toddler crying in his sleep - nightmares, or what?

[silvermum]

for the last two nights we have had very broken nights as our 16 month old, who has slept through like a total angel since he was about 11 weeks old, has been crying in his sleep. Each time it happens i leave it a minute or two hoping he'll just stop but he doesn't - and when i go in to settle him he's actually asleep but whimpering. What could this be? i wondered if it's because he's cold (it seems very hard to keep blankets on him as he wriggles all over the cot and they soon come off. he has a gro-bag but because it's so cold at the moment that might not be enough). He's not apparently ill in any way and is quite happy during the day. Do toddlers this age get nightmares?

My ds does it sometimes, I think the term is night-terrors as opposed to nightmares. Nothing to worry about though.

hi silvermum, my dd is around the same age as your son and she does this sometimes too, i always really put it down to teething or cold, so i ditched the gro bag and put her in her jammies and then over the top of them a fleecy zip up baby gro, then i only put a v fine blanket over her, this def keeps her warm all night.... but recently i have also wondered if its nightmares.