Screaming at Night? - Tucson,AZ

I think you should rule out a physical problem, Like others have said, ear infection or something else could be the reason.

Once you take him to the doctor and explain what is going on hopefully the dr can give you some advice.

at 15 months you should have a good bed time routine, he shouldn't be super hungry or over tired. you could relax him with a bath, dim lights quiet room, a few stories and songs and cuddles for about 20 minutes. Then either lay him down awake, untl he falls asleep or, sleep with him. co sleeping isn't for everyone but relying on a movie to settle an upset child is not good, so you need to find something else that will work.

N.,

Welcome to mamapedia!

Your son should NOT be watching movies at night. Please stop putting a movie on. The lights and sounds are NOT helping him.

How long as this been going on? Weeks? Days? Months? You don't say.

IF he's having night terrors, your best bet is to play CALM MUSIC - like orchestra music - and have white noise (a fan or a radio station that doesn't come in and static only) in his room.

If this has been going on a for a few days?? And EVERY TIME it happens you turn on a movie? He's learned that a screaming will get him a movie. STOP with the movie (yes, I'm repeating myself so you can get it.)

Talk softly and smoothly too him. Don't panic. DO NOT turn his light on. Stay calm.

If this has been going on every night for several weeks? contact your pediatrician.

At about that age, one of mine suddenly became terrified at night of a stuffed animal that was in his room. It was a stuffed giraffe. It had been in his room since birth. He wasn't afraid of it during the day. He started waking up and screaming at night. I tried everything but he wouldn't calm down until we left the room each night, and it happened every night. One day I was cleaning and moved the giraffe out of the room. He didn't cry that night. I put the giraffe back in the room (I hadn't made the connection yet), he woke and was scared at night. Finally I made the connection and took it back out, and he started sleeping again. I have no idea why it was suddenly scary to him when he's been sleeping with it in his room every day of his life up to that point.

Because I had this strange but true experience, I encourage you to look at everything in his room and see if there is something that could even remotely look scary in the dark (eg, a toy with glass eyes that reflect the night light like the giraffe did in my son's room).

Hi - Hasn't a cold recently or any chance that there could be fluid in his ears? One of mine went through a really fussy, up at night, seemed inconsolable phase around that age. It was fluid (pressure) in his ears which got much worse at night, laying down. Even if we gave him advil, he wasn't up for going back down - not when he'd woken in pain. I remember quite a few nights sleeping with him upright on our recliner.
If it's something like that, then that's likely why he likes the distraction of the TV.
Mynewnickname has good suggestion below too.
Night terrors for us was more around age 3.

TV and movies are not recommended close to bedtime because the blue light interferes with sleep. Also it produces a great deal of stimulation which makes it hard to soothe and to sleep effectively. While the movie method may comfort him in the short term, it is not a good long term solution. Besides do you want to wake up every night to put on a movie for him? Of course not. As you said yourself you have to deal with a tired, cranky toddler the next day. Sleep begets sleep. The less sleep he gets, the worse he feels, the more he needs sleep and so the vicious cycle goes.

As for immediate comfort strategies even though he won't let you pick him up, you should try to touch him or pat him gently or sing to him softly or talk to him softly. Offer him anything soothing, calming and quiet in terms of physical and emotional comfort. A nightlight would help. The soft glow allows you to see but not be so much light it wakes everyone up. Remember too if he has jolted awake, no doubt his nerves on edge and it will take a bit to bring him back from the edge. Patience on your end will go a long way.

Next to rule out a sickness or night terrors call the doctor at the very least. A visit will deal with any medical issues whatever they may be. One of mine has ear and allergy issues which make laying flat painful; we learned that one the hard way with a few sleepless nights and a doctor's visit.

Finally look around his room in the daylight as mynewname suggests. We kept almost nothing in the nursery because of the fear factor. Little people see the strangest, scariest monsters in the most mundane items. Over time they develop new fears so didn't feel like chasing the issues if there were any. If in doubt, toss the stuffed animals and what not in the closet for a few days. It can't hurt to rule things out. Also think of what movies and TV he has been watching. My youngest has been and is still terrified of anything Disney. He wouldn't tell us for the longest time so we had to play detective to figure it out. We watched him watching movies and quickly put two and two together. Aggressive body language or tone is a huge fear trigger for my little guy. It still is and he is four. The other thing we noticed is the sounds of the house can be scary. We have a water filter system that kicks on at night; it creates noise just below my oldest's bedroom. He leaps out of bed, ready to do battle. We put a sound machine in his room and adjusted the time the filter system does its noisy business. Problem solved.

Do your hard thinking detective work during the day to see what you think might be triggering his reactions at night. Then implement some changes and see what happens. Good luck. No sleep is hard on everyone.

Usually with night terrors, you can't really connect with them - their eyes may be open but they don't really see you, don't hear you.

Nightmares are different - they wake up and, while they may still be crying or upset, they know you are there.

But 15 months is young for both of those things. Not impossible, of course. I think my niece was closer to 2 when she had them.

I've never, ever heard of a 15 month old who can watch a movie from start to finish, even if it's only 1/2 hour (and most movies are longer than that). He's watching it because you leave it on but he has no sense of the story being completed. You could easily turn it off sooner. However, I don't want to sound like I think this is a good idea. Teaching a child to watch a screen until he falls asleep is creating a horrible habit you will absolutely regret for the next 17 years! You need to calm this child down through quiet reassurance and calm sounds, not stimulate his brain with action and words and bright lights! Of course he’s tired the next day – his brain isn’t getting vital sleep! Please, please talk to the pediatrician about how vital a good night’s sleep is for a child’s brain development! And if you need to, video your child in the middle of one of these episodes of screaming so you can show the doctor.

Are you sure you aren’t putting the movie on because you are bored or frustrated with a non-sleeping child? I know how aggravating this is and you just want to do something, anything. But you could be doing so many other more helpful things. You need sleep too – it’s dangerous to go through the day totally sleep-deprived. If a child has a night terror, usually you just hold the child or gently stroke him until he comes out of it. If you have to protect him because he’s active, fine. If he’s just waking up because he’s teething or has reflux, then you work to eliminate the pain (but you don’t just give Tylenol every night either – you don’t say how long this has been going on). I know a crying child can wake the whole household, but you have to take turns soothing him and helping him learn how to go back to sleep, alone and without being cuddled into a deep sleep.

Stop turning on a movie at night!! What better reason for a child to wake up and throw a fit?

Take your son to the doctor, check for ear infections or anything else that may be bothering him health wise, and then let him cry it out a bit.
Go in when he wakes up and starts crying, make sure that he is dry, give him a sippy with some water in it, give back his binky (if he takes one), pat his back and help him calm down a bit, then take a step out. Wait a bit...go back in....help settle him. Step out. Repeat. It might take a while and it might take a couple of days.
ALSO...if your child is still breastfeeding at night or taking a bottle, he doesn't need one. If you are the one that is getting up and feeding him then your partner should probably be the one to do the modified cry it out. I was on here about 5 years ago, crying my eyes out, because I could not get my daughter to go back to sleep in the middle of the night. She would scream and cry...it was awful. Many mamas told me to have my husband step in....my daughter was sleeping through the night after 4 days. Praise God.
Try it out.

It sounds like night terrors, although he's a little young for them.
Forget the tv/movie - it's not really helping.
Try to time how long it takes from him to fall asleep to when his terror starts.
Typically it's about 90 minutes.
When you know how long it takes for the terror to start, try waking him up about 15 min before it starts.
After about 5 min, let him go back to sleep.
Often that break is enough to stop it from coming on.

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/night-terrors#1

Putting on a movie guaranteed he will be up every night. Possibly night terrors. Change time he goes to bed. Worked for me when my son was 14 months.

Thank’s for your question N..

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whats he eating for dinner? when my dd started eating real foods ( around 12 months) she would randomly wake screaming thrashing wouldn't let me hold her. took me a few times but i discovered she was having severe gas pains and not being fully awake to understand what was going on. thus the screaming. she didn't want to be touched because that made it worse for her. i then started to give a dose of gas drops at the beginning of the screaming episode and it cut the screaming time back to 30 minutes. i then kept a food journal and discovered the foods that triggered the late night screaming fits. and stopped feeding that to her. we NEVER used a movie. i would walk her around outside as long as it was nice enough to do so. i would take her to different areas of the house (mostly basement since we didn't usually hang out down there so it was 'new' territory)
now shes nearly 5 yrs old and we avoid the trigger foods and she can be episode free. if she does happen to get one of those foods then i give gas drops at the first sign of episode and sometimes its enough to keep her sleeping and she won't wake and full on scream

No more TV!!! You are teaching him to scream for TV.

Of all the night time stories I have read on Mamapedia in the last 9 years, this one takes the cake. Unbelievable.

Please, take some parenting classes before you have a child that runs your lives. You do not seem to have a clue about how to raise a child. I'm sorry if that sounds mean, but you need somebody to slap some sense into you.

Go to the ped and tell him or her the truth of what you have been doing. You will have a devil of a time undoing this mess, but you must. Let the doctor help and "man-up" doing it instead of caving in.

Sounds like night terrors. My son would scream anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes. He would fight me too with holding him. I just held him and talked softly to him. This would happen 2 or 3 nights a week for a few months. My pediatrician suggested night lights in his room. He already had them there, it didn't work. But i kept the hall light on and shut his door a little bit - that seemed to help. Its a phase, he will get over it. My son would scream like someone was beating him up. It sucks but talk to your pediatrician.

Night terrors happen in deep sleep with no memory that they happened. Don't turn on the light, the tv, or even pick him up. See what happens. If it is a night terror he will either stop screaming after a bit and be asleep, or he will wake up and need soothing, but don't put in a movie.

Keep lights off and everything quiet. The lights in tvs and monitors is disruptive to natural sleeping patterns, so you should never use that as a calming method at night time.