Every since my DD was 8 months old, she has been waking up 2-5 times throughout the night crying out. Sometimes they're just a moan and other times they are very loud terrifying screams. Now that she can talk, she'll weakly cry Mama, but then drifts back to sleep. Earlier (when this first started happening) we would go in and comfort her and she'd calmly go back to sleep. After awhile of that, we thought we were at fault because we kept going in, which in return she'd do it every night knowing we'd come in. So, at about 1 year of age, we quit going in when she'd cry out, thinking she'd eventually learn to self sooth herself back to sleep. The more I write now, the more I realize how wrong we were. She doesn't really wake up, so there's no self soothing needed. When I read about Night Terrors, most parents say the child looks wide awake and sometime thrashes out or can be hurtful during an episode. My child is laying down still, most of the time still on her tummy, eyes closed and isn't moving. She just screams. I have asked my pedi about it and she says that it may be night terror and that we're doing the right thing by not going in there. So, now that she's going to be turning 2 on Tuesday, I will be asking the dr again to see if there isn't something else wrong. As for her sleep patterns, she's a fantastic sleeper really. She goes to be at 7-7:30 and while I'm teaching, she'll sleep until we wake her up at 7 the next morning. If I'm out for the summer (like now) she sleeps from 7-7:30 the night before until 9:30-10:30 the next morning. She also still takes one nap a day. ANY thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. I know I'll be talking to my Dr. this coming Tuesday, but I honestly don't feel she cares too much to even think twice about it. I've always been told to follow my gut. My gut says something is wrong, but I just can't figure out what.
My daughter is 27 months and she does this whenever she is getting a tooth. She'll wake up screaming in her sleep 2-3 times each night. Then when the tooth comes in it stops..then starts up again when she's getting another tooth. It happens before I can see or feel the tooth at all, but I've noticed that about a week after she has a week or so of crying at night a new tooth will appear.
This sounds like sleep apnea. She is waking herself up to breath. The fussing/screaming you hear is her reaching consciousness long enough to take a breath. When a baby cries they are breathing. She sleeps so long at night because she isn't getting a restful sleep. So, she also needs a nap the next day. Please seek the opinion of an ENT if your pediatrician doesn't seem to take notice. This type of thing is commonly overlooked or seen as something that doesn't affect babies and small children. That is not true. Follow your gut and keep looking for answers.
Night-mares.
This is different than night-terrors.
But it can be a night-terror too... even if she is not thrashing about.
Kids, from about 2, can have night-mares. Developmental based. Even if a kid is over-tired, they sometimes have night-mares.
My son... he makes noises like that at night and then I observe him. He's still sleeping. But he will yell or scream or make grunts. Sometimes, when he then wakes or the next morning, I will ask him about it. And he tells me he had a night-mare. And sometimes he will even tell me what it was about. Sometimes it is even about his day. He's NOT traumatized or anything... but he "knows" he had a dream. I explained to him what dreams are. He is 3.5 years old now... but even when younger, he knew what it was.
My son is a terrific sleeper... but sometimes he has a lot of dreams. Sometimes he will even be laughing in his sleep.
My daughter on the other hand, would sometimes sleep-walk... but she is still 'sleeping.'
Both my kids nap, since they were babies, and even currently.
all the best,
Susan
there is a condition that is related to sleepwalking which is called Confusional Arousals. The child is asleep but begins to moan, cry sometimes sits up, babbles incoherantly....sometimes once a night, sometimes multiple times in one night.
My daughter occassionally has these however she is now 5 and hasn't had one in over a year, so apparently has grown out of it. My husband was a sleepwalker as a kid and I wouldn't be surprised if my daughter, as she gets a little older, begins to sleepwalk.
When she would have an episode I would go in her room, not try to wake her but make a noise on her pillow by patting it loudly (she usually sat up) to bring her attention back to her pillow and she would lay back down. Sometimes I would do it once, sometimes it was 3 or 4 times before she would settle and quiet down. It seemed to happen when she was overtired.
I agree with S.H. She is probably dreaming. My grandchildren both did that and still do. they're 10 and 7 as of the next couple of weeks. I have also done that myself. Sometimes I wake myself up crying or letting out a scream. Once I'm awake I realize I've been dreaming. I also talk in my sleep from time to time as have my daughter and her 2 children and several other people with whom I've been sleeping in the same room.
again, we're dreaming but it's not a nightmare like when we cry or scream.
Because she does not wake up and is not traumatized this is nothing to worry about. I also agree that it is best to not respond to her. Waking her up will disturb her sleep and you don't want to do that.
We should listen to our gut. Mothers often sense when something is wrong when it is and no one else recognizes it. But we also have our own past experiences and our own anxieties unrelated to our child that sometimes play into our gut feelings. I tell you that this is nothing to be concerned about because what she is doing is not negatively affecting her.
My daughter (2 yrs old in March) periodically does this as well, sometimes a tylenol before bed helps. I've been able to locate a couple of things that seem to contribute (1) a very long/busy day, especially with a lot of walking/running on her part - leading me to think that some of the yelling is from cramping or growing pains, occasionally if she wakes up during an episode she'll grab at her legs; (2) ear infections - usually she does not really have any other symptoms of ear infection (no fever or pulling on ears), but will maybe have a runny nose or congestion. (3) also more frequent during growth spurts. I usually try tylenol before bedtime if she's had a very busy day and if that doesn't work and/or she continues waking up and yelling the next few nights I take her in to her ped to have her ears checked. I guess it could also be apnea as others have mentioned since it does seem worse when she has a runny nose/allergy symptoms (which leads to ear infections and worsening apnea symptoms). I also try to make sure she is eating a lot and drinking a lot before bedtime during these periods...they seem worse when she is going through a growth spurt and maybe the extra food/drinks help with leg pains/cramps or just keep her in a deeper sleep. Other times it does seem like she is just dreaming & something in her dream scared her. But as she gets older i've been able to distinguish (somewhat) the dream ones from the ones that seem to come from physical pain. Hers probably started around the same age - or maybe around 1 yr old and continue now, but they are not constant & periods of them come and go.
My younger daughter cried for HOURS every night in her sleep for YEARS. She thrashed and moaned. And you are right - it did NOT look like night terrors. And it made us parents so sleep deprived!
I wish I could easily say what helped. When she had symptoms of what the doctors diagnosed as depression at 9 years old, (you might want to see http://www.itsnotmental.com) she was put on an SSRI antidepressant. That was actually the first time she QUIT doing that and we could SLEEP. But the problem then was that there were underlying physical issues that were not being addressed which was affecting body and brain, but we didn't know it.
One of the many things going wrong with her were food sensitivities. Among other things, she had Celiac. And sleep disorder, but which came first is hard to say since she didn't get good diagnostic testing done until her TEENS!
Sleep is really critical. Probably in your daughter's case, it is nothing - just a passing phase. But I'd feel guilty to not warn you of our story as well. We were told repeatedly by medical professionals that she was "fine." And perhaps in 99 times out of 100, the child really IS "fine." But SHE wasn't.
My daughter started to do the same shortly before she turned 1, and has continued (she's now 16 months). At first I read somewhere it's when they start dreaming the dreams (good or bad) scare them awake. When I had just a routine visit with her ped I decided to ask. She said it could be a number of things but def. not night terrors because she is thrashing or trying to hit or anything. She said dreams can wake them up, bad dreams of course, growing pains, being restless, stress, when they are acomplishing new things (walking, talking, new milestones), cutting teeth, etc. She named off a ton of things. But reading your post I think I would seek another doctors opinion. Go with your gut. Especially if it's been going on that long. I know I would (or will if it continues with my baby). I hope your daughter has more rest-full nights, good luck!
Yes, please trust your gut. I am a big believer in that! I also have a two year old son (turned two on June 10th). Anyway, I know how you feel when you say that you feel the doctor does not really care. I have had bad experiences with doctors like that with my son. I would bring it up again and ask for any suggestions. If she does not respond well, tell her that you are not satisfied with her answer (politely but firmly) and that you will be asking for a second opinion. I do not know if you could see another pediatrician at the doctor's office you go. I know that is what I had to do with my son's first pediatrician. Sorry I don't know too much about night terrors, though. Are you a teacher? So am I! What do you teach? I teach kindergarten. Anyway, good luck!
I would like to see your responses.
Last week my son really scared me. He started screaming so I turned on the video monitor to see what he was doing. My son is 32 months old. I saw him scream one more time and in the monitor I could see that he was blinking his eyes but not moving. I went into his room. He appeared to be looking around but did not acknowledge me. By this time I was scared. I picked him up. He was still looking around but not responding. His body went limp--but he was still looking around. He wouldn't respond to me asking him anything. He wouldn't respond to me touching him. I called for my husband and he came in and took my son from me. He was still looking around but non-responsive and his body was limp. I had to wake him up to make sure everything was ok. I have chills now thinking about it. It was so scary for me. It was pretty hard to wake him up but we did and he told me he loved me and gave me a kiss and went back to sleep.
I think Lori B's answer is right
