Daughter Wakes up in the Middle of the Night Screaming

Hi J.. I'm not a doctor but I can tell you that I had two out of three children wake up doing this as well. I asked the doctor about my situation and he called it "night terrors". He said they are actually still asleep but are crying or screaming in their sleep. He said it is normal and not to be concerned about it. He said the best thing to do was to go in their room and rub their backs and comfort them while not waking them up. They will eventually stop and go back to sleep. My second child started this as early as 8 mos and scared us to death! Now my third child started it about the same time and still does occasionally and she is over 2 years old. My son hasn't done it since he was an infant and is now 3 years old. Hope this helps a little...

H.

I was going to suggest night terrors too. My oldest and my youngest both suffered them - the oldest to the point that he also sleepwalked (he was around 2.5 when he had them). My youngest had them around 16 months and it took about a month to get over them.

Not much you can do but soothe her back to sleep!

My 2 year old daughter used to do this too. She also would wake up in the middle of the night at the same time and scream for me. When I started my psychology class in college, I asked my professor what his advice was, and he told me to let her scream until she ggoes back to sleep. He said he didn't think it was anything to be worried about, so I followed his advice, and shes been sleeping through the night for over a year now.

J.,
Both of my children have had periods of night terrors. They aren't completely awake and can't tell me who I am or where they are. They just scream and scream and many times push us away until they either go back to sleep on their own or they wake up enough to realize we are there.

It can be rather scary, and strange not knowing how to help. Most likely it's a stage and she will stop as quickly as she started.

Many Blessings.
M.

Jami, These are called night terrors. They are pretty common to kids your daughters age. The best solution is to try to calm her and get her right back to sleep. Don't just let her cry. These are real terrors to her and she needs your help through them. she will grow out of this. It has to do with her developmental stage and how much activity she has during the day. she is learning so much right now and the night terror manifest themselves due to this. Try to get through this time with her and she will grow out of them. LisaD

Its also ADD / ADHD symptom.

You may also want to try adjusting her dinner schedule. My daughter used to wake up screaming as well - sometimes to the point that she would sit straight up in her bed crying and screaming. We started feeding her dinner about 2 hours before bed. We would then give her a cup of warm milk or chamomile tea before bed (they are natural relaxants). Her night terrors have decreased immensely.

J.- My son is 15 months old and has had these since about 8 months. The doctor actually diagnosed him with night terrors and prescribed Benadryl to help him sleep through them, which many doctors disagree with. I tried it for awhile, but he just became immune to it and it makes him really mean. So unfortunately I have to go in there anywhere from 1-6 times per night to lie him back down and reassure him. They keep saying he'll grow out of it. I can't stand to let him scream, although sometimes when I do, he does eventually go back to sleep. I know how you feel and hopefully my son and your child will stop these bad dreams soon!!!
Take care,
J.

This sounds like night terrors. Children do not remember having night terrors and there is no proof that anything the child watches or eats has anything to do with them. They are NOT nightmares. When you check on the child (when they are screaming) they do not see you, b/c they are still asleep. They are almost impossible to comfort. If the child is young, you can pet them and sooth them the best that you can, but if the child is older, you should really let them wake up on their own b/c they can hurt themselves and you at this stage. At least in their bed they are safe. My nadia is going through this right now (she is 16 months) and I can tell you that everything we tried has not worked. It is something that they have to grow out of. Most of the time, when I pick her up or try to help her in the middle of the night, it makes things much worse. If I just go in and stand next to her crib without picking her up (just try to pat her to let her know that I am there), the terror doesn't last anywhere near as long. The most important thing is to set up an appointment with your peditrition. He/she should be able to help as well!
~A. :)

It sounds like she might be having nightmares. I had this problem with my son who is now 21 mths. I would go in and soothe him until he stopped crying and then leave the room. I also checked out the t.v. shows he was watching. Some of the ones I thought were fine actually showed very scary stuff at times and I believe that was the cause of his nightmares. I changed some of the shows he watched and after about 2 weeks he stopped waking evry night. Every now and then he may wake up crying but it is like once every month if at all.

I have two twin boys who just until recently cried EVERY NIGHT since we brought them home, when they were out of the newborn stage and sleeping better they did the same thing, up every night, at the same times
I finally had enough and i let them cry for about 2 hours one night then a little less the next, until they just got used to me not rushing in the room. i would always check on them to see if they were OK but quickly left.It is heart wrenching but I needed to sleep, now I have no problems at all.
It took about a week or so, but it is worth all the frustration in the end.
I hope this helps.... GOOD LUCK

My daughter, now three, used to do this regularly and still does ocasionally. What I have figured out is that if she drinks juice too close to bedtime...she wakes up screaming about an hour to two hours later. The acidic juice is just too much for her. She doesn't ever tell me what's wrong, only cries and cries. But if I limit the juice, and/or prop up her pillow with another below it, I can pretty much guarantee that she will not wake up crying. She had reflux as an infant also, but went through a period where it stopped bothering her. Then this crying in the night started and it took me about a month to find the correlation. She's just too sleepy to tell me that it hurts and where. Once she starts crying, the only thing that works is proping her up higher on her pillow.

My middle one has this sometimes, she is older, but it started a long time ago. I think they are called night terrors. My daughter would be screaming and crying, but not really awake. I did some research, and they say they just have to cry it out. It never helped for us to wake her up bc it just made her cry more. They have gotten better.