Waking up sobbing

[kumber]

This is the second night in a row my 15 month old has woken up sobbing his poor little heart out just wondering whether it could be nightmares? I did initially think teething last night as he was quite dribbly in the day and was very obviously teething and grumpy but today there have been no indications at all. Of course, it's possible that he could be teething so I have dosed him with good measure but it's a very different cry. He sounds very much as though his world has ended and his little heart is breaking

I'm giving him lots of cuddles and reassurance, he will calm down for a few seconds and start sobbing again. He's such a happy child so it's thrown me quite a bit.

What do you think, nightmares, teething or other?

 

[flisstebbs]

We had this, maybe about 4 episodes in total from 16 months. Jess seemed totally disorientated and distressed, sobbing but not letting you touch her. Scary as hell and I still don't know what it is/was. Our guesswas some sort of night terror.

 

[kumber]

I'm thinking it's the same thing. He can't talk yet so can't verbalise what's happened which I think makes it worse. I took him out of his bedroom and into the living room with me where it was dark but the tv was on and on a quiet volume, he seemed to settle much quicker so I don't know if taking him out of the 'scary' environment helped or the light of the tv or what but it worked. He settled back into bed in his cot almost immediately so if it happens again tonight I think I'll try the same thing again.

 

[MrsS143]

Could it be having new baby around too ? X

 

[kumber]

Maybe but he's nearly 6 weeks old so I would've thought he'd be fairly used to it by now?

 

[russellmuscle]

Id think it was night terrors, Jackson sometimes wimpers in his sleep and has came out a couple of times crying his wee eyes out and Ive just taken him back to bed reassured him and he was fine. Hes not did it since hes been able to speak though, but I assume itll be dreaming.

xxxx

 

[kumber]

I think his inability to speak has probably made it worse as he can't tell me what's frightened him. Lots of cuddles and reassurance is needed I think, poor little guy

 

[Ella1979]

Not necessarily. Our daughter has always been prone to nightmares - similar to what you described - starting around 8/9 months old, but we had a massive increase in them when her brother was around 2 months old (so she would have been almost 2 years old). Basically for a fortnight she'd wake up in the middle of the night screaming/crying and it was very difficult to console her. She'd start crying as soon as we left the room. We always attributed them to her new brother as we couldn't find anything else that could have caused them. We tackled it by getting a new book as part of her bedtime routine, reading it every night before bed and after a fortnight she settled down. She had to have the same book for at least a year afterwards! Also, when her screaming was uncontrollable, we would take it in turns to sleep on the floor next to her bed to calm her down.

 

[kumber]

Gosh Ella that sounds awful thankfully Riley isn't at that point at the moment but I'll be mindful of your experience and keep an eye on things.