Could this be night terrors? Or nightmares

[VickyandAlistair]

my ds is 16mo and was a very bad sleeper for the first year (usually woke between 2 and 4 times a night, would sometimes go straight back to sleep, but other times stay awake for hours) but since he turned a year hes been better and better, and now seems to sleep through most nights. But lately (about 3 weeks or so) about 4 nights out of 7, he will go to bed at 8pm as usual, no problems, but then wakes an hour or 2 later, screaming hysterically. It takes a while to calm him down, he is still sleepy, most of the time he has his eyes closed during these 'episodes' then falls back to sleep in my arms. Usually sleeps through after them. What are they? He sounds like he is in dreadful pain or something, or that he is terrified. I'm worried :(

It could be a nightmare or his sleep could have been disturbed by teething a minor illness, unexpected noise, getting too cold/too hot.. all kinds of things. For nightmares, best thing to do is to avoid anything stimulating (TV for example) or rich/fatty foods after about 6pm. (If he was an adult you'd say 'no caffeine, tobacco or alcohol' :) ) If you suspect he's teething or ill, a children's painkiller might help. For everything else it's a process of elimination