12 month old screaming (not crying) in night. My ears are still ringing (like after you've been to a gig)

[ColdCottage]

Dd is 12 months old and the last few nights she has been waking up and hard to settle.

She has periods of screaming - short sharp bursts, high pitch screaming. Not crying, nothing calms her quickly. It's almost like she is possessed.

She will stop sometimes if held tightly long enough but doesn't seem comforted.

If I try to nurse her she is quiet for a while. Often laying there with her eyes open for ages. If I move her back to her cot the screaming starts again. She arches her back, lifts her head up and back and belts our screams.

It's been over an hour tonight. She has been held tight and close next to me in bed and is finally asleep but I dare not more let alone more her and my back is killing on top of my ears hurting. (Safe sleeping position)

Any advice?

Night terrors? It’s only just dawned on me from another thread that mine suffers from them.

My brother did this as a child and it turned out he was having night terrors . Could it be that ?
Wish I could help. I’m currently up with my almost 4 week old in hospital and my back kills too.

Thanks ladies. I will google but as they stop with milk I assumed not.

I hope your back eases soon. Pillow between legs still helps me.

Seems she is too young. Night terror rare in babies, start at 18 months sometimes but usually 3 years plus

Op I feel your pain !! Ds is slightly younger, 9 months, and he's doing the same. It's between a painful cry and a possessed/paddy type cry and NOTHING can soothe him. I'm currently laid on the sofa with him with tv on cos I can't settle him and don't want to wake ds1. No advice just want you to know your not alone.

I’d say night terrors also.
It’s so traumatic to watch. All we could do was wrap him tight long in a blanket and retrain/hug the whole time

It passed after a few weeks never to return....

@ColdCottage

Seems she is too young. Night terror rare in babies, start at 18 months sometimes but usually 3 years plus

My son was just turned one

Reflux?
Silent reflux?

Arching of back is a typical sign.

Thank you. Good to know night terrors could be it. Hold tight seemed to help after a while. Also oddly leaving her to it in cot and siting quietly next to her seemed to have the quickest results at 4am.

@girlscrush can they get reflux at 1?

I would speak to health visitor gp. Does this happen when lying down every time?

DD1 did this. It turned out to be food allergies. Citrus fruit and tomatoes. The screaming was horrific.

@justasking - no only when she wakes in the middle of the night.

@perfumeistooexpensive unless her guy has changed. She eats everything and has had no problems up until now. It's only between 1am - 6am

night time is when her body is going the longest without food, I do wonder if it is excess acid coming up. As I said I would speak to someone with medical training. In the meantime try propping the cot up at one end so she is not lying flat.

I remember when teenage dd was a baby we rang NHS direct as she woke up screaming. It was a back teeth cutting through. Have you tried painkillers? Calpol etc?

Also infant neurofen

Not together

My now 16 month done this from around 6 months cutting teeth now has full set sleeps through wee bit calpol he would have went bk over and 10mins comforting

Thank you. I might try Calpol if it's no better tonight.

DC1 was diagnosed with something the paediatrician called 'confusional arousal', a type of parasomnia (sleeping disorder) when she was 3, when I raised her sleep issues during an unrelated appointment. She'd had it since around 18 months, becoming distressed for short bursts through the night; screaming, arching and kicking, as if delirious. She would scream at the top of her lungs, anything between 2-10 minutes, before falling back to sleep for 30-40 mins, then come to and scream again. Rinse and repeat between midnight and the early hours. Every night. Impossible to wake her 'properly', and like your DC, mine would respond to firm cradling, but not always. Tiredest years of my life. Paediatrician suggested she'd grow out of it once she started school; how I cried, knowing it would be another 18 months. But he was right. It gradually tapered off during first term in school. Knowing what it was, and reading about it made me feel less alone with it though.
Good luck, OP.

Thank you @YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators last night was a lot better so hoping it was a blip. As a September baby that would mean 4 more years. I don't know if I'd survive.

Hugs to you for that. That sounds extremely hard.

My ds would do this and often feeding would temporarily resolve it. With him it turned out ear problems were the source, apparently at night the pressure from the build up of glue ear was super painful because of being flat, which is why when he was raised up to feed it stopped.
We ended up putting books under one end of the cot and that seemed to help. He still wasnt a great sleeper, mind you he never had been but the painful screaming got a lot less.

Thank you @EnglishRose1320