Comments on: Baby / Toddler Night Terrors and Nightmares: Part 1

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 03:05:56 +0000

Hi @MaryBeth – Thank you for writing to us! Sorry to hear that your 4 year old has been waking like this at night! This is so tough – we understand! It sounds like she is having confusional events or night terrors, based on what you’ve shared here. Please use the tips in this series to try and minimize these events, and this article should be very helpful too: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/toddler-preschooler-nightmares-how-to-handle-part-2/
Hang in there MaryBeth, and please contact us if you need more assistance!

By: MaryBeth Wood

MaryBeth Wood — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 04:34:24 +0000

My daughter is 4 yo. She has had what I called sleep tantrums for the last year or more. She will start fussing and moving around while asleep. Usually within the first few hours of sleep. Then she will start crying and yelling. That’s when I go in. She will react when I enter the room. She seems to acknowledge that I am Mom and then will scream at me about things that makes sense and some things that don’t. She will hit and yell the entire time. These have lasted up to 45 mins are as little as 10. Then suddenly she will stop yelling and crying and simply be calmly sleeping. When you ask her about them in the morning she does not remember them at all. Also I have noticed they happen more when she has been overwhelmed, sick or there has been lots of change has occurred. Any insight would be helpful. Thank you.

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 01:57:28 +0000

In reply to Katharine.

Hi @Katharine – Thanks for writing to us! So sorry to hear that your daughter has been up so early and sleeping so restlessly! Have you checked out this article on our blog?:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/4-month-sleep-regression/
It may shed some light on your daughter’s new sleep patterns, and can hopefully help! Good luck!

By: Katharine

Katharine — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 08:40:30 +0000

Hi!
My daughter just turned 5 months and has always been a rough sleeper. She still wakes every 2-3 hours for a feeding, but for the past few weeks has been “up” at 4 in the morning crying and turning and whimpering, sometimes her pulse is racing. This usually lasts 30-40 minutes. She is asleep the whole time, but the symptoms diminish a bit when I move her to bed with me and rub her back. What is going on?
Thanks from a very tired and concerned mom!

By: Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 15:25:28 +0000

In reply to Paul.

Hi Paul,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site a resource! I’m so sorry to hear your son is experiencing such difficulty at night – it sounds like such a hard thing for a parent to experience. Night terrors at this age are most common when a kiddo has not been getting enough sleep, so it’s possible that, because your son’s naps are short/ non-existent at daycare, that he is then overtired and experiencing nightmares. However, since this has been going on for such a long time, we would recommend bringing it up with his pediatrician, just to make sure you’ve ruled out any physical causes. It would be great to have a conversation with his daycare provider as well, to make sure there’s nothing going on there that could be causing your son’s distress. I hope this helps – good luck with everything!

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 07:02:42 +0000

Hi,

Our 3 year old has what I assume are night terrors. He wakes up inconsolable and kicking around in his bed. He’s usually yelling and crying out “No, I don’t want to!” Or something similar.
90% of these happen at night after being at daycare that day. He goes to daycare twice a week and generally – maybe 70% of the time – he’ll wake up in this state on those nights. Most other nights he has no issues sleeping through.
Often as well as “No” he is saying things that reference his day at daycare such as “I don’t want to play with you John!” Or “I want to climb that!”.
It has been happening for probably 2 years now and has always been the same – mainly on daycare nights.
Generally on these days also, he doesn’t really have a decent day sleep like he does when at home. He sleeps for up to 2 hours in the early afternoon when at home and still sleeps through the night however at daycare he will have anything between just a rest and at best 1 hour. Most of the time it’s around 20 minutes.
Could it be a case do you think, that he is having these episodes on these nights because of overstimulation during the day and not having the capacity to mentally digest and work through everything that has happened?
Such a strange experience for my wife and I seeing our boy seemingly scared and angry!
Thank you for your time.

By: Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site

Debbye @ The Baby Sleep Site — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 00:03:26 +0000

In reply to Christina Baxter.

Hi @Christina – Thanks for writing, and I am sorry to hear that your baby has been waking like this! I know how tough this can be on parents, so hang in there and know that you are not alone! It is common for babies of all ages to wake abruptly like this, so don’t be worried! It sounds like he is going right back to sleep, which is good! I think this article may help:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-quick-tips/baby-wake-up-crying/
Hang in there and I hope that things smooth out quickly!

By: Christina Baxter

Christina Baxter — Fri, 05 Jul 2019 08:11:02 +0000

Hi Danielle,
My 8 month old son (8weeks prem) has started having these episodes about a week ago. He has had two so far. He wakes bolt upright with a cry that makes me think he is seriously injured. He has his eyes open but is not seeing anything like staring into space. Crying and kicking out for between 5 to 15 minutes. He will then calm and fall right back asleep. My husbands nan has had awful night terrors as long as I can remember. Should I be worried that these episodes are happening?

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 09:11:51 +0000

In reply to Tharaa. My daughter is 3 months old and just started bawling in bedand I couldn't wake her either or soothe her and it took while to wake her up and I nursed her back to sleep. I'm still not sure what it is either.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 22:33:45 +0000

In reply to Tharaa.

Hi Tharaa,
Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! I’m sorry you’re dealing with these crying spells, but we’d love to help. Nightmares are incredibly rare in babies under 2 years-old, unless there’s been a significant trauma in their lives. More often, short crying like you’re describing is actually a baby transitioning between sleep cycles. We talk more about this in our article here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-quick-tips/baby-wakes-up-crying-why/
I hope this helps, and good luck!