Was this a sleep terror or what?

Mom2McKenna

Last night my daughter (8 months old) was sleeping and all of a sudden started crying like when she falls and gets hurt..she wouldn't stop for like twenty minutes no matter what I did...she didn't open her eyes the whole time she was doing this. Was she having a night terror? If not then what was it? She has never done this before

vtmamajuju

Sounds like a night terror if they don't wake up. My son used to have them all the time. A sleep therapist said night terrors are super common in young children and most often occur to 3 yr olds. There's nothing to worry about. They say don't try to wake them, just make sure theyre not hurting themselves. On a happy note, they don't remember anything. Just you unfortunately. And they said it happens more of the child is overly tired. That was the case most often for my son.

Mom2McKenna

I just tried to comfort her and sing to her rock her, nothing worked but after 20+ minutes she just stopped I rocked her a little while longer then layer her down and she didn't do it again. It freaked me out though I had no idea what was going on

Almost5

Ya sounds like it. My oldest had them all the way until she was 5 and still does sometimes. It's caused by a number of things from being over tired to stress. I know I know what does a kid have to be stressed about right? Lol anything can trigger stress such as a change in routine. But yeah dont wake em up, What happens is in children they have a stage 4 sleep and when the transition from stage 3 to 4 is trying to happen, something in the brain is misfiring and not allowing a smooth transition into stage 4, so trying to wake them messes with that process an does more damage than good.

Mom2McKenna

It was probably from being over tired since she skipped her afternoon nap and wouldn't go to sleep until two hours after her bedtime