Did my 3mth DS have a 'nap' terror today??

[u32ng]

Looking for opinions/experience of terrors in your LO's of similar age...

This afternoon I put DS down for a nap. He fought it but I eventually got him off to sleep & put him down. As he'd got overtired I did half expect him to wake after less than an hr (I find his sleep is crapper if he goes down overtired).

What I didn't expect was him crying but quite suddenly & it escalated VERY quickly to full on loud crying with tears. He was beside himself & inconsolable. I tried his dummy but he didn't want to know & I thought maybe he was hungry (even though it wasn't his hungry cry) but when I put my pinky in his mouth he went between not wanting to know to being like was going to suck but he couldn't suck properly .

The scariest thing though was, in attempt to calm him, I laid him down on the change table (he quite likes it there) he pretty much stopped crying suddenly & got this weird almost scared look on his face & his left eye was twitching. I freaked out thinking he was having some sort of fit! So I quickly scooped him up & the crying resumed. This happened once more on our bed & I frantically called my husband thinking he was really sick & we were going to have to go to A&E. I passed him to my DH (who was outside on our decking) & my DS shortly after calmed down.

We then decided to feed him & he was ok the rest of the day.

This really upset me as he was SO inconsolable! And the eye twitching was scary. I know him really quite well & this was very out of character for him. The only time he cries big time is when he's hungry but this was a whole other level of crying & he had only been fed 6oz barely 2hrs previous. I know his hungry behaviour & this just wasn't it - I just instinctively know, as his cries nearly broke my heart.

So wtf was it??! I did a bit if googling & stumbled upon night terrors but he seems very young. He did seem awake but perhaps not & maybe the change to my DH snapped him out of it? Or was it Gas?? Teething?? Other??

[nevergoogle]

DS1 started having night terrors when he was about 4 or 5 months old. Usually if overtired, and normally about an hour or so after he had gone to sleep.
He would be screaming with his eyes open, but not seeing us. He would lay flat on his back. When he was picked up he would be rigid but not responding to any of our consoling. The first time it happened he woke up when DH ran with him out of the front door to the GP who lived next door. I called an ambulance as we were told to be extra vigilant for meningitis symptoms given his group b strep infection at birth.

3 times this happened with trips to hospital with a wide awake confused baby. We got a bit more used to it, and on occasion asked the doctor next door to come over and see it. He was convinced it was night terrors and had never seen it in such a young baby.

We were referred to a paediatrician who diagnosed some fancy word for a type of night terrors. We were advised not to wake him but I would lift him from his cot and lay on the bed with him until he stopped. It's not something he would remember or really be aware of, so it's harder for the parent i think.

He grew out of it around 1 year old.

[BotBotticelli]

My DS is now 5months old but I swear he did something similar to this a few weeks ago when he was around 3.5 months. I put him down for a nap late afternoon, and as usual he only slept for about 30 mins. But when he woke up, instead of cooing or gurgling like he normally does, or doing a grumpy cry which says "somebody come and get me", I heard him on the monitor break into a really distinct 'upset cry'....the kind of cry he does very rarely, usually, when something makes him jump, or he is feeling poorly, or if he hears another baby crying (he is a sensitive little flower!).

I just knew it was an upset cry on the monitor so I ran into his room and picked him up, and he had proper tears running down his cheeks (first time I saw proper tears), and was really gaspoing for breath like when someone is properly terrified. It took abou 10 mins to calm him and for his breathing to get back to normal which was very worrying. I was half in mind to call an ambulance, cos I had never heard him breathe like that before, but something about the way he was crying made me think he was upset, rather than in pain/struggling to breathe if you see what I mean.

Anyway, i just sat and rocked him/sung a soft song for around 10 mins till he calmed down. But he was nervy and jumpy all evening. I definitely think he had some kind of night terror. Hopefully it won't happen again - hope the same for your LO, OP.