6 month old crying hard in her sleep

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She's an angelic 6 month old who hardly cries during the day. But in her sleep at night she will cry hard whilst still asleep. Could it be teeth pain ? Or a nightmare? I hold her hand and pat her and she will stop and carry on sleeping again.

I assume this is just a short burst of crying, rather than persistent?

Short bursts of crying (a few seconds) are not usual. For reasons you may never know something has disturbed her sleep everso slightly and her brain wants her to sleep not to wake up, so she is upset at being disturbed and cries out.

As you've found, a simple reassuring touch usually shushes this away.

If you mean constant grumbling or crying when asleep, I would be more worried about this and would want to investigate further if she was mine.