Waking up in middle of night REALLY upset

[MoreTeaPlease]

I posted recently about dd (2 end of Aug) who recently had her first proper tantrum. Felt much better when everyone told me it was normal, thanks again for that.

Now she has woken up 3 times in 10 days in the middle of the night/ v early morning and been REALLY upset- inconsolable. We co-sleep, and she just sat up straight from sleep and started screaming. The noise and its duration are reminiscent of the tantrum and twice she wouldn't let DP pick her up, only me. But somehow I feel she is more upset than angry.

Could she be having bad dreams? The first episode was after M+FIL had taken her to the zoo and apparently she was pretty scared of one or two animals.

Or can it be anything to do with being overtired? She was wrecked after said trip to zoo (missed nap ).

Have found these really shocking and upsetting to deal with! She seems normal during the day (though definitely getting some big teeth).

How upsetting for you (and your DD)Sounds quite normal to me. Could be bad dreams, v common around this age. When she first wakes does she seem to be aware of where she is? Some children start screaming before they're even awake properly and then don't recognise people which would explain why she didn't want to go to DP. I think the only thing to do is comfort her when she wakes. The overtired thing might have an impact too. I know if DD (only 9 months) has missed a nap in the day she's often unsettled at night and keeps waking herelf up. Hope it improves soon

Thanks intravenous, me too... thought perhaps it was too early for bad dreams.

I think she could well not know where she is- going into the light seems to make things better although it takes a while. I am starting to dread night time again in case this happens!

Children can go through phases of night terrors for a while from 2 onwards.

My dd had a few but they are less frequent now she's older (6) She had one once when we went camping. Woke up in the night and sreamed the campsite down. Lord knows what eveyone thought we were doing to her . Nothing I said would calm her down. But she was all disorientated and over tired.

They are frightening but all you can do is reassure the child and usually they grow out of them.

Dd seemed awake but would be almost hysterical and unconsolable.

Children can get them if they get a bit over tired. This can happen from 2 onwards because they are learning and processing such a huge amount during the day.

Sound to me like Night Terrors my DS1 had them from about 18 months then they gradually got better and stopped altogether by 4.

Of course it may be something genuinely worrying her but the Doc told me there's no cause for night terrors. The only thing my DS could remember is that we went away and he couldn't find us (which he could have thought of after - probably the most terrifying thing for a child).

He used to sit bolt upright and scream and cry and big gasping breaths. Even putting the light on wouldn't rouse him - then we were told not to rouse him just to cuddle him (which was hard at times as he was hitting out too) and lay him back to sleep. I'm sure you'll get loads of info if you google night terrors and you can see if you think this is it. He couldn't remember a thing the next morning .

HTH.

Forgot to mention that dd often had no recollection the next day of any of it. We sure did though!