9mth old very sudden night waking - concerned

[Pebs]

Our DS is 9 months and has slept 12 hours each night since he was 6 months old (lucky us!). We have never had to deal with a wake up in the night until last night and it freaked us out as it is so unusual. He suddenly started screaming really loudly and after 5 mins DH went in to check that he was ok (which he was - not out of covers, nothing fallen on him etc). We then left him for 20 mins screaming and planned to go back in and give him Calpol as we thought that it may be teething pain. Thank God, DS went back to sleep after 20 mins and we didn't need to go back in, but it left us wondering if we handled it right. Is this 20 mins checking business appropriate in the middle of the night? I have a feeling that this wasn't a one off and want to be more prepared than we were last night.
Also, can 9 month olds have nightmares? His cry was so sudden that this was the olny other reason that we could think of apart from teething pain. If it was teething, surely DS would not have gone back to sleep so quickly?
Anyone else with experience?

i truly think it sounds like teething pain. it was good you left him to try and get back to sleep on his own, its a good thing for them to learn to do, i really believe so. but have the calpol/calgel handy for future nights

mine dd is 8.5 months and doing the same ! it must be teething pain as ds did the same keep capol handy or better Cuprofen seems to last longer for them.

9 months is a very common age for sleep disturbances - there are teething issues, speration anxiety, developmental issues such as learning to crawl, stand, etc, etc.

It was around this time that we started giving our dd a bath at night to help her calm down before bed and we put her into a grobag in case she was waking due to being cold.

I couldnt personally leave my dd to cry for that amount of time but if that is what works for you by all means do that. (I normally settle my dd by giving her a cuddle - either over the cot side or picking her up - and then laying her back down and repeating as necessary until I see her start to settle herself back to sleep)

How long after your ds went to sleep did this happen? Nightmares normally occur in the second half of the night. Night terrors however tend to occur in the first few hours of sleep

DS woke up at 4.30am without any warning noises at all, which is why I thought it may be a nightmare. I've just put him down for the night now and he's been crying for 10 mins so far. He never even murmers - just gets himself off. He's had 2.5ml of Nurofen too. He just seems very unsettled on the whole.
Why do they become unsettled when they are starting to crawl or walk? DS is trying constantly to crawl, pull himself up and cruise the sofa at the moment, so maybe this is it?

Have you done anything to change your routine my ds woke at 4.30 every nught for 3 weeks after I went back to work?

Not a thing. He is doing an awful lot of physical movement in the day at the moment though - more than normal. You'd think he'd be more tired and sleep better wouldn't you?
He got himself of to sleep after about 15 mins last night and didn't wake until 6.45am, so maybe back to normal.
I just wish I knew what the problem was as I don't want to be giving him Nurofen for a nightmare! Can't wait until he can tell us what's wrong for himself.

Pebs have you thought about teaching your baby to sign. My ds does and it is fantastic can tell exactly what is wrong and what he wants. See \link{http://www.tinytalk.co.uk} for further info if interested