Conference moira::parenting_v3

    Dottie,
    
    The one thing that most often triggers nightmares in my daughters is
    having sweets to close to bedtime.  Even the natural sugar in grapes or
    fruits.  We try to limit anything that has any amount of sugar in it
    for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours before bedtime.  This tends to reduce the
    amount of bad dreams they have by at least 80%.
    
    Stacey

I saw on TV that this is really common for babies around one year.  I
remember because Matt was going through exactly what they described, and
what you described.  I think it started with him around 10 months of age,
and continued until about ... 14 months?  He never screamed a blood-curdling
scream, but he would "wake up" (never open his eyes) crying EXTREMELY hard, 
pounding on the crib, or whatever.  It would take a minute to a few minutes 
to calm him down.  Nothing we did would help, but just hold him and rock him 
(while he'd be pounding on us or pushing us away) until he suddenly stopped.
He'd have one of these episodes on average once per week/2 weeks, varying in 
degree.  On TV they were called "night terrors", not nightmares, but I can't
remember what the distinction between the two terms was.

My friend said her neice did the same thing and her sister was really worried/
frightened.  Relax.  It's "normal".

� �ori

    It's pretty common for children to experience intense dreaming, less
    frequent for night terrors.  Look back through Parenting V2 - there was
    a very good discussion of night terrors (I think JA's a little young
    though), and some good reading references.
    
    Also, if you have Penelope Leach's book _From Birth to Age Five_, she
    gives a good general discussion on dreaming, nightmares and night
    terrors.  
    
    I, on the other hand, have a sleep talker (as I am myself) who
    discusses anything and everything while snoozing.
    

    Dottie,
    	My son had an episode of "night terrors" when he was 2 months old
    (It's in V2), and hasn't had one since, but he does dream quite
    frequently (he's 7 months old now).  He, too, is a very active sleeper,
    so I can never tell if he's just moving around or thrashing from a
    nightmare.  A couple of days ago he was wimpering in his sleep,
    frowning, reaching out with his hand, then sighed deeply and rolled
    over, fast asleep.  He seems to dream (nightmare and otherwise)
    whenever he has had an especially busy day, full of new things. We
    recently took him camping at the beach, and he was exposed to so many
    different and interesting things...he kept us up all night with his
    nighttime antics.  He woke up refreshed, we were wiped out!
    Sarah
    

    I know this topic is old, but I just had to reply.
    
    At 1:00 a.m. this morning, my son Shane who is just 6 months old,
    started screaming at the top of his lungs.  I jumped up and ran
    immediately into his room.  He was on his belly, and he was rolling
    his head from side to side.  I picked him up and he continued to
    whimper quite a bit.  I knew he didn't want a bottle, because he
    never woke up (he always opens his eyes when I enter his room, if
    he's awake).  I put him back in his crib, on his back this time,
    and he continued to whimper and "talk" and he started rubbing his
    face and sticking his fists in his mouth.
    
    I spoke with a friend here at work about this and she said that
    her kids did the same thing at that age and usually within a couple
    of days after an episode like this, they had a couple of teeth.
    She said in her opinion, that it's a sure fire sign of teething.
    The reason they cry out, or scream as the case may be, is because
    of the pain of the teeth coming through.
    
    So, if your kids start screaming in the middle of the night, it
    may not be nightmare, it may be that they're getting teeth.
    
    Lori B.

    Help!  My 21 month old woke up twice last night with nightmares.  It
    sounded like the same nightmare each time.  Both times she started
    crying "No!  I don't want to go out!"  and was flinging her arms around
    and throwing things out of her bed.  This happened at midnight and
    again at 5:30am.  Both times it was difficult in comforting her because
    it was so hard to wake her up.  The first time, I was able to calm her
    down and then she said she was hungry.  Since she wanted oranges, I
    gave her (watered down) OJ.  This seemed to be fine - she finished half
    and went back to sleep with no problem.  The second time, she woke up
    the same way, only trying to take her nightshirt off.  She then said
    she wanted her "jammies" on because she was cold, but then wouldn't
    have any part of her pajamas.  Her body was cold, but she rejected her
    blanket being put around her.  I was finally able to calm her, got the
    blanket around her, and we went downstairs.  We watched Thomas the Tank
    Engine video on TV, she had some milk (she requested this), and she was
    fine.  After about 1/2 hour, she tried to sleep on my lap but couldn't
    keep still.  At 6:15, we went back upstairs and her "tantrum" started
    all over.  After I got out of the shower, I took her back downstairs,
    gave her breakfast, and watched some Disney.  After that, she was fine,
    as though nothing had happened.  Both my husband and I took her to
    daycare this morning together expecting her to resist, and there was no
    problem.  I explained to the teacher what had happened and we both
    agree that is is not like Jackie at all.
    
    I'm not sure what triggered this type of dream.  On Friday night, she
    piddled on the pot for the first time (she likes to sit on the toilet
    so I do not resist) and I praised her to no end.  On Saturday, we took
    her to get her haircut.  Normally, this is traumatic, but my husband
    got his hair cut first and she couldn't wait to sit in the chair to get
    her's cut too.  The other thing that happened is that my brother,
    sister-in-law, and 10 month old nephew were over yesterday and Zachary
    took a nap in Jackie's crib in her room.  Although she no longer is in
    the crib, I think she was a bit jealous of someone in her room.  None
    of these events are "normal" for her, but I don't think it ties in with
    what she was saying when she woke during the night.
    
    Any suggestions?
    
    Thanks,
    Mary
    
    PS - sorry I rambled on!
    PSS...  I just remembered - the second time Jackie woke up her diaper
    was soaked.  With much resistance, I was able to change her diaper, but
    it was still hard in calming her down.
    

    Has she been ill?  Especially you mentioned that her body was cold but
    she wanted no part of pyjamas.  This sounds very much like the fever
    deliriums that my younger boy Markus will very occassionally get.  It
    is extremely difficult to calm them from this.
    
    In the cases where Markus did this, he did not seem overtly ill but had
    wet his bed profusely and/or sweated profusely and was absolutely
    terrified and screaming but not really awake.  It was quite different
    from a normal nightmare where he is easier to wake up and realizes more
    easily that he has been dreaming.
    
    There seemed to be nothing more to dso than what you did, try to calm
    him down, change his clothes and bed, and (in our case) pray that he
    sleeps the rest of the night (seldom the case).  I let Mark read in his
    bed with the lights (ALL the lights) on.
    
    There seemed to be absolutely no repercusions the next day.
    
    Cheryl

    Cheryl,
    
    No, Jackie wasn't ill (although it was 1 1/2 weeks after an ear
    infection).  I did some poking around in this file and V1 and V2 of
    Parenting and also bought Ferber's book on the way home last night.  It
    definitely sounds like she had a "night terror" by the way she acted. 
    Last night she woke up again, but called for me so she was fine and
    just wanted me to hold her (or whatever).  She went right back to
    sleep.  I believe this has happened before with her, but not to this
    extent, and definitely not since she's been in a bed.  I think when it
    has happened before, I would listen and give her 5-10 minutes, and if
    she did not calm down, I would go in to her.  From what I've read,
    usually by the end of 10 minutes, the child returns to sleep on his/her
    own.  If it continues, I'll question the pedi but right now I think
    there's not much to worry about and I'm much calmer.
    
    Mary