8 week old having night terrors/nightmares

[lockdownpregnancy]

Hi ladies.
My DS has appeared to have developed a new habit of kicking and screaming in his sleep.
He's 8 weeks old and for the past week or so, usually an hour before he is properly awake he starts shuffling around and then it grows in intensity to kicking his legs and arms quite fiercely and then crying and screaming, all whilst asleep, as he then goes quite and back to sleeping normally.
I've tried to gently wake him as I don't want to startle him but he won't! He wakes in his own time and when he does wake he's all smiles and he's fine.
Anyone else experienced this?
I've googled night terrors in babies but doesn't say anything about getting them this young?
Because he's quite big for 8 weeks he is hitting his arms against the side of his next to me crib and our bed and I don't want him to hurt himself.
I can't swaddle him as he hates it

I doubt its nightmares or night terrors. I don't think they kick in until they're around 18 months-2yrs.

If he seems fine after the episode is over and he's not waking up distressed honestly I'd leave him. Does he have history with reflux? it could be wind? does he have a BM shortly after waking?

He's to young - sounds like startle reflex.

Can you swaddle in one of the wraps rather than a muslin? What's he sleeping a cot or a next to me / sleepyhead type thing?

Oh sorry, see you answered that!

I'd leave him to it tbh.

@wimbler he is really good with bringing his wind up. He spits up quite a bit but it's not reflux, as it's just a bit of milk here and there.
It may be reflux but it only starts an hour before he wakes up and the other hours he's been asleep beforehand he's deathly silent and very still, so it's been quite a shock that all of a sudden he's having what appears to be a sleeping tantrum!
It's very odd!!

Hi
I just wondered how the sleep screaming went? Did it carry on… was there a reason?My 8 week old is doing the same.

Not wind or bowels as far as I can tell and presuming that if she was in pain she would wake up? She screams and cries and then just stops. 3 times last night at 3,4 and 6 am…. No sleep for me as I couldn’t settle in between. She has a hernia and I got anxious about that.

I'm pretty sure that's too young for nightmares. DD does that sometimes. Whinges and shuffles. She usually wakes up eventually (sometimes after an hour) and starts crying. I think it's because she either is hungry or cold. These days I either cover her with another blanket or wake her and feed her. Oh and she's also restless when her nose is blocked

My DD did that too when she was a few months old. She would scream as if she was in great pain or terrified, was difficult to wake and when I did wake her, she was calm and content. I videoed a few of the episodes as i was waiting for a neuro referral, he assessed the videos and was content she wasn't having seizures so we kept an eye on it and she outgrew it at 7 months. Very scary though, especially when she was screaming and I couldn't wake her. She still wakes occasionally in the night at 11 months and is in tears as if something is terribly wrong, but is still upset after she wakes and soothes quickly enough.

@MariaDingbat thanks so much for your reply. It’s good to know your DD was fine. Did you have the referral to neurologist because of the screaming?

In the cold light of day I can reason that she only does the screaming at night, in her sleep and that if there was something wrong she would scream all the time and would wake up in the night from the screaming… but at 4 am when they are screaming as though someone is putting pins in them ( it’s a scream that I have never heard her do awake) it’s hard to not worry . Very strange behaviour! There have been a few other mums posting on other chats as well so I feel reassured.

@Wish44 Yes, the referral was for the screaming. I showed my gp a video of ger having an episode at her 4 month vaccinations and she put a referral though to neuro straight away. I think she wanted to rule out seizures too. We were seen 2 weeks later.

Is it really hard to hear them so upset, it was a sound she never made during the day too. I was really worried by the fact it was hard to wake her up when she was screaming. The neuro said it isn't night terrors as she was too young thankfully. Her dad is a very physical sleeper, he thrashes and talks and slepwalked when he was a child, the neuro said it might be that DD was taking after him a little and to come back of we were worried.

@MariaDingbat

Yes it is so hard to hear. Does she sleep well now? How often did it happen? My DD is doing it every night and did it in her day nap yesterday… also did you leave her sleeping through it or wake her? I do try and leave her sleeping but it becomes so distressing that I often wake her. When I do, same as your DD she is completely fine and just settles back off to sleep. Thank you for sharing your experience with me.