14 Mos Old Waking Screaming and with Stiff as a Board Body

My son had the same problem around the same time; it was a hernia. He had surgery and was all better. He had been waking like that for a bit. I thought teething, ear infections, lactose problem, etc. Then one day I saw his intestine poking through his abdomen.

Surgery was 45 minutes and he has been fine ever since.

I would keep a journal prior to DR. appt just in case it is a food problem.

I wish you luck!

I would make the drs appt asap...
The only 2 things that come to mind for me is
#1. Does she have a stuborn streak about 6 miles wide?
or
#2. Some type of seizure... But I don't think she would scream during it.

I'm not sure if gas would make them stiffen up in pain more than it would make them want to curl up... I have never had to deal with an overly gassy baby.
If it were night terrors she should calm down when you reassure her... Unless she's one of those kids that are not easily consoled.
You know your daughter. If you think something is odd it never hurts to ask. I would write down the time put to bed nightly. The time she wakes screaming, and how long it takes to calm her. Also anything that seems off thru out the day. Also what she is eating.
Keep making those notes for a month or so to try to figure out if there is a pattern (certain times, amount of sleep daily etc) But I would def. take her to the dr just in case...

Talk to a doctor and listen closely to her at night. My son does that after a seizure. He has febrile seizures, and they are scary, but I always wake up to the seizure and then he is disoriented and starts stiff as a board screaming. I hope this is not your case but check it out just in case...

It sounds like my daughter went through the same thing when she was just over a year. She woke up from bed screaming, not able to look at me and pushing me away. I picked her up and she was stiff and then went limp when I set her down. I was so worried. She finally got herself together about 45 minustes later. I believe she had a night terror. It is my plan if it happens again to wash her hands. From what I have been told washing your childs hands wakes them up enough for the night terror to stop. Hope this advice helps, good luck.

My daughter started this at 9 months...and it scared the *&^% out of me! It was awful! Lasted about an hour and it looked as though she was awake, but not responding to anything my husband or I did, said, sang...nothing! She was having night terrors. Now, what I am going to tell you is distressing...trying to wake her from it and help her could actually make the night terror worse and last longer. Our pediatrician said the best thing for her was to leave her in the bed and hold her hand and talk to her...letting her know she was safe. It's awful, but it will get better. She wakes up still during the night (she will be 4 in a few weeks), and occasionally it is from nightmares. Again, the dr. said this was normal and it would eventually fade away as she gets older. I am hoping she is right! Sitting by watching her was miserable (still is when I hear her cry out in the night), so I can only offer you empathy. Let her know she is loved and that you are there, that may get through to her while she sleeps. The other thing, and I know this sounds funny, but we saw an episode of Blue's Clues that dealt with nightmares and how, since they are your dreams, you can change them. (This was when she was older) When she wakes with a bad dream now, we can talk about that episode and she will tell me what was bad and together, we will make it something good. She still doesn't sleep through the night as she is also restless, but I am noticing the night terrors are gone and the nightmares are lessening! One more thing worth mentioning, our dr. said that being overtired could trigger a night terror, also. I started to notice that we had more issues if she was off schedule or overtired from the day! Good luck, and I hope this phase passes quickly for you!

N.,

You didn't mention who watches your children while you are at work. Has something changed with whomever watches your children? Not necessarily with the daycare people themselves but maybe a new child is in the daycare you know things like that.

So if there are any changes in her life/your life latelty could be affecting her.

My son is 2 and has done this kind of thing all his life. I almost cry each time he is crying and screaming and stiff and I can't do anything about it. I hold him and comfort him and after a bit he settles down. I don't think he is ever awake. I have tried to wake him up and let him sleep but the results are about the same. Don't let the responses you get from here freak you out. Just take a deep breath and take care of your daughter as best you can. Talk to your doctor about all the suggestions listed here and do some research on the internet for yourself. Our doctor couldn't do anything for us, so we just manage through it when it happens. It does happen a lot less now then when he was a baby so maybe he (and your daughter) will grow out of it.

Sounds like night terrors. My son used to do this and there was no consoling him, he would just scream for an hour then fall back asleep. Actually he was never really awake. I would ask him the next day if he had a bad dream and he wouldn't remember anything. Just sit with her and make sure she is safe, until she falls back asleep. He's grown out of it, or it just doesn't happen as often anyway. (he's 5 now) It's hard to just watch them scream and know there is nothing to do to console them, but with night terrors that's all you can do is survive them. good luck!

My first thought is could it be a reaction to vaccinations?
I would suggest checking your records while making a doc apt. Maybe post again after you hear what the Doc says.

Is she around tv? Perhaps she saw something that scared her. My 5yo gets very scared by commercials for video games and is scared for days over them. So anything she watches is recorded first.

My husband had night terrors as a child, you couldn't wake him from it. Nor touch him to bring him out of it. His mom had to sit by him and wait it out. He was about 3\5 when that was going on. He's family always has the tv on. He remembers seeing something on the news about bombing. And dreams of bombs falling still.
Good luck, A. H

My son had night terrors for years. I didn't read all the posts, but he would sometimes have them for 3 hours at a time. Especially about 2 years old, they were the worst. I wish I had learned this earlier, but last year his counselor told us about an hour after he falls asleep I would go in and just rub his hair and give him some kisses, just enough to make him a little wiggly, but not wake him up. This would reset his sleep pattern, and after a week or two of doing that, they stopped! He still has had a few, while we were camping, and I noticed if he goes to bed mad they are more likely to happen.

I would still mention these to your dr. Our Dr. did send him for an EEG to rule out siezures, but he was fine.

H.

My, now 3 year old, daughter used to scream after being in bed a couple of hours. She sounded so terrified we would run into her room only to find she was fast asleep. Picking her up did not calm her down as she was still very deeply asleep. She grew out of it after 6-10 months. It's horrible to hear your child so scared but we found it only lasted a couple of minutes if we left her alone and then she went back to sleeping normally.

Good luck and hopefully she is 'only' having night terrors and will grow out of it.

We went through night terrors with my son also, and to echo the other responders, we also didn't get much relief. There was no underlying problem causing them, not change of routine, etc. They would just pop up without warning,. Some kids get them, it's their way or working out what is in their brain. Awful to watch, I just stayed there with him and reassurred him, made sure he was safe, etc. He always went back to sleep, but there were some nights they were reaccurring. Sorry I wasn't much help, but know that night terrors are common and you are not alone.

I would suggest talking to your dr. about night terrors. We went through the same thing around 10mos. Were told that our son was too young for night terrors, but everything that happened fit the description. He is now 12 and went through various stages of sleep walking/talking which have all settled down to a almost none now.

It is common for them to erupt w/in 1 1/2 to 3 hours after falling asleep. We were told to gently rouse him around 1 1/2 hours to pull him out of the deep REM sleep, but not enough to fully awaken him. This helped. We also noticed that he would have more episodes if he was overtired or coming down with an illness. If we monitored his sleep throughout the week and kept the late nights to a minimum we did not have as many episodes.

Hi N.,

It sounds like your daughter is having night terrors. My son had them for about a year starting when he was about 18 months old. Based on my research and what I have personally experienced, it seems that night terrors are worse for the people that watch them happening than the child having the terrors. When she is having a terror, just watch her and hold her if you want until it is over. I found it too difficult to hold my son because he would struggle against me, so I would just lay in the bed next to him. When they first started, he had them about once a week, and then it became less and less frequent until they eventually stopped. I hated them because it seemed like he was suffering and there was nothing I could do about it. But my research and his pediatrician assured me that he was fine and wouldn't even remember it. They were right...he is now a very healthy, active (too active), intelligent 6-year-old. I'm sure your daughter's terrors will pass as well.

Godspeed,
A.

If you think it's night terrors, my girlfriend's son has them and she found that putting him to bed early (or at least not keeping him up late) keeps them at bay.

Not sure if that's the case. Good luck and hopefully your doctor will be able to figure something out. :)

Sounds like night terrors, if the child is asleep they say not to wake them. Try prayer before bed to have the episodes stop, this worked for my daughters sleep walking. Light soft music at night, it may be what she dreams is scaring her. Best of luck to you.

Have you looked into getting her checked for acid reflux? This can cause some dramatic pain. My daughter had it so bad that they considered her to have it worse than 99 percent of all adults. She would become very rigid and stiff when she was in pain. At night (when she was laying down) was much worse as the acid would creep up and burn her. It there could be numerous reasons but please call your ped and tell them what the symptoms are. Even as about reflux...Best of luck! I have a ton of experience and advice if you need to contact me.

I also just went through this with my 18 month old. She started crying but her eyes were closed then I'd pick her up and shes throw herself back on the bed.I tried to to assure he shes ok and mommy here but she wouldnt stop. I tried waking her but it seem like she didnt want to wake up I asked if she wanted a hug she said no, medicine she said no, water..and she says yes drinks it and goes back to sleep,2 times now its been like that. Not sure what happened but this hasnt happened again since hopefully it wont happen anytime soon.I was scared,all I can say is maybe offe water since it worked for us?Good luck

I just went through this tonight with my 2 year old son. He screams and his body is stiff. His eyes are looking toward one side and just stares.This has been going on since he was 6 months old. I found that splashing water in his face brings him out of it. It usually lasts for about 10 to 15 minutes. This is about the 6th time this has happened. At the end of his episode he let out a big burp. Thanks for the knowledge.

I have a girlfriend who told me a story about the same thing happening to her daughter. She was 2 at the time and it happened during the day. It freaked them out so bad that they even called an ambulance. On the way to the hospital, he daughter let out some gas and she was fine after that. She must have had a painful gas bubble which caused her to stiffen up.