Night terrors in babies?

[hodgehedge]

Is this a thing? Dd is 7 months old and often wakes screaming blue murder. Initially I thought it was teeth or some other pain related but I don't think so anymore because she's fine during the day and no sign she's unwell or in pain.

I go in and pick her up and she still screams in a really distressed way. Then put her back down and she immediately goes back to sleep. Does this sound like a nightmare or something? Could she just be waking and being frightened or unsure where she is? It's so bizarre. She usually only does it during the first few hours of being put to bed so not sure if sleep stages play a part here. Any advice much appreciated.

DS has always had nightmares every so often. I used to have to turn the lights on to properly wake him up. Then we'd watch cocomelon until he felt safe enough to go to sleep. I can't imagine for the life of me what they were about. He's never been that scared while awake. He also used to laugh in his sleep before he laughed while awake.

Omg - this happens to us too!! DS is also 7 months old. Happens most nights within the first 2 hours of going to sleep!!! He calms once we rock him and pretty much goes back to sleep instantly! We have wondered what it could be to.... so no advice but just know you're not the only ones!!!

It's so strange isn't it. If it were just whimpering and whining I would understand but the way she screams it's like something is seriously wrong! But then she goes straight back to sleep again. Wish I knew what was causing it.

Isn’t it that they wake up upset that they’re alone? Especially if you were there when they fell asleep.

Then with the comfort of knowing you’re there they go back off.

This has happened with all three of mine.

With all three of them I googled night terrors in babies and it always told me that it happened at a much older age (off the top of my head, around the age of 3).

but I've always found that difficult to believe

I would've thought this would happen throughout the night if this were true? Not a one off ....

My youngest had night terrors from about that age until she was 4.

i hated them. She would be absolutely hysterical and frantic. I was useless, she didn’t really even know I was there, although her eyes were open. Always terrified she was going to hurt herself so I would just sit with her and rub her back. Then she’d just turn over and settle back down again 🤷🏻‍♀️

My DD has these occasionally, she is 25 months now. I'd read they didn't start until age 2 but she was definitely having them at 15 months, it's hard to remember earlier than that as I was very sleep deprived. She would seem to wake screaming and would just not engage with me in the same way she usually would, and it was much harder to soothe her. At age 2 I can clearly see she is still asleep and crying. I find playing the intro music to a TV programme she watches will snap her out of it, I've read you shouldn't wake them during a night terror but they're just unbearable to watch. She usually goes back to sleep quite quickly once I manage to wake her.

My dd had these and usually a couple of hours after going to sleep. I eventually discovered that they were night terrors . If I remember correctly ,the best way to handle is to try hide from them ( behind their door) but keep eye on them so you can check they are safe I.e just sitting up in their bed … and wait for them to finish. Apparently trying to wake them is more distressing . They just fall back to sleep and don’t remember in the morning. I.m sure more research has been done as this was about 18 years ago ! But we can remember finding it all quite alarming .

My son has these and has done for a while, he is nearly 2 now. Very deep sleeper but occasionally starts screaming, we've had a couple of really bad episodes I honestly woke up thinking something terrible was happening. He then wakes himself up from screaming and goes back to sleep, I've never attempted to go in and wake him, I'd comfort him if he carried on screaming when awake. I watch him on the monitor until he falls back to sleep.
I wonder what on earth they'd be about at that age.