Hi Moms,
My one year old son frequently screams out at night, then by the time I get to his room, falls back asleep. This sometimes happens once or twice a night but from time to time he does it 5-7 times. I feel horrible for him not knowing if it's pain or nighmares, but he seems to go right back to sleep so not sure if I should worry at all. Sometimes though he will keep crying and when I go in his room, he's sitting in his crib shaking and sobbing. Once I pick him up, he goes right back to sleep and I can put him back in the crib. Other nights, he sleeps all night w/o a peep. He's also a great napper during the day (2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon). Any experience or insight about this?
I don't think it's night terrors because he's not awake when he cries and when he does wake up, he holds out his arms for me to pick him up and then falls back asleep instantly.
A.
I wouldn't have thought it was night terrors at an early age. Maybe it is teething, or I know my 16 month old sometimes has gas. I assume he is on solids and maybe has started milk? Could it be something he is eating? Have a think. Could be a vegetable such as broccoli, or milk or apples etc. I used to grin and bear it, but now I use GRIPE water. Not long after......relief! For him and me!! Good luck. I hope it is an easy fix!!
It sounds like Night Terrors which both of my kids had at an early age.
Usually your child stays asleep and is completely unconsolable but has no remembrance of the event after the fact.
Here's some information to help you feel better about this:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/presch...
My nine year old still gets night terrors on occasion. They have been happening to her since she was about 2. Sometimes she would be walking around and reacting while still asleep. I would comfort her and she would be ok. I still hear her in the night, now. I wait, and listen. Usually she self soothes and all is quiet. If it does not seem to get better, I go in and see if she is OK. Hope this helps
P.S. I only let her see/hear/read positive things on TV or books before bedtime, that seems to help
Like Dana said, it could be night terrors. It could be teething. We did notice our son did the same thing through some particularly bad bouts of teething, but we don't know that that's the cause.
Only thing I can say is at this point, just keep going to him. That's what we've done and I think it comforts our kiddo with some cuddles. He always goes back to sleep and it doesn't seem to have interrupted his sleeping by making some kind of habit.
could be teething or who knows but as long as he is comforted he seems to be fine? i wouldnt worry just may need a bit of parenting at night for a bit
Our littles start dreaming at approximately that age. Hopefully it is nothing more complicated than that.
My son had night terrors, and it probably started about the same time... went on until he was about 6... he would seem like he was awake, but wasn't really. I would go into the room and everything would seem fine. It was just something we had to outgrow. My son never remembered any of it. He did have some bad dreams that he was later able to tell me about once he was old enough to talk and express his feelings... but he really never remembered the night terrors. He later had recurring nightmares, but I gave him a technique to stop those and it helped... when the child wakes up, have them finish the dream with an ending they create - can be silly (e.g. your mother suddenly arrives with cookies and the monster is so shocked that he becomes friendly and you all share cookies together), or whatever - best if it's something unexpectedly funny - completely takes the fear out of the dream and that dream usually doesn't return, but that is also different from night terrors - just something else we dealt with along with the terrors... I know it can be scary, but just be there to comfort him. If it is truely night terrors, he likely isn't actually waking up, so don't be suprised if once in a while he hits out at you - he probably doesn't know - but if you just lay him back down and he goes to sleep, great.
Do you have a camcorder? Maybe you can set it up so you can film him at night and see if he is restless before he screams out or not......that might help you determine if it is nightmares or maybe something else......
Good Luck, you also might try putting on some soothing music for him all night.....something he can hear, but that is nice and quiet.....upbeat by not so much to keep him awake..........
Take care.
