12 Month Old Possibly Having Nightmares

What this sounds like to me, is that YES your son is becoming more active and this is affecting his sleep. Kids at this age, become more aware of their surroundings due to a development of ability to move around and discover their world.

What I would first do, is see if he will put himself back to sleep. If he is genuinely crying and freaking out and needs something, then by all means go to him. But, infants often at this stage can wake up and put themselves back to sleep with no problem if they are left alone to do so. Sometimes seeing us only make them wake up more, and then makes the process of going back to sleep longer.

If he really needs you, then you can only do what you're doing and ease him back into her 'normal' routine. Does he usually fall asleep on his own? Or is he aided to sleep with feeding, rocking, etc?

My son and I co-sleep, and I found that from 12-16 months he had various periods of waking where if I sat up and tried to get him back to sleep he would then become 'awake' and want to play with me and see what was happening. If I let him sit up and look around, he would lay back down and go to sleep. If he cried and needed a diaper change, water or something else then I'd take care of business and rock him back to sleep and put him back in bed.

Also, SEPERATION ANXIETY can develop at many ages and stages, and he may be seeking out your attention to make sure you are still there. When kids become more aware of their surroundings they also begin to understand that Mommy leaves, and will come back if I need her but oftent his lesson is learned from practice. My son would cry for me in the night, and for a few weeks I had to cuddle him and explain to him 'Mommy was here for him if he needed me' and he'd drift back to sleep. It's just a matter of creating that sense of security that even though Mommy is gone from sight, she's always there.

While, nightmare might be the issue at hand...which I think every kiddo deals with at some point. In this case, you just need to keep doing what you're doing and help ease him past the fears and anxiety that nightmares create. This too shall pass!

These are ALL very NORMAL and with time they can be worked through, but it takes time and again some TLC.

Best of luck with your little guy.

Hi,
Great advice so far. I'd like to add that I think you're doing exactly the right things: You're keeping your eyes and ears open for clues and you're reassuring him beautifully.

I found one thing that seemed to help a bit when my kids started with night terrors. I used association to trigger feelings of calm. I started during the day, when my child was awake, conditioning them to associate a certain pattern of actions with a certain set of safe feelings. I chose a short tune, a key word and a certain touch -- for instance, I'd softly hum Twinkle Star and then kiss baby's right cheek and whisper "Safe." (Those aren't the real cues I used, but I can't really remember them to tell you the truth.) I did this every time something warm, safe, loving or fun was happening. I'd hum in the background of the most raucous activities, keeping close enough that my baby could hear the tune and associate it. Then I'd sneak in my right cheek kiss and whisper my key word quickly.

I found that when the terrors came, I had to get my baby well and truly conscious -- look for direct eye contact, that was always the signal with my babies that they truly saw me. Until you do that, your baby is probably still 'seeing' the products of a 'dream.' Then immediately hum, touch, and use the key word. I had no way of explaining away their fears at such an early stage, so I found that simply activating a positive calming association for them worked well.

I know that all sounds a bit crazy, but it worked for me when nothing else would. It seemed to speak to their unconscious when my grown-up words simply couldn't get through. Hope this at least spurs you on to your own variation on the idea.

Good luck! :-)

Maybe he is having "night terrors."
It is purely developmental and crops up about this time.
Look it up online. Both my kids went through this.

There is a difference between "night terrors" and "night mares." You will see it online research.

However, a child's sleep deviations are usually not just due to ONE single thing.. .many times because they are changing so quickly, there are usually more than 1 thing that is tweaking them.

No, don't ignore him. He's not doing it on purpose.
Sleep patterns in children change all the time, at growth spurts, at developmental changes and milestones etc. At 2 years old, it will change again. And so forth.
And yes, as they attain more motor skills, this is common. My kids did that too. It passes. Just be patient.

Just make sure that he is not coming down with a cold or something, sometimes when they are sick they get more clingy. Or teething. This is also another thing that tweaks their night time slumber.

take care,
Susan