For the last 4 weeks or so, my 15 month old daughter has woken up suddenly screaming and crying within the first two hours of sleep. It's like she's having a bad dream, and she frantically moves around the crib and seems to be shaking a bit. (I know this b/c we have a video monitor and I can see her.) When I go in and pick her up she seems to calm down immediately and in less than a minute she's ready to go back to sleep and does so without any problem. Sometimes she is sweating when I go in. It happens about 2-3 times per week. Has anyone else experienced this so young? Should I be worried? Other than these weird short-lived "traumatic"experiences lately she doesn't have ANY problems going to sleep or sleeping through the night. She sleeps about 12 hours each night plus a 2-3 hour nap each day. I'd love to know if anyone else knows what's going on! Thanks so much for reading this & for your input!
***Update--Thanks for your advice so far! To answer some of your questions... She does fall asleep in bed by herself, but it's good to know that we shouldn't change that if it comes up in the future (like with another kid). :) We do go to church, my husband does not watch "violent television", and the only tv she sees is Baby Einstein or Praise Baby, so unfortunately there is not an obvious cause to us. Thanks to everyone who is trying to help us out!
I don't have any advice but I would like to know what causes it too. My son is only 3 months old and he does the same thing. My husband just says that it is nightmares and not to worry about it, but it is a little frightening when he screams the way that he does. So hope fully that is all that it is. I have an 8 yr old that still has nightmares and it wakes her up too.
Hi B.,
My son had the same problem, they are night terrors. His pediatrician said this happens to some children when their routine is thrown off, especially missed or late naptime. It generally occurs within the first 2 hours of bedtime and it's like clockwork, every night same time. Sure enough, she was right. My son grew out of them around age 3-4.
Generally, kids grow out of them by age 12, per doc. We did everything, even leaving wedding receptions, to make sure he stayed on his schedule after we found out the problem. It's very scary and disheartening at first but once you put a plan in action it truly works and everyone gets a good nights sleep.
Don't wake your daughter up, although she may appear to already be awoke. My son kept his eyes open, sweat, cried, and thrashed but I would hold him tight in my lap, rock him and recite our daily bedtime prayer over until he fell back to sleep. He never remembered a thing in the morning.
Hang in there because the end is in sight, just establish a routine and stick to it, regardless of the greif you may get from leaving/missing events; an evening free of night terrors is priceless. Best of luck.
H.
Where does she go to sleep? Does she fall asleep and then you move her to her crib, or is she falling asleep in her crib? My kids have had this problem and it seemed to start early with my son, I think at about 2. I asked the doctor and he said that since I was letting him fall asleep in the living room with me (His sister was just born) and then moving him to his bed he was waking up in a strange place. He suggested either leaving him where he was or making him go to sleep in his bed. This helped the problem but it did not stop completely for a little while. I also got a dream catcher when he started telling me about his bad dreams and told him what it was for. We hung it in his room and the nightmares stopped. Whether it was just the thought of the dream catcher being there or what it worked. He sleeps through the night most of the time and very rarely has nightmares.
Good luck
Im curious if you found anything out? We have a 10 month old son and were experincing everything you type except its happening atleast 5 times a week for almost 2 weeks now if you know please let us know
This doesn't sound like night terrors. Our son had them starting around a year and its usually a few hours after going to bed but they aren't comforted when you pick them up or talk to them. They aren't even awake and after about 20 minutes they usually just stop and the child goes back to sleep. If you go in to comfort them, try not to pick her up. Babies are very smart and will learn that if they cry mommy will come. I know it's really hard though!
I've answered this kind of question here before. It seemed to make sense to other mamas, hopefully it will help you too. Chocolate and milk. I had the same thing happen, the doc says that children react most to chocolate and milk. Chocolate would make my son gassy within an hour of laying him down. I started to keep a journal of everything he ate. It only happened on the nights he had chocolate. I took my finding to the doc and she confirmed that many kids have this issue and that if he really likes chocolate there is an alternative to chocolate offered at the health food store. I cut out chocolate and my son quit doing this. He too would wake up screaming. I would get him up, he would pass a little gas, and be ready to go back to sleep within minutes. Just a thought, give it a try and see what you come up with. I would really love to see an update on this. I wonder just how common this problem is and if it is so common why aren't any docs telling us before hand. Good luck, Shannon G.
B.,
Those don't sound like Night Terrors. Night Terrors usually come during a later sleep pattern (ie in the heaviest sleep mode of non-REM...about 4 hours into bedtime). W/ Nightmares, a child wakes up and is consolable the opposite is true w/ Night Terrors, attempts to soothe your baby often just make it worse and they don't (usually wake-up).
My son wakes up crying a few hours into the night when he goes to bed past his bed-time. I don't know if that might be the issue for your little one.
Good luck!
M.
I would have a neuro evalution done to make sure they are not seizure related. Also if you can take the video in to show the neuro doctor that would be helpful. If you live in dayton area I would not go to there neuro doctors go to cincy or colubmus. Also you could try taking her to a chiropracter, people do not realize how everything is connected to your nerves and spine.
jo
Hi B.,
My daughter has been doing this pretty much always, now that she's a bit older, she wakes up crying, sometimes it is a whimper others it is a frantic scream. My husband walkes in, lays her back down and rubs her head, sometimes gives her the cup of water - often she drinks it or is asking for water when he comes in by extending her empty cup.
She will go back to sleep and then do it all over again one more time, the first (bedtime is 8pm) is around 10 or 11 the last one 3am or 4 or 5....
I have no idea what it is, my Dr has no clue.... She goes back to sleep without a problem but is rarely fails, at least once a night....mostly 2. It disrupts everyone's sleep, we're expecting and hope if it's a girl she won't keep the baby up if she's still doing this by then....
My son sleeps SOUNDLY - from the time I lay him down to 6 or 7am, he does not wake up again..... he may toos and turn.
I think it may be that when she was younger we'd go in to give her the paci instead of teaching her to self soothe. Now we have a son and we run cos we don't want her waking him up. When we've let her cry, it can go from 20 mnts to a full hour!
I don't know what else to do....
It is exhausting for everyone.
B.: Hello to you! What I am going to talk about is programming. What do you read to this precious 15 month old? Do you pray with her? Do you take her to church? what I'm trying to specify is what is going into that head of hers? does her father watch violent programs? What type of television is she looking at? You need to identify what she's fearful of, get to the root of the problem and solve it. Use your smarts, it's not hard to figure out.
Have a wonderful day,
M. G.
