Nightmares?

brparish

Is age 1 too young for nightmares?  My son is normally a good sleeper and rarely wakes during the night unless he really needs something or isn't feeling well.  Twice this week he has woken up around midnight screaming, like an in pain screaming.  It jolted me awake last night and I jumped out of bed and ran into his room thinking that maybe he had gotten stuck in the slots on his crib or something.  But he was just standing in his crib.  The other night it happened he was laying in his crib but crying/screaming like he was in pain.  The first night it happened I thought he was having ear pain---he had a double ear infection last week.  So I picked him up, gave him some ear drops and tried to comfort him, but he still just cried..tried giving him a warm bottle, didn't want it,  tried laying him down again and he started crying even harder.  We thought maybe his diaper rash from the antibiotic he had been on was hurting him so we changed his diaper and that didn't help either.  After a few minutes of him crying he eventually calmed down with me just pacing the living room with him.   Last night I just rocked him and he kept trying to push me away, so I tried to put him back down and he started crying even harder again...so I picked him back up and just held him and rocked him and he eventually relaxed and fell asleep and I was able to put him back to bed.  I was telling my mom about it this afternoon and she mentioned that maybe it was nightmares...that he most likely wasn't really in pain if after a little bit he calmed down and went back to bed for the rest of the night.  It just seems weird that he would have nightmares already and don't know what they would be of.  It just freaks me out so much when he does that...I about had a heart attack last night. Anyone experience anything similar?

meglette417

I have heard around 14 months but not from a doctor just other moms.  Our LO has recently started screaming in the middle of the night as well, he typically goes back to sleep so we are assuming it is a bad dream.

Tallulahsmom

The articles I have read say that babies don't have night terrors until around 18 months. My DD started having them at around 12 months. She isn't even awake when she has them. She screams like something is terribly wrong. She won't flinch if you put your finger close to her eye. She is just still asleep. The first time it happened I thought she was having a seizure but it dawned on me that she was crying and a seizure was unlikely. Now when it happens I just sit next to her crib and talk or sing to her. She will also sleep play in her crib. I have caught her several times just playing away in the middle of the night. If you try to talk to her while it is happening she won't even know that your there and doesn't acknowledge hearing you. I am delaying a toddler bed because she will sleep walk. Other than this she is a happy healthy baby. (The terrors have become few and far between)