baby night terrors?

[Poll32]

Hi, my 13 month old son has suddenly started crying/screaming at night. When I go to him, he is still asleep and it is very difficult to comfort him. Sometimes, I manage to wake him up and he eventually calms down, other times I can't wake him, but somehow manage to calm him down. Occasionally, he will open his eyes and I think he is awake, but I realise he is still asleep. Do babies get night terrors? Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Thanks

Yes. DS (10 months) has had them on and off for a few months now. Sometimes he is inconsolable for ages and his eyes are shut and sometimes he wakes and calms down after a while.

If you think about it, dreaming is our brains' way of making sense of the things we see and hear every day. This must be pretty scary for someone who experiences something new almost every hour of the day. Their little minds can't keep up and will sometimes cause dreams they can't make sense of. Has he just started nursery or had some other change in his life?

Very common indeed i think, though it's not nice to see your LO so upset and being unable to help them.

My DD1 has bad night terrors since she was about 14 months old, she is now 2.5yrs. What you are describing sounds very similar to what DD1 does.

She is normally sat up in bed, eyes open but not awake. Its very weird. We have to wake her up otherwise she just carries on. Usually once we have woken her she calms down pretty quickly and just goes back to sleep. Its almost always in the evening time too, never in the middle of the night, mostly between 8-9.30pm.

As she is getting older they are happening less frequently but I still hate them, they give me the shivers. I hate going in and she is looking at something, even pointing and shouting 'no, help!' but really she isn't awake. It gives me goosebumps!

Thank you. He has recently gone back to the childminder after the summer break so this could be a cause. I am getting used to them a bit now, but still not nice.