7 1/2 Month Old with Nightmares??

It is possible for a baby to have nightmares. I was reading an article on babycenter.com. You can go there and do a search on the website to read as well.

Hi Ali,
That's perfectly normal. Nothing to worry about. My little girl did the same thing. Just be happy that he goes back to bed and has been sleeping through most nights. Hope this makes you feel a little better. I know it was always nice to hear from other Moms who had similar experiences.
J.

This sounds like night terrors. You might want to look it up on the internet, but I don't think there's anything you can do to prevent them. My 9 year old used to get them as a toddler, and it was very upsetting for us both! All you can do is hold him and soothe him. Good luck.

Hi! This has happened to my daughter also since about 8 month and still occassionally now and then (she is 14 months)
I did some research and read that we can't just create images in our head when sleeping. It's something we've seen before that we remember. For an adult.....just imagine any horror film! I knew my daughter didn't watch anything except children's cartoons. Then one night I realized that on a certain cartoon, she would run away from the tv and say no no!
It was Franklin.....the porcupine in it was scarry to her.
So we may think it's funny but who knows what they find scary.
I concluded....just like us, they dream and if some sight of something they don't like or even a fall or startling noise they wake up alarmed just as we do and don't know how to soothe and calm themselves.
With night terrors you don't want to startle them more by picking them up or putting every light in the room on.
I usually turn my daughter on her side and firmly rub or pat her chest. Usually her heart is beating fast and when I pat her...I slow her rate down and she begin to quiet down and eventually just drifts back into her calm sleeping state.
I wouldn't suggest picking him up because that gets you excited as well, then you both become upset. Find a calm routine that they will soon realize is comforting. They don't last long and my daughter rarely has them now.
It's normal, they are hysterical because they know mommy is always there waiting to hug, snuggle and kiss boo boos!
Best of wishes to you and your family!
stepmarie

my coworker is going through the same thing. she said it's called night terrors. the best thing to do is calm them down w/o waking them up. it may just startle them more. google night tremors, there are some articles that may be of interest. they say there's no cure for it, it will dimenish in time

Hi:
I know it's scary when your child wakes up screaming in the night. It sounds like your son may be having night terrors. My daughter has had them and it is terrifying at first. They look so terrified and you can't get them to stop. I don't know if my daughter had them that young (we adopted her at 16 months) but she has had them less frequently as she got older (she's 4.5 now).

From what my dr. said, what I've read, and my own experience, it's important not to try to abruptly wake them up. They are sort of caught in an in-between area of sleep. Just hold them and talk softly to try to make them feel safe. If they can't come out of it, we find that introducing a different element into the environment (like turning on the TV or giving them a glass of water) helps snap them out of it.

Hope this helps. Good luck!
S. in Rancocas

This sounds like it may be night terrors. My oldest went thru that. She would trash about, mumbling and crying but was not actually awake. COntributing factors are overtiredness and a warm bedroom. The only thing that helped was to talk and continually. We would ask questions until she calmed down and started answering us. unfortunately this lasted many yeares, but she eventually grew out of it. It's very hard to watch but be calm and loving, try to kept him well slept and his room on the cool side rather then too warm and everything wil work out. God luck ! L.

Ahhh..the blank stares, hysterical crying, thrashing about, I can go on and on. Both my children would have these night terrors. It's horrible to go through but from what I've read they are stuck in the middle of a REM cycle. I've never heard of medical/heart problems associated with it...sounds more like sleep apnea. My kids are happy and healthy but every once in a while a terror strikes. My advice is to do some online searches to find ways to calm your baby down during a terror. For months my husband and I did the WRONG things such as turn on lights, splash water on their face in an effort to wake them up. Little did we know it just added fuel to their fire. Hope this helps.

My son (who is now 5) used to do the same thing when he was a baby. He used to wake up in the middle of his naps like that, too. I asked a friend (with 3 children) about it, and she didn't think babies could have nightmares. So I don't know if my son was having nightmares, or if he just woke up when he really wasn't ready to and was also distressed that I wasn't there. Another problem he used to have was waking up from naps in the car and throwing absolute fits for a half hour. Again, I think it was because he wasn't really ready to wake up but couldn't get back to sleep. Now my son does have night terrors, I think. Not too long after going to bed, he'll sometimes start crying and rise up on his knees and bounce up and down looking around wildly. And even now, if he wakes up in the morning before he's ready, he is not a happy camper.

I had the same question when my son was about 9 months old. There was a phase where he would wake up screaming, which was so unusual for him. I would go into his room and seemed afraid of his bed. He would be calm in my arms and as soon as I put him back down in his crib he would start screaming again. I asked my mom the same thing... "can babies have nightmares?" and her answer was "yes! anyone can have nightmares!" I guess I didn't think of it that way. But yes, I believe that even babies can have nightmares and it is quite possible for your son to be having nightmares too.
www.momtomombiz.com

Probably night terrors. I'm on my 4th child now, he's 6 mos and does that sometimes too. You figure, they are old enough now to remember things they learn thru the day, so sometimes things may startle them in their sleep. It could also be gas, ya just never know at this age. Just cuddle your child and he will survive it all. (so will we somehow, I'm dealin with middle of the night growing pains with my 3rd. Older two never had them, ugh)

My grandson had the same thing. I come from a very big family and never dealt with it before my grandson. They are called night terrors. We found that if we just held him until it passed that worked the best. We found that talking to him made him worse, but if I just held him and let it run its course, he eventually calmed down and then went to sleep. He eventually outgrew them, but I know when it was happening it was very unsettling until we realized what they were. My daughter-in-law was the one who read about it and realized that was what was happening. Maybe you should talk to your pediatrician about it or go on line to get whatever information you can. Good luck.

Hi Ali,

They could be night terrors. My son had them ALOT. Although if he lets you calm him down they might not be. With night terrors, they are actually still sleeping during them and are still dreaming and will think everybody they see is the "monster" in their dream. From my research and experience, there are a few things that can trigger them. With my son it was mainly because he got overheated at night(unfortunately it took me a while to figure it out) and because he has a VERY vivid imagination. I also noticed that he usually had to go to the bathroom during the terrors. Stress is also a big reason too.

Once I figured out what triggered most of his terrors, I could control some of it by not letting him wear socks to bed. I figured this out because I read somewhere on-line that one thing to bring them out of the terror is to put their feet in cold water to cool their bodies down.

Fortunately night terrors is something they do outgrow. My son started them around the age of 3 and had them until he was around 4 1/2.

I hope this imformation helped you a little.
L.

P.S. To ease your worries, my son does not have a heart or medical condition.

HEllo Ali,
IT sounds like to me that he could be having night terrors, i would talk to the ped about this, sometimes night terrors are a sign of something else that could be going on with his body, a friend of mine son suffered from these and the doctor looked into it more and they found out that he had a heart problem which was the cause of his night terrors, i'm sorry i don't mean to scare you which i'm sure that i've done, i'm just saying that i would talk to the ped about it and all. sorry about the scare, good luck
S.

Yes, he's probably having nightmares. You can talk with your doctor about it just to be safe though.

My daughter went through the same thing. When this happened I would just comfort her and talk to her to reassure her everything was fine. One thing to remember though, is sometimes they seem like they are awake but they are still in that dream state. Jessie's eyes would be open, but have a blank stare. That is when you just have to gently wake them and soothe them, talk to them. Sometimes I would even have to raise my voice to snap her out of it. Not like screaming, but just alittle louder then you would do at night. This sometimes will get them to snap out of it sooner. I hope this helps. J. D.

it sounds like night terror, my son did the same thing his dr said they can seem awake but not to touch them or move them , which is hard to do because you want to comfort them, but its almost like sleepwalking. You might be able to find out more online my son is 7 now so it hasnt happened in a very long time .Also his Dr told me they usually happen at the same time every night and usually in the earlier hours like my sons would happen everytime around 2am.

Our son does that too, we have yet to have that sleep through the night luxury, however, he was teething like crazy around that point when it all started, he also has acid reflux. I am curious about your other answers as well, I have a sister that had night terrors and we are hoping that is not our lil man's issue.

The short answer is yes.

Children can also be prone to what the doctors call night terrors. They are a little more involved than nightmares. They are fairly normal.

I would give the doctor a call, though, to get some advice on what you can do to help calm him and to check that they aren't night terrors instead of nightmares. You may not even need to go to the office, you might just be able to talk to the nurse on the phone about it and let her tell you if it is something they think they should see them about.

If it is just nightmares, you do your best to calm them down and get them to relax. They will work themselves out over time.

Also, take a look to see if there is something in his diet that has changed starting around the time the nightmares started. It could be that he is having some stomache upset that it waking him up.

My friend's little girl had night terrors when she was about 2. The more severe ones can be incredibly frightening for the parent trying to deal with them.

Good luck.

That happened to my son...I took him to the Doctors and he told me there he was most likely having "night terrors" I can not imagine what at that age would have scared him so much but it seemed to happen when he was overly excited or late to go to bed. If we had been to a party of something like that...not the ususal patern.

They did stop after around 6 months....

Yes they can have nightmares, my daughter is going though the same thing, she would wake up screaming and crying and it is hard to calm her down but when she is done she will lay down and go back to sleep. So I hope that I gave you some help.

A.

Absolutely!!! My son does the same thing. It scares me to hear him scream like that. But like your son, once mine gets calmed down, he's fine. Sometimes, if I can't get him calm, I bring him into bed with me. We both get a good night sleep, and he feels safe.
I do believe it's nightmares. My son is 21 months, and we're still going through it.

Hi, I have a 5 yr old wonderful son, who never really had many nightmares, but when he was about 2 or 3 (I've heard of this happening even younger, maybe as young as your baby) he had a similar very frightening experience, which I determined was night terrors. I had thankfully read about it before it happened. I may be off base with what happened to your son, but what makes night terrors different from nightmares, is that the child does not wake up fully, they are in the very distraught state while appearing to be awake. Often a child who has had a nightmare will awaken and recognize mommy or daddy and can be comforted. With night terrors, they may not be aware of you, recognize you or cannot be comforted by you. I've heard it is best to just be with them, make sure they don't get hurt, but not to wake them up. They will go back to sleep and usually not remember a thing. Hope this is helpful and not scary, but at least you can make a judgement about it and check into it further. The experts also said that these happen to almost all children at least once in their little lifetime, by the age of about 5 or 6. Some have it happen a little more. Good luck!

Ali,
Have you read about night terrors? That is exactly what it sounds like your son is having. My youngest had them and there is no real explanation that I can remember why. Just try to soothe him until he realizes that you are there with him and he can calm down.

Ali, I'm with the list of moms of kids with Night Terrors! My daughter had them too. She was more predictable, however. She had them almost every night when she was in her first year. I read a book by Dr. Ferber (of the Ferber method, you might know). In a very small part of the book he mentions night terrors. This was when I realized what MY daughter had. He suggested keeping track of the timing of the terror. You said it's the middle of the night, but see if you can find an actual time or pattern. My daughter's came around 11:30pm. Dr. Ferber said to go into the room 5 minutes before the "scheduled" terror begins and just very quietly rub their chest or body only enough to wake them from the deep sleep they're in, but not to actually wake them up. This prevents them from going into the deep REM sleep in which night terrors occur. I did this for a week, sort of "training" my daughter, and it worked!!! She stopped having them. It was amazing, and is definitely worth a shot for you. You might try this for a week or two preventatively, even though you don't know if he'll have one that night. But I suppose you might want to start noting what time they occur and go from there. Also, Dr. Ferber says NOT to wake them. I used to pick her up and call her name until she was fully awake... not the right thing to do, as then she had to be put back to sleep when she had actually already been sleeping. Don't pick up or talk, just pat and console, allowing them to go back into a normal sleep pattern ... for BOTH of you! Good luck.

Ali,
It will pass as everything does that startles us as Moms. It drove me to tears to hear my son screaming out in his sleep. He would sit up with his eyes shut, rocking back and forth, and eventually even stand holding onto the railing of the crib (eyes closed). As much as it may disturb you right now, it will pass. Hold him when he is unable to get back to sleep, but if you can, lie him back down or rub his back to soothe him. Experiment with different approaches and you will find a way to get through this very upsetting situation. I hope you get back to your "routine" as soon as possible. B

I'm suspecting they are night terrors. My youngest son doesn't sleep well at all, but he has hyperactivity. My doctor asked me if he had night terrors, I had never heard of them. He explained them to me like you're explaining your son, and they are much more prevalent in boys, and that young.
I don't know if they know what causes them, but I would talk to your doctor about this. I do think they eventually outgrow them.