Night Terror at 5/6 Months Old?

sounds like my son!
he did the same thing when he was just a few months old too. he did it quite a few times.

i want you to know first of all, that its great that you went to him to comfort him! even if hes not awake, even if he wont remember it in the morning, it is a great idea to go to him and hold him and try to calm him. this not only can help him, it can help YOU. :D this is important! :D

anyway, i had night terrors as a child, and my son has had them too. its just something we have to deal with. the only thing that ive heard helps is to figure out how long after falling asleep this happens, and try to wake them before it happens. another thing i JUST heard about is to do a nighttime routine that includes snuggling and singing a song or something and sorta pretending to wrap baby in a blanket of security and love. help them to relax. that way when they wake scared and screaming, you can go through that same routine again, snuggling, and wrapping them in that blanket of security, and i guess its sposed to help. i havent tried it as its been a while since my son has had a terror.

anway, prepare yourself to have more of these. its unknown why or how they happen, or when the next one will be. try to keep your child from being unnecessarily scared by tv or movies or something, and you know... just love him! :D

:D
trust yourself, only you know the needs of your child! :D

My 11-month old son does the same thing and has for the last several months. My pediatrician says not to worry. They can happen at any age, but are just more common when they are a little older. I think its harder on my husband and I than our son as he calms down and sleeps peacefully again after several minutes and wakes up his normal cheery self in the morning. It is so hard to see them so terrified and look at you with no recognition. The first time it happened, it was summertime and I had the bedroom window open. I thought he got stung by a bee or something and was searching his crib while I tried to calm him down! With our son, we've found it doesn't seem to last as long if we just snuggle and hold him instead of trying to wake him up by talking and turning on lights, etc. Talking to and looking at our son seems to scare him more, so we just hold him tight. Good luck. It can be scary.

My son had night terrors starting when he was just a few days old. He still has them, and often he will scream for a minute or two and then go right back to sleep. When we've had to intervene, turning on the lights, putting a cold wash cloth on his face, and stepping outside with him have all worked. (All great advice I got here on Mamasource!) If it is a true night terror that is going on and on, they need to be woken up, and talking to them usually won't do it.

It can be scary, but you are going to get a ton of responses on this one, so know that it is VERY common.

My son did the same thing. I looked it up on the internet and found out that this happens sometimes when the babes are overtired and usually within 1 1/2 hours of going to sleep. I would just pick up my son and cuddle him until he calmed down and went back to sleep...I must say that it really was scary as it was just a high shrill cry. He doesn't do it much anymore.

My now 5 year old had night terrors. he would look at us and scream also. Their eyes are open, but they aren't awake. Try playing some music at night at a low volume. That will keep him from falling into that deep sleep where night terrors occur, but he'll still sleep good. My son hasn't had one for a while, but we still play the music just in case.