My 9 Month Old Possibly Having Night Terrors

Updated on July 20, 2010
F.L. asks from Ridgecrest, CA
8 answers

A couple of weeks ago my daughter would wake up maybe one or two nights of the week where she would be crying and screaming wide awake..i would try to put her back down and she would instantly roll over and sream her head off not wanting to be back in there. I would have to bring her into our living room and let her calm down and play for about an hour and then either put her back in her own bed or ours and she would sleep the rest of the night. Its starting to become a more frequent thing almost everynight to every other night...she acts like her bed is full of needles and she mustget out of there. Does ne one know what this could be?? is it night terrors??

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So What Happened?

Thank you everyone for your wonderful advice!! Last night she just did her normal lil crying where i give her a bottle and she goes right back to sleep..she even slept better than usual. Something else that might have been bothering her is the heat and or teething. Where we live its been getting to 120 degrees a day so last night was the first time i put an extra fan in her room to help cool her. She just had her 9 month well check a week and a half ago and the doctor said her ears were perfect so my guess is this is a combo of teething (which she might be getting some back ones) and the heat! thanks again for all your advice

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W.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

My daughter does this when she is teething. She will wake up sometimes 3 times per night screaming. Sometimes she will go back to sleep after we rock her, sometimes it takes awhile of trying to put her back to bed and then her waking up again. When not teething she sleeps the whole night through.

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M.Z.

answers from Reno on

It might be night terrors, but if the problem is as bad as you say you may want to call your pediatrician. My son had the same problem around that age and everyone told me it was common and just night terrors. I finally let my instincts lead me and took him to the doctor. He had horrible ear infections in both ears. He could fall asleep fine but woke in the middle of the night screaming because of the pressure that had built up while lying flat. After two weeks on medicine and a lot of nights sleeping holding him upright he was perfect and slept through the night again. Good luck!

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T.S.

answers from Sacramento on

Take her to get her ears checked. If she has an ear infection, laying on her back can really increase the pressure. My son showed no signs of an ear infection (no fever, no tugging the ear, no issues during the day) but was getting more an more freaked out at night. I thought he was just being a difficult sleeper until he ended up with blood dripping out of his ear. Turned out the pressure in the other ear combined with teething plus his screaming made the eardrum in his OTHER ear finally burst.

When I took him in to the doctor, she confirmed the ruptured eardrum and found a very infected ear on the other side.

Good luck.

T.

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B.M.

answers from Chicago on

When a child has night terrors they don't wake up. Nothing is actually 'scaring' them, it's like their brain can't shut off. They have no memory the next day and would never 'play' or interact during or after a night terror.

I agree with the other moms who said that you should get her checked out for ear infections etc.

At 9 months she may very well have figured out how to get mommy all to herself in the middle of the night!!!!! Try NOT to play with her in the middle of the night. It will only encourage her.

I did not do CIO - but I think 9 mo is around when they say you can start sleep training, so now may be when you have to start a consistent routine with your daughter when she wakes up in the middle of the night. You and her dad should talk and agree on what technique you will use. Decide what your boundaries are and then stick with that EVERY night. It's hard, but consistency is the key.

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J.L.

answers from San Diego on

Hi F., what i have heard about night terrors it does not sound like that, usually with night terrors the child does not wake up during them and in the morning wakes up and has no memory of the night terror. She may be teething and since you got her up and eventually put her in your bed, she made be waking up cause she knows someone will come in and get her. I would talk to her ped for peace of mind, I could be wrong. Hope she does better soon. J.

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E.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Okay this is totally random and probably not you're situation.... But I want to throw it out there. This happened to my daughter at 15 months. It was a reaction from Benadryl. It scared the heck out of me because she was flapping her arms around and making weird noises, sitting up in her crib. I picked her up and was totally unable to console her. Almost like she didn't respond to me at all.

So is there any medication you are giving her that she could be reacting to?

Also, the ear infection suggestion is a good one. When babies have ear infections, laying down puts pressure on the ear drum and it HURTS! I went through that with my daughter too. However, in all likelihood your daughter would have fever if it was an ear infection.

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J.D.

answers from Knoxville on

Sounds like night terrors to me. My 9 month-old has experienced a similar thing. It's disturbing, huh? But our Dr. said it is completely normal.

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T.M.

answers from Las Vegas on

sometime's baby this young need to still feel close to the security of the mom. if she's sleeping thru the nite when she's near u then its ok.just slowly ween her to feel safe in her own bed. i had that problem with my grandson.so did dad&mom. when he would fall asleep we would put him back in his own bed , would sleep thru the nite. good luck

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