Waking up scared (or so it seems)

[reacher]

My 18month old has never been a great sleeper (always wakes at least once) but for the last 5 nights or so she has been waking around 9pm/10pm (and sometimes again about 2/3am) & seems to be extremely unhappy.
She really really cries & it seems like she is still asleep but is awake (if that makes sense?), it can take up to 45 mins to calm her down & back to sleep, usually in bed with me & usually with a bottle of milk (when she used to wake before this it would only take me 5 mins to get her back to sleep) She is fine in the day & is eating, playing & sleeping OK..
Does anyone have any idea what this is, could it be night terrors? (but do they usually happen every night around the same time), sometimes she also puts her hand in her mouth & chews on it so I'm not sure if she is teething as well (no other signs) - any advice would be really really appreciated as I am soooo tired!

My DD2 (17 months) has been doing exactly this recently - I strongly suspect it's night terrors . :-(

She had a phase of them a few months ago and it was just the same - usually waking around 10 pm , really upset , but batting me away when I try to settle her , eyes open but not seeing us and not responding to us - she's now old enough that if it's teething and i ask if she needs medicine , she'll nod and calm down enough to take the meds.

The only thing I've found that helps her is for me to lie on our bed with her face down on my chest . She will eventually settle like that and I can transfer her to her cot .

DD1 used to have regular night terrors , but not at such a young age . It can be quite scary until you get used to them .
DD1 usually seems to have them if she is over tired or too hot .

There doesn't seem to be a lot you can do - just keep calm yourself , lie down with her and keep her safe if she's lashing out . (DD1 will kick and thrash around).

HTH a bit .

Thanks so much - it does sound exactly the same - I will try what you have suggested tonight - (lie down on our bed with her face down by me & see what happens) - fingers crossed!