning. MY college roommate got out of bed, walked down the hall through 2 student lounges tothe bathroom in another section of the dorm (she had to open 4 firedoors on her way). She woke up in the bathoom - and since it was a different color she was completely bewildered. My son often talks in hsi sleep.
I don't think it's common - but it's also not rare. In all of these situations the people looked awake (they did look dazed or kind of out-of-it) and were doing things that usually only awake people do.
Also - just a note regarding fever & tylenol - you may already be aware. You must be very cautious about tylenol and dosing. Too much tylenol can shut down kidneys - and it doesn't have to be over a long period of time. Never exceed the max dosage on the bottle - expecially with children who may be dehydrated due to fever anyway.

I hope your son is feeling better. My son also had a two day thing with a high fever that went away pretty quickly.

Yup. Totally normal, but it scared the crud outta me. My son (5) still does it and it's as if he's in a different world. He's just sleepwalking. He sits up in bed and is having a conversation in his dreams. Usually for my son, it's a scary or sad conversation and that's the part that give me the willies.

I usually try my best to hold him, keep him safe, and sing a song he knows until he comes out of it. I offer him a sip of water and it usually takes about ten minutes total for him to be sound asleep again.

You can call your doctor to be sure, but it sounds exactly like sleepwalking.

Good luck!

From the time I was a very young child, I have been a prolific dreamer.
I laugh in my sleep, I talk in my sleep, I can carry on conversations and have no recollection whatsoever.

My son is the same way and it didn't worry me at all because I have known this about myself.

If your son is giggling, he's not having night terrors. Whatever he's dreaming about seems pretty happy and funny.

Don't be too concerned if he can't remember or express what was going on in his little head when not fully conscious.

I have a sense of humor so it makes sense that I would wake myself up laughing on a regular basis. I get a kick out of things even in my sleep.

Sometimes I actually do remember it and then wonder why the heck I thought it was so darn funny, but hey.....I enjoyed it at the time.