I am still perplexed about my night with my daughter and was wondering if anyone as ever experienced something like this. Our evening started normal - I picked my children up from daycare, we went home played, ate dinner around 7pm then a snack and I put my 17 month old daughter to bed (with no problems) a little after 8pm. She woke up screaming around 11pm (wouldn't you know it, it was about the same time I was getting ready for bed :-), I went in her room after about 2 minutes of screams figuring maybe her teeth are bothering her and after a little motrin and falling asleep in my arms she would go back to bed. No such luck. I went in her room and tried to sooth her -- I picked her up and she was stiff as a board. I tried her to give her pacifier and she definitely did not want that and her blanket didn't work either. I kept trying to sooth her with comforting words. I went in the living room to sit on the couch with her and she kept pulling me close to hold her tight - she wouldn't let me lay down with her and the whole time she was screaming. By this time I was thinking something has got to be hurting her so we got the motrin and went in the kitchen to give her some - the whole time I didn't turn the lights on. She sucked the motrin down and when we left the kitchen she'd scream again. So I took her back in the kitchen and she kept crying and pointing to something. I finally figured out she wanted a drink - she sucked down a big sippy cup of water and when I tried to leave the kitchen she'd scream, so we went back in and again I figured out that she was hungry (for not talking she definitely lets you know what she wants). She scarfed down a ton of grapes and had another sip from her cup. When she reached for her pacifier I asked her if she was all done, she shook her head yes and I picked her up gave her blanket to her and she was a sleep in about ten minutes - I laid her back down in your bed and she slept through the night and woke up happy. I have never heard or had anything like this happen before, so sorry if I am rambling on I want to make sure I left nothing out in case I am not seeing something. The babysitter this morning said she ate great yesterday. I guess I'll see how the next couple of nights go, but this is too wierd. I was just wondering if anyone has had this happen or heard of a child waking up not just hungry but starving. Thanks much.
Thanks for all the great responses. It feels good to know that I am not alone with these nights. Last night we had a great night!! So I am chalking it up to growth spurts -- wierd as it was. Thanks again everyones resassuring words really helped ease my mind. :-)
Yes, I've had those nights. Sometimes she's hungry, sometimes she's thirsty and sometimes it's nightmares.
My son did this with his GERD. They will stiffen up repeatedly and scream. We went through it numerous times before it was diagnosed as reflux. Keep track of exactly what she eats on the nights she is affected (if it happens again)and definately get with your Dr. if it happens again so they can get you some Prevacid or something to help treat it. when they have GERD or reflux they will try and try to eat and drink to ease the reflux.
She could have nightmares but I think unlikely with the stiffening and screaming, stiffening usually indicated stomach ache.
C.
I'm not sure about the food thing, except maybe she hit a growth spurt and all of the sudden needed to eat.
The stiff as a board, screaming, not responding to comfort sounds like a night terror. My son has them, he started at about 18 months, but the terrors are supposed to happen within an hour, I've noticed they happen in the middle of the night. My husband STILL has them!
Hello Jamie my name is H. its sounding like she was having growing pains really growing pains in their legs hurt bad. All my kids went through never heard of till then but it happens..They usually go through it bout 2 and bout 7 my children did anyways ..hope this helps have a good day
Hi Jamie
Yes, this has happened to me too. My son is now 20 months old, and it's probably happened 2 or 3 times in the past few months. I think the last time it happened was about a month ago. You did pretty much the same thing I did. I brought him out onto the couch and pretty much cater to what he wants. I put on one of his videos, give him water and a snack because he asks for them, and I cuddle with him. He seems to be awake for an hour or two before I can put him back in his bed.
When he was 14 months old, I ended up making him cry-it-out in his crib. (Up until this point, he always fell asleep in my arms or next to me on the couch, but I am pregnant with baby # 2 and I decided he needed to learn to fall asleep in his own crib.) My point? He sleeps great through the night most nights, so when this happens, I KNOW something is bothering him. Even if I don't know what the problem is, I know something just isn't right, even if it was just a bad dream. These "nights" of his don't turn into habit, so I don't see the big deal in letting him watch his video and eat a snack. (I do keep a sippy cup in his crib now, though, every single night, just in case.)
Hopefully, last night was just a one-time thing, but do not be surprised if it happens again! Good luck!
My three year old goes through this occasionally still now and she's almost 4, and has been for over a year now. After the first couple times it happened I got worried and talked to the Dr., he said its probably a mix of growing pains and nightmares, both of which she has frequently. All you can do for her is to comfort her however she needs, and try to find something to help combat her nightmares. For us a dreamcatcher above the window and a large stuffed animal in front of the closed closet door to protect her from anything that could come out of the closet otherwise seems to be an effective routine. We let her pick the animal and place it infront of the door after we check together to make sure there's nothing in the closet. I lock the closet door as she places her protector, she seems to have less nightmare this way and they then are reduced in combination with the growing pains which she usually just wimpers through then falls back asleep. Hope this helps and good luck.
It sounds a little like night terrors. My cousin's son had them constantly for years. They aren't even really awake for them. My 2 year old has had a few nights like what you went through. It is scary when their lovies like blankets etc don't soothe them. But it sounds like she got sorted out so I wouldn't worry about it too much! Good luck I hope she sleeps well tonight!
It sounds to me like it could be a couple of things. The straight legs sounds like growing pains. While normally kids are older, my 3 year old gets them (it is horrible) and has for about a year. He kicks and screams for about 20-30 minutes and then usually falls back asleep. He also occassionly has night terrors-- however he is not "awake" then and wouldn't be able to eat. She also is at the age where nightmares are common. She could also have been growing and the hunger might just have occurred to her once she was up, and not be the cause of getting her up. Good luck!
It sounds to me like she had a bad dream. She just wanted to eat and drink because she probably wanted to get her mind off the dream and not go back to sleep. I think the thing with eating was just an excuse to not go back down to sleep and of course any child would eat and drink in the middle of the night at that age. My son had a bad dream around that age and we woke up and took him downstairs for a snack and talked with him and sat with him for a while until he got tired again and then we laid him back down. Maybe she saw something on TV or in a book that stuck in her mind and came out in a dream. With my son, my husband let him watch Jurassic Park and I think that was what caused his dream cuz he said a big bird was coming in the window. Good Luck- Hopefully that won't happen again. It only happened once with my son.
Marci
Children seem to eat tons more than usual when they have growth spurts. If you offer her a snack just before bedtime, this should help (even if she doesn't eat it). Sometimes she might just be thirsty- other times she might be really hungry, even if she has eaten pleanty. With my son, one minute it was all I could do to keep up with his eating, and other times he wouldn't eat a thing I made for him. His doctor told me this is perfectly normal. Talk with your daughter's doctor to be sure, but it sounds like maybe she had a really active day in combination with growth spurt- hunger. My son went through this a lot.
Good Luck!
At first I thought with all the screaming and crying and holding you tight that it might be bad dreams. Then with the hunger, I thought maybe she is having a growth spurt. So I really don't know, but those are the two things I can think of. Good luck...hope it doesn't happen again.
Could be a growth spurt. Which could be accompanied by growing pains.
Try giving her a high protien snack before bed. Like Cheese and crackers or Peanut Butter sandwhich. The protien will digest slower and keep her through the night.
If she wakes up hungry again I'd consider getting her blood sugars checked as extreme thirst and all the time hunger are indicators of diabetes.
