2 Year Old Waking up Extremely Upset in the Middle of the Night...

Could be night terrors, they tend to start around this age (not all kids get them). Eventually they get few and far inbetween (my daughter is almost 4 and rarely has them, maybe once a month to ever three month).

You are not to wake them up, do not turn on lights, make sure there is nothing around them that can hurt them. You can ask if they want you to pick them up and if they answer yes do it gently and hold & rock them gently. Or you can just say, mommy & daddy are here, and stroke her head or back. Sometimes my daughter will talk with me and I try to reassure her that I am here for her, she sometimes tells me what she is dreaming/doing and I can help talk her through it. Sometimes they are done in 2 mins others can last 30 mins. Sleep walking can also happen, and once again if it does do not wake them and keep them safe (I stand by our stairs and she usually comes toward them but bumps into me and I just gently turn her around and she walks somewhere else).

Lack of sleep seems to really trigger them in my daughter so I try extra hard to make sure she has all the sleep she needs to have a peaceful rest.

Could be night terrors, could be sleep/wake transition issues. My daughter's sleep/wake transition disorder peaked at age 2 then got progressively better. At the worst, those episodes (which usually happened about an hour and a half after she fell asleep) would last 15-45 minutes long and NOTHING could snap her out of it. Sometimes she would have 3-4 of them in a week. It was a really rough patch. does she walk or talk in her sleep? Hang in there, it doesn't sound like a behavior problem, just something you need to wait to get through.

Definitely sounds like night terrors. My 2 year old has them and the pediatrician told us to wake him up a half hour after he initially goes to sleep. Once he is awake then let him go back to sleep for the rest of the night. We have been trying it lately and it has worked so far! Not only have the night terrors stopped but he is also staying in his own bed during the night. I guess waking them up breaks their sleep cycle which helps to prevent the terrors. I hope that helps!

how often does this happen? I'm thinking it could be acid reflux....my son has had this happen from time to time...and when I get up to give him Colic Calm he sleeps much better the rest of the night. If I give it to him before bed. (if he hasn't ate really great during the day or whatever) he will tend to sleep much better too. If you'd like to look up the Colic Calm...it's http://www.coliccalm.com/index.html

Sometimes my 7 year old will occasionally wake up in the middle of the night disoriented, crying and upset. He has done this ever since he was a baby. and then the next morning he was just fine.

You don't hit and spit her in time out? or am I totally reading your words wrong? =(

Sounds like "night terrors" to me... Very common during this age. There is probably a lot of info about them online.

Yep, sounds like night terrors. They're scary. It's basically a nightmare, but worse.

Sometimes you just have to ride them out. There's nothing you can do.

Although, when they happen, try to make note of what you did the previous day? Did she nap worse? Eat something? That way you can try to limit whatever it is that may be causing it. Though not all of them have a cause.

(My DS gets them if he eats too much processed sugar - they're a sure thing every time we go to a birthday party).

Good luck!

night terrors. normal at that age. we didn't even have our kids watch tv and hardly any movies - none scary - and they all still had them.