20 Month Old Wakes up Terrified from Naps

My son had NIGHT TERRORS that were very much the same. I found out that if I took him to the bathroom and let him PEE he'd calm down. I noticed that the terrors happened about the time he was staying dry all night. His bladder was developing unconscious control. I wrote a much longer version of this in an answer to a previous question. Look over my old stuff to find it.

I agree that it's probably night terrors, even though they are happening during the day. One suggestion my pedi gave us for my son when he was having them was this: if it's happening at about the same time, try waking him up right before it's "scheduled" to occur - I never tried it with my son because his were never around the same time every night, but it might work! Good luck, and he should grow out of it sooner or later.

I don't know that it is night terrors--those usually don't happen during naps. My now 9 year-old had night terrors and they are indeed horrible. But my 2 year old does the same thing that you are describing. He wakes up from his normal nap and is just in the worst mood. He cries and cries and nothing will make him happy or calm him down. Sometimes it is a full hour after the nap before he calms down and gets back to normal. This is really strange to me because my older child (who had night terrors during the night) always woke up from his naps smiling and in a good mood. The one thing that helps a bit is the second I start to hear him stir, I warm up some milk in a sippy cup and put in his favorite video. I pick him up out of his crib (and he is crying and sometimes flailing his arms and legs around) and take him into the living room and sit with him on the couch. His video is already playing and his milk is there and that seems to help. I haven't found anything that works all the time. He doesn't have this problem when he wakes up from his naps at mother's day out. I know this is hard and it really stresses me out and leaves me frazzled. He also has a security blanket and he holds that too.

This would happen to my son when he was about the same age. After some time we figured out that it was growing pains. It was random, we could never calm him down, he would be awake but would kick and scream, and he never could tell us what was wrong. When it would happen, we would give him something for pain for the next few days when he would sleep and they would stop happening. I never had growing pains, but my husband did and he said they were very painful and a child at that age would not know how to communicate what was wrong. I hope this helps!

our daughter went through these as well. Night Terrors... it was really hard to watch. you feel useless and as a mommy you want to fix it. Just stay in the room with him and let him work through them. The good news is they do grow out of them.

It might be night terrors which is a form of sleep disorder related to sleep talking and sleep walking. I'd ask your pediatrician for a referral to a sleep disorder clinic. My nephew had this issue and they were able to help

My son turned 2 in September. He has occasionally done the same thing. It seems it might be different causes. Possibly teething pain, too hungry if he didn't eat enough for lunch, over tired if he takes too late of a nap (happened twice this week) or maybe a nightmare or not feeling good. For the teeth pain, giving him a cold popsicle has calmed him down. Sometimes giving him milk, juice or his favorite snack has helped calm him down. A walk outside. Or a little tylenol if nothing else works. It is happening less frequently as he gets older, so I don't think it is night terrors in our case.

I ditto the night terror answers. We struggled for several months, maybe a year with my daughter, but never really found and answer. She just grew out of them. At the time, one of my friends with older kids told me they seem to strike more intelligent kids. Turned out to be true with my daughter and hers, not sure how accuarate it is overall.

Night terrors happen because your child's brain is developing nerons that are snapping while asleep. He will grow out of them and all you need to do is comfort him. Some children do well with some sort of snuggle to help them feel safe.

Sounds like the night terrors my daughter had when she was 3 or 4. I haven't heard of them oin the daytime but it sounds the same. I kept a journal for 2 weeks to see what might set off the "attacks". I discovered with my child that too much sugar and/or too much excitement seemed to be the key. I started giving her protein snacks before bed and seeing that she had time to relax and calm down froma busy day before sleep. The night terrors ended. I had talked to the doc and he wanted to put her on some kind of medicine to disrupt her sleep cycle because night terrors happen during the deepest sleep, unlike dreams. I didn't like the medicine idea, so did the journal. It owkrd well. Good luck!

My daughter (who is now 21) went through that and it was really scary! I remember going in her room one night when she was screaming, "I want my mom!!!" I said, "I'm right here, honey!" and she threw herself against the wall on the other side of the bed trying to get away from me! Turns out it was night terrors and she continued to have them now and then for years. The good thing is, unlike nightmares, kids do NOT remember anything about it in the morning. I don't think you need to worry a bit. It happens. Search for "night terrors" on the Internet and reassure yourself.

It sounds EXACTLY like the night terrors my daughter went through. She didn't have them with naps, but I don't think that makes a difference. My daughter's happened within 2 hours of going to sleep and they lasted between 15 and 45 minutes. The more we tried to console her the longer they lasted. We had an amazing pediatrician who has been in practice for about 45 years. He assured us that night terrors have NOTHING to do with the child's level of happiness. He said they have nothing to do with nightmares and it was nothing we did wrong as parents. We did notice they were worse if she was overly tired when she went to bed. The hardest thing in the world when your child is crying like that is to not touch them, but we eventually learned if we just put her on the floor (so she didn't fall off the bed) and sat near, but we were quiet and didn't touch her, they would stop much faster than if we tried to hold and talk to her. It was harder on us than her. She never remembered the episodes at all. This is from a night terror website:

"Nightmares occur during the dream phase of sleep known as REM sleep. Night terrors occur during a phase of deep non-REM sleep usually within an hour after the subject goes to bed. This is also known as stage 4. During a night terror, which may last anywhere from five to twenty minutes, the person is still asleep, although the sleepers eyes may be open. When the subject does wake up, they usually have no recollection of the episode other than a sense of fear."

Sounds like a night terror (which are stress related), but that would be really odd for naptime, but ask your doctor.

Also, I would make sure your child isn't on any sedating medications, such as zyrtec. My DD would wake crying for 30 minutes inconsolably after every nap. Sadly, it took me nearly 6 months to figure out that her allergy medicine was causing it. Once I took her off, it stopped within a few days.

Good luck!

He is having a nightmare of some kind. My daughter used to do this at night, and she was completely coherent and yet sound asleep. They usually grow out of it.