cries in his sleep

[h33na]

Hi all,
was just wondering if anyone else here has the same problem as me and if so how do you deal with it.
My 14 month old is a happy, heathly baby, but for the last 4 or 5 months he cries in his sleep regulary about a couple of times a night.
It's almost like he's having a nightmare and we have to wake him up or hold him close to calm him down.
He goes down to bed like a dream....bath, milk and sleep with no problem at all in his cot. When he does cry, he is doing so with his eyes shut, so the problem isn't him waking. Also he does go back to sleep within a few minutes, but he seems to need someone nearby in order to do this.
As a result, the broken nights sleep is really paying its toll on mummy and daddy now......help!
Thanks

[mari]

How does he fall asleep at bedtime and naptime?  Is it with the bottle, or do you help him in any way?

[Sunshine's Mommy]

How long do you wait before you go in to comfort him?  Is he crying really hard?  Is it at the beginning of the night or later on closer to the morning?

My DD used to wake up quiet often between 11:00 and 1:00 screaming with her eyes shut.  I had to take her into the light.  She would open her eyes and then I got her back to sleep quiet easily.

Also, she sometimes wakes up crying in the middle of the night.  I used to run in, cuddle her and put her back to sleep.  But that just nurtured a bad habit.  She still cries at night form time to time, but i wait about 30 seconds before i go in.  Most of the time she falls back asleep on her own and I don't even go in.  From time to time I still need to go in, tuck her in and she goes right back to sleep.

Is your LO anything like my DD?

[KathrynK]

Sophie does this only when she is teething- could that be the problem?

[h33na]

Thanks for your replies.
It could well be teething but the fact that it has been going on for so long, I'm not entirely sure.
He goes down very quickly at both nap times and bed time, so there's no problem there.
This may sound silly but could it be because he's overtired as it seems to be a lot worse when he's had a very busy/exciting day.
It's almost like he doesn't switch off when he goes to sleep and his mind is still active.
Was thinking of taking him to a cranial osteopath as I've heard that they can help  to relax babies....
 

[h33na]

sorry, forgot to mention that we do wait a couple of minutes before going in to calm him down as sometimes he just screams out and goes straight back to sleep! But when we do go in, it's because he is really crying his eyes out and just needs comforting.

[mari]

What is his daily routine?

[Erin M]

Hi, my dd1 has both nightmares and night terrors, what you're describing sounds a bit like both.  I notice we get them more when she's had a really busy day and is overtired or is very overstimulated.  DH is a sleep talker and has some crazy dreams, so we think she gets it from him.  Your LO seems to have them very frequently though -- it could just be related to something developmental too, you never know.  I'd try my best to make sure he isn't overtired and see if that helps -- push bedtime forward a bit if you need to, keep things low key during the day and see if it makes a difference.  I know whem my dd has nights where she's crying more in her sleep, it's a cue for us to pay more attention to keeping her on routine and keeping her more low key.  HTH!

[M and N's Mom]

Our DS often cries out in his sleep (actually, just did it as I write this), but we rarely have to go in.  He may cry for up to a minute but then settles himself back to sleep.  I KNOW if I rushed in it would make it worse as I would actually "wake" him.  And yes, it is much more frequent when he is OT.