Sleep crying?

[aozyetis]

Hello -

My 15-month old has begun to let out cries in her sleep during naptime lately. Only once at home, but every day at my mother's home, where she stays while I'm at work. We have recently transitioned her from 2 naps a day to 1 and not sure if this has something to do with it? She doesn't seem to wake up and it only lasts a few seconds and then she seems to continue sleeping, but sometimes it happens at various intervals (20 min later, 40 min later, etc).

Has anyone experienced this or does anyone have any insight on why she might be doing this??

Thanks very much for your help.

[HenaV]

Hi!

What does her day look like in EAS format?

Hena

[aozyetis]

Roughly this is what's happening. We've just transitioned her from two to one nap so a bit of fluctuation still.

Wake 6:30/7am
Milk 7:30am (slightly delayed b/c we drop her to my parents' house in the morning during the week, if we're at home, she has her milk right away)
Breakfast 8/8:30am
Snack 10am
Lunch 11:30am
Milk/nap 12pm
Wake 3pm (sometimes only sleeps 2 hours)
Snack 4pm
Dinner 6pm
Bedtime (in her crib) 7:30pm

For 2 weeks prior to this week her lunch was at noon and nap wasn't until 1pm but we just moved it up b/c she gets very tired in the morning due to having cut out the morning nap. We cut out the morning nap b/c prior to this new routine she was napping at 10am and then 2pm but it started that at 2pm she was playing in her crib for up to an hour, often wouldn't fall asleep until closer to 3pm and she wasn't sleeping very long. We cut back the 10am nap to 30 min and her afternoon nap did not get any better so we finally cut out the morn nap altogether. Now she falls asleep right a way when we put her down for her one nap of the day.

So at home on the wknd I noticed her let out one cry, very brief about 45 min into her nap but continued to sleep soundly for a total of 3 hours.

At my parents' home she tends to let out the cries far more frequently. For example today she let out a loud cry that last about 10-15 seconds at about 1:30pm (went down at noon). And then maybe twice more, 30 min apart, she let out very brief softer cries.

Thoughts?

Thanks very much!

[meghanlynn]

It sounds like night terrors. They can happen anytime during the day or night when they are sleeping. Its not the same thing as a nightmare as they do not even remember having them. I did research on them because my toddler had the same issues when she was about that age. Something during the sleep cycle frightens them. If you can google it. There are a lot of tips on how to handle them and try and prevent them. If that is what it is she should soon grow out of them. best of luck to you!

[HenaV]

I hve to say your routine looks good. 1lm IMO is too long a minting atbthis age, so I would stick with 12nokn at the latest at the moment. How long has she been napping and 12noon and how long have the COs been going on for?

I have no experience of NTs so cannot be of any help there. I had wondered if the cos were almost mantra cries? That is if your LO is little OT, and therefore restless at naptime time, it is possible that she is co when she stirs. I am assuming from your post the COs only happen at naptime?

Hena

[skatty]

My dd used to do this when she was teething and OT. As she has got older she does it when she has growing pains. My dd is also prone to night terrors but she has only ever had them at night and they are much more than the sleep cry, she thrashes around and the creaming lasts a lot longer. It sounds like your dd may be crying out when she is transitioning through sleep cycles.

[aozyetis]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I'm thinking it might be OT cries, as you have mentioned, when she's transitioning between sleep cycles. She has never slept as soundly at my parents' house as she does at home, so would make sense I think that it happens more often there.

HenaV, the cry outs began shortly before we cut out her morn nap (but her naps were compromised then as she wasn't taking two proper naps anymore), so perhaps still due to being OT? We just moved up her nap to noon this week, so maybe some time until she adjusts. She's definitely exhausted in the morning these days. And yes, it only happens at nap time.