15mo old screaming at midnight

[lobsters]

This one is a bit bizarre, but I would welcome any tips. DD has generally been a relatively good sleeper, however in the last 2 weeks she's developed a new habit of waking up at about midnight really screaming and upset. I've no idea what's wrong, she's not hungry, doesn't seem to be ill, she has her cuddly toy and dummy. It can take between 2 mins and an hour to settle her. I'm trying to go to bed early as I need to get up early and this is really wrecking my sleep, and i'm worried about it.

I was wondering if if was night terrors, but at not quite 15mo, I think she's too young. Any ideas what it might be and what we can do to resolve it?

Nightmares or night terrors. Dd2 started about this age. You could try waking her up before this time to interrupt her sleep cycle. They do grow out of it eventually.

My DS did this for several weeks at about 18 months, turned out he was scared of the dark, we put a dimmer switch in his room and started leaving the light on low and he was fine after that.

Really, kissing frogs? I had no idea they could start so early.

My DD will be 14 m in a few days and lately has been sleeping most of the nights through.

Today, just an hour ago I heard her crying, waited 5 minutes then went in. I expected to find her ( as usual in those instances) awake and sitting or standing, but she was still laying down, crying and when I picked her up she wasn't really awake at all. I bf her but even during bf she would whimper a bit and had a bit of erratic breathing ( sort of like a dog that's dreaming about something iyswim). She was fine when I put her back in her cot.

Does that sound like a nightmare? And is it likely just the beginning of cycle likely to last few weeks/months?

Night terrors are strange things. My dds daddy also had them. I can't really say if your dds night-time disturbances are terrors/dreams.
Terrors are obvious: eyes open, appear as if awake, very distressed. With dd you couldnt touch her or console her (would make it worse), you just had to wait for them to pass. She is quite active during them, moving around a lot. Sometimes it was quite scary to watch. With mightmares you can wake them up quite quickly.
Dd still has them (age 4.6 now) but much less frequency. It did seem to go in cycles - lots in a week then tailing off, then back again. If dd goes to bed really tired, particularly after an exciting day, she is far more likely to have one (over stimulation maybe).
It's just one of those things that children do grow out off. Though have to say that her daddy who also had childhood terrors does still have the occasional one every now and then!