Babys & Nightmares?

[Jes]

My 3 month old has started waking up from his afternoon naps screaming inconsolably. He'll sleep for half an hour to forty-five minutes, then give a little whimper before opening wide & wailing. I'm not talking normal 'I'm cranky/wet/hungry' crying, I'm talking heart-stopping, something-is-hurting-my-child type crying.

He doesn't do it for every afternoon nap, and never at night or in the morning. I can't find anything wrong with him & anything that calms him down only lasts a few minutes (even his favorite boob isn't enough). Sometimes he falls back asleep, usually on my lap or in my arms, in which case I can't put him down or he'll wake up crying again.

I've tried to guess at a pattern (this has been going on for a couple of weeks now) but it doesn't seem to matter whether he's in his crib or our bed, alone or with me, swaddled or not.

I've heard of night terrors starting in the toddler years, but at 3 months he's no where near that stage.

Has anyone else had anything like this? (And what can I do to help him?)

[Anci]

sometimes babies cry in their sleep, and there's nothing we can do about it...
In normal sleep, a child cycles between light sleep and deep sleep. Each light sleep stage is a time when the child is more likely to wake up.
Infants go through a complete sleep cycle about every 50-60 minutes, so they are in light sleep and could wake up many times each night/nap! Newborns just sleep any old time, on and off, all through the day and night. By age four months, your baby will probably be sleeping a 5-7 hour chunk at night, and by age 6 months, about 8-10 hours. But that’s not to say that they won’t wake up during that time! ( I say ''probably ''because that is what all the books say, but not all babies sleep 5-7 hours at 4 months;my daughter started to sleep 5 hours around 4 1/2 months but only around 6 mos she started to sleep 7 hours)
if it's nothing wrong with him and like you said, it only lasts a few minutes, I wouldn't worry.My daughter used to cry in her sleep too when she was younger ( she's 10 1/2 months now). It's quite common in young babies. Hope that helps

[Mary Ann]

Our daughter would cry like that between 3 and 6 months if she woke from a nap and still was really tired but couldn't go back to sleep. She would startle awake and then cry out and keep crying because she really didn't want to be awake yet. Sometimes we could help her back to sleep, but if not, she'd cry until we took her out of her crib to go do something else. And because her nap hadn't been long enough, she'd get tired and cranky within another hour or so, and then we'd need to put her back down.

Overall, she was a real cat-napper (30 minute naps) and took a lot of them in any given day. Her naps didn't change until around six months, when she started taking a longer (1 1/2 to 2 hours) morning nap. But she still catnapped in the afternoons until about 8 months, when that one got longer too.

The key is the baby learning how to self-soothe himself back to sleep. Our daughter had a much tougher time with that during naps than during nighttime sleep. I thought it would be something she'd learn in a few months, but she still can have difficulty with it, depending on the situation. Once she latched on to a blankie and that became her comfort object, getting back to sleep got easier for her. The doctor said if she was sleeping well at night and would go to sleep relatively easily at bedtime, then better naps would follow.

[Jes]

I guess I'm lucky, he sleeps well at night (sometimes he even goes 'til morning, though a 2:30 fuss & feed is still the norm). It's really just that the crying seems more like he's in pain or terrified than his other crying that worries me. That, plus the fact that I can't calm him down when he's like that.

Otherwise he's just a happy, darling little boy, who is desperately trying to roll over right now.

[Mary Ann]

Maybe you should check with your doctor about the crying, since you say it's so different than his other cries. Sometimes there are physical pains -- like acid reflux -- that can interrupt a baby's sleep and really upset him. (I would think that would bother him at night, too, but maybe not?) Good luck ...

[Jayden's Mom]

OMG! My 4 month old son has recently started to do the same exact thing. And like you said its never at night only during his afternoon nap. He frowns up and releases a loud and powerful cry. Sometimes he immediately falls back to sleep, and other times he cries for about a minute and i will have to rock him back to sleep. It does not happen everyday, but when it does happen it scares the crap out of me.

[Drea Adgent]

gas. plain and simple. night terrors? wow, thats jumping ahead eh?

[leo81]

my daughter did the same yesterday afternoon actually.she was asleep so i popped out and left her with my mum.i was gone for about half an hour and mum said just after i left she woke up and started screaming and didnt stop until i got home.and i understand the whole something is hurting them because thats what it sounds like.i eventually did calm her down.the first time she did it though i took her to the hospital because i was that scared ans they told me she had colic and it was just wind.if only they could tell us what was wrong

[Anne]

Yeah, my 11 week old is doing the same thing. I think sometimes it's a nightmare because when he finally comes around and is obviously awake, he settles down once he realizes he's in my arms. Other times, I think it's gas pains which awaken him and it's not until he passes a little gas that he settles down.

Good luck!

[Clare Shavor]

Our 9 week old son has seemed to have nightmares from week 1! He'll be sleeping, you can see he's in REM sleep, then he'll whimper, his brow will furrow, and he'll seem very distressed. If we wake him during this, he'll wake and look very confused until he sees he's okay, and he'll return to sleep with a smile on his face. Mind you, he also laughs in his sleep. We keep wondering if he's reliving his circumcision when he has the nightmares. The nightmares are the hardest thing to see, but it makes us really curious about what is going on in that growing brain!

[Nia]

I would talk to your dr, it may be reflux, allergies or TEETH.

[Jenna]

Oh , these things happened to my baby as well, and as you are I was worried and was hurt when I heard my baby wimpering and screamed while she was sleeping actually there were couple times that happened to her even she was not asleep.I asked my pediatrician about it , he said it is normal, baby gets dreams, anything that they feel registers in their memory like the pain.When she is hungry, bored, excited or when she is startled or happy like we sooth her or getting feed, that is why we see her smile or cry while she is asleep.nothing we can do about it but to soothe her when she does it.