Crying in sleep

[dicko1]

My 6month old girl is usually a good sleeper but the last few nights has started crying in her sleep during the night. She is flat out but can crying. Could this be night terrors, i didnt think she was old enough to get these. any suggestions on how i can help her its awful to see and listen to x

I do try not to lift her as i had thought it may be like sleepwalking and do more harm than good. Last night it was 40 mins tho so i woke her but then she was upset another half hour because id woke her x

You know sometimes when you are woken in the night, realise there is nothing needing your attention and then shuffle and try to go back to sleep. You aren't properly awake for this brief wake-up, but neither are you asleep - this is just the baby version of that.

Baby wakes briefly (could be for any reason, maybe even just the transition between two sleep cycles) and isn't really, properly awake, but also not asleep. The only difference is that babies and toddlers cannot naturally self-settle like an adult. Hence the cry.

The cry is signalling to you that baby wants some help to settle back to sleep, that's all. I would seek to re-settle baby as quickly and with as little disturbance as possible, to avoid fully waking her up.

So I would re-insert dummy, place hand on shoulder for reassurance and maybe some gentle patting if needed. If grumbling persists then pulling a blanket over DD and tightly tucking it in works for us (like a swaddle did when younger) to give that secure feeling. If baby is still crying after all this (so maybe 5-10 minutes later), then I would lift up and cradle hold for a while until she calms. If she still doesn't calm, then feed.

thanks i will try that tonite fate x