Can my 4 month old daughter be having nightmares? Occasionally, when she's napping, out of the blue she'll wake up with a really jolting startled cry and seems very afraid. It's an entirely different sounding cry than her painful gas was a couple of months ago, or her regular crying. I swear, she seems REALLY afraid of something and wakes screaming suddenly, and calms down as soon as I go to her and comfort her. It has never happened at night-she just wakes and cries normally for food. I've only seen it happen during naps, and it's often when all is calm and she hasn't been startled by a loud noise or anything. My other two are very young as well, and neither of them did this. I'm not too worried, just curious!
I think she's probably startling (sp?) herself awake. Is she very tightly swaddled? I'd work on making sure she is really swaddled tightly-- my son slept swaddled until he was 6 or 7 months old.
It probably IS a dream. My daughter did this too, both at night or during a nap on occasion. She would cry for about 30 seconds like she was VERY upset and then just stop. It was while she was sleeping.
I don't know the definite answer, but I sure think they must b/c my 4 month old son did the same thing! I remember my other two children doing the same thing. The good news is that it is probably just a phase! He hardly does it anymore. Just keep hugging and comforting that precious little girl!
According to the GI specialist we saw at Children's Hospital, whenever my son woke up screaming/disoriented/not recognizing me at first/taking more than 10mins to consol, he was having night terrors. Now, his didn't start until around 9mos, and I'm not sure at what age they can begin.
You know, one of my 3 did this too. I think it was my daughter ( Mommy guilt because I don't remember.) I always though it was a dream too. Funny how some of our babies dream younger than the others.
