Does your toddler have nightmares?

newlywed26

I think my 2 year old ds is having them.  Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night calling out to me: "mommy" or "daddy".  He's even screamed in his sleep.  As soon as I go back in his room, he'll collapse in my arms, and I rub his back and lay there with him until he falls back asleep.  I also tell him that everything is ok and that mommy is with him.  I googled nightmares, and the site indicated that sometimes it's due to the child not having a routine or not getting enough sleep.  We generally keep him on his routine but he goes off of it on weekends sometimes.  Does anyone else's dc have nightmares?  How often?  Did you figure out what caused them?

Temp6313048411121614

I don't know what causes them.  I think DS1 has had them a few times (either nightmares or night terrors).  I want to say they were nightmares because he calmed down when I or DH went in his room. 

MAprincess

My DS had night terrors for a few months when he was 2 (I had them when I was about that age too).  They DON'T calm down when you go to their room for that.  Touching them usually makes it worse.

He occasionally has nightmares when he is overtired, though.  We'll go in there and he'll calm almost immediately and go to sleep.  He is also having other fears (the shadows on the wall, etc).  I think it is just that age.

katana

DS is has had one that I know of, he woke up screaming and when I went in he said "Mommy scared" so I'm pretty sure that's what it was. He has also just started (within the last month or so, he's 26 months) to get scared of things. He was completely fearless before, and now he shows fear and talks about being scared of things. The day he had the nightmare, he and DH were playing dinosaurs, and DH started to be a really big scary dinosaur. A month ago he would have thought it was hilarious, that day he came running to me and said "Daddy scary!" and well, DH of course felt terrible! So it could be a routine sleep issue, or it could just be that he is starting to get scared of stuff that wouldn't have scared him before.

lms_bride

This has happened to our son several times but it is not common.  It is rare for him to wake up from a nap or in the middle of the night but when he does its usually because he woke up from a bad dream (I'm assuming) and he's crying or calling for us and kind of sweaty and disoriented.  I just go in, like you, and rub his back and hold him for a couple minutes.  He will usually go right back to sleep.  I think he is only half-awake anyway.  I don't worry about it because it doesn't happen frequently, maybe once every month or two.

JAM2000

yes, my son is having them. It happens every few nights. He's really into cars and from what I can tell his nightmares are about cars "going away" when he wakes up thats all he says. I've had to go into his room and say that the cars are all here and he'll see them in the morning. I hope he grows out of it soon.

stargirlsheart

That has been happening recently here too!  I read that around 15 months to 2ish they are starting to dream and that is can be confusing for them.  I usually rock her for a minute or two and she goes back to sleep.

Shozzies

My daughter has nightmares every once in a while.  So far it's only been after visiting family in large groups or the zoo.

healthynut

Dreaming and becoming afraid of things are both signs of developmental progress according to my schooling and job, so  they're not necessarily bad.  Both of mine have had nightmares, but DS's are worse.  He does the shaky cry for a bit while I pat him back down.