DD woke me up with the most horrific shrieking.

[CharCharGabor]

She hasn't napped well today so I knew she'd be up a bit. But about half an hour ago she started shrieking. She didn't stop even when I picked her up, she was obviously really upset and the sound was horrible. I brought her downstairs so I could check her out but there doesn't seem to be anything visibly wrong. I fed her and she went to sleep but is really restless so whenever I go to get up to take her upstairs she wakes and is very upset. Anyone got any ideas please? She has been teething lately but it hasn't affected her like this before. She's also had a bad cough and cold recently but I had her checked at the docs and he said all she had was a red throat. She's 16 months btw. TIA

My ds used to do this - If i remember correctly it was usually when he was teething. He used to make a horrible high pitched cry/shreiking noise and we eventually realised that even though I was picking him up and soothing him he was actually still sleeping, it was if he was in some sort of trance/sleepwalking state. I used to have to lie him down on my bed and put a cold cloth on his face to try try to waken him up. Only when he was fully awake, did he fully calm down.

DD has done that (she's 2) - she has bad dreams sometimes, but often it's that she's been constipated and woken up in the middle of a painful poo. Can't be a great experience.

It's possible that she's finding it hard to breathe when she lies down, have you tried giving her a pillow so she has her airways a bit more open? Perhaps she's panicking about coughing and not being able to catch her breath?

Thanks alibobster. Did he get up? DD was standing in her cot when I went in. I've just managed to put her in her cot but she's still restless. Maybe I should have given her some nurofen. She's had so much recently as she's really been suffering with her teeth. I don't like to overmedicate her.

xpost wmmc. She hasn't pooed but was quite windy from the bottom end. I haven't given her a pillow as she moves all over the cot so I thought she'd never sleep on it. Maybe it's a thought though. She hasn't actually coughed so far tonight, first night she hasn't. God I'm so confused, she's been unsettled really badly for 3 months now and I'm completely stumped as to how to help her. She looks tired all the time.

I feel for you - DD teethed really badly for six sodding months. It's not overmedication to make sure she gets a good nights sleep. Tiredness exacerbates perceptions of pain so it's a double whammy.

Personally I do go for neurofen in these cases -- it reduces the swollen gums and seems to have a slight laxative effect in DD.

Thanks guys. She's been upstairs for about half an hour so far so hopefully it'll carry on. I prefer nurofen too wmmc but I do worry about the long term effects of having it so often. It doesn't seem to do much anyway, no teething remedies are working at the moment. I'll probably bring her in with us when she wakes up later.

Could these be night terrors?

Hmmm, not sure. I thought dd was a bit young for them. I thought older toddlers had them. She seemed awake during it but obviously I couldn't know for sure.