Can an 8 month old get nightmares? My little girl cries and screams in her sleep (not waking up). It happens a few times during the night. Most of the time a pat on her back and putting her dummy in her mouth settles her. I'm not sure what the cause could be though. She is still overdue for her first teeth and it could be that, but I don't see or feel any imminent teeth. She had a lot of medical intervention (born at 27wks, 76 days in NICU, lost her twin brother, recently 10 days in hospital with bronchiolitis), so could she have picked up some fears from that? Are babies even capable of that? Any advice on preventing these nightmares?