Help? 13 Month Old Having Nightmares or Teething Issues?

It sounds like to me that son is having night terrors. My son would get them as well when he was over tired. His doctor is the one that told me about his screaming not being nightmares but possibly night terrors. The difference being is that with night terrors he is still in deep sleep and you can't wake him up...and actually you don't want to. We did tons of research on line and was ablt to relate his night terrors to a change in his sleep pattern. Once we got him back on a regular schedule the night terrors went away...thank goodness! Best of luck!

It could either be nightmares or night terrors - if he calms down when you go in the room it is a nightmare; if he doesn't it's a night terror. There isn't much you can do about night terrors, but thankfully they usually just a phase. Since he screams for such a short period of time and then falls back asleep, I wouldn't do anything - he'll probably grow out of the phase soon.

My 14 month old son has four molars that he grew since his first birthday. They made him scream a few nights.

I could be molars. They are definately harder for babies than the other teeth. My son is 14 months and his molars started 2 months ago and are still only halfway cut. I even remember my own molars coming in- not sure how old I was though. Probably my 6 yr. molars. As others mentioned it could also be nightmares or night terrors. If you think it's the teeth, you might try a dose of ibuprofen before bed and see if it still happens. It is an anti-inflamatory as well as pain reliever so should make some difference if it is the teeth. Good luck.

My daughter started to do the same thing and go back to sleep. I could never pinpoint anything, (I thought teething, too) but I did read somewhere that they often wake up so fast and call out on reflex and then settle down once they get comfortable again. I figured it was a little nightmare and I was happy that she could comfort herself back to sleep. (We are both lucky!!) So, it rarely happens now (she is 22 months) and she is a very good sleeper. I'm glad I didn't start the routine of going in to wake her up even more. She is doing great. I would thank your lucky stars and not mess with anything!

A lot of kids have something called night terrors - it can last a lot longer than the 30 seconds your child is having so I guess for now you can consider yourself lucky. My son didn't have them, but my niece did, and her parents couldn't console her because she didn't really wake up from them all the way. I wouldn't think teething would cause the short screaming - usually that is a more prolonged discomfort. You can call your pediatrician but if it's night terrors or teething, they'll probably tell you "it'll pass" either way. Try not to worry - since he is going back to sleep, it doesn't sound serious.

My 15 m.o. son is doing the same thing. At his checkup, the doctor said to be expecting his molars any time now. I dont think hes screaming because of his teeth. My son only cries for 30 seconds too, until he realizes where he is and hes ok.