Bad dreams?

[mrsmorgy]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times befre but I'm new to MN and can't find any recent threads on it!
At what age do children start having bad dreams? My 13month old DS woke up last night, really really upset (like something terrible had happened!) DH gave him a cuddle and he settled straight back to sleep. So obviously not in pain or anything, which lead me to wonder if he could have had a bad dream? Any ideas? X

In my experience, yes, it was a bad dream. As soon as babies are able to take in the world around them, bad dreams are a possibility. It could be something as minor as not being able to reach the nipple (lol) e.g. if baby is hungry through the night, but to a baby that could be momentous as it's all he/she knows.

My DS used to have night terrors around the 12mnth mark, but strangely only in the car. And he was REALLY upset when it happened, screaming and floods of tears etc. Could've been DH's driving of course (!) but it was a worry.

Most bad dreams tend to come around 2/3 yr stage but there are definite cases of babies having nightmares.

Thanks extremum I was starting to think maybe I was the only one to experience it with the huge amount of response I got

Strange about the lack of response (so far). Fascinating topic and I know lots of mums who have experienced similar.

Watching my DS sleep I'd say there are moments when he def wakes himself up due to bad dreams, with a few seconds of whimpering and thrashing beforehand, and he's only 8 weeks. Probably worried that his toy bunny is telling lies about him, they argue quite a lot (I think there's a Calvin and Hobbes dealy going on between them).