20 Month Old Wakes up Screaming

I would agree with the moms here about it being nightmares/night terrors. My son was getting them about the same age, he is 28 months now and still has them occasionally. I would also agree with Old Mom, aka Judy, about the cartoons before bed being part of the problem. I know even as an adult, if I watch something that could be very stimulating before bed, I don't sleep as well. I am not judging you for having the tv in their room, you just may want to try removing the tv altogether and see if that helps.

My son did the same thing when he was around that age but he did not have an older sibling I finally asked his doctor and she said that it sounded like nightmares. So i had him sleep in my bed and he stopped and was able to go back to his own bed in about a month or so. I dont know if that is an option for you or not but it could be something to consider and I would just call his doctor and ask if nightmares could be causing his night timescreaming and see what the doctor suggests. Hope this helps you and goodluck.

It may be night terrors which many children get. I googled night terrors and read some about it on Healthline. My son used to get this and just out grew it. I know it is not fun, but my doctor said it is common, although 20 months seems alittle young. good luck susan

Sounds like what has been described to me as night terrors, which are distinguished from nightmares by whether or not the child actually is awake when you go to comfort them. If they respond to you coherently, it's a nightmare. If they don't it's a night terror. Night terrors, from what our pediatrician said, you just have to deal with; they just some annomaly you have to deal with until the child grows out of it.

However, if it's nightmares, there is a lot you can do. First, stop TV exposure within a couple hours of bedtime. I know I'll get a lot of flack for this, but it's true that it eliminates a lot of scary images for toddlers. My son generally only watches PBS shows or movies like Cars, but he was seeing this cold-medicine commercial where the guy is a monster and was having nightmares about it. That was when he was about 2.5 y.o. Now that he's 4, we have to be careful not to let him see Ursula the Sea Witch for long when he watches The Little Mermaid; invariably he'll have nightmares about her. To contrast, however, no problems with Monsters, Inc., which you would think would be automatically scarry. It's just different for every kid.

As an aside, if your son does not have a developmental reason to not be talking yet, get him going with sign language. Joseph G. has a great set of resources you can even get on Amazon.com to teach common words in sign. This allows toddlers to express themselves when they can't physically form the words with their mouths. Things like "drink" "eat" "play" "more" "all done", colors, foods, feelings, illness can all be learned within a VERY short period of time and may help you, as it did me, defer MANY temper tantrums over whether my son actually was done eating or not.

Good luck, and I'll pray for you to get a good night's sleep! :-)

My daughters both did this and I believe they were (and at 5 one still does) having night terrors. They are screaming/yelling/talking but aren't really awake. I noticed it when they are extra tired or overstimulated. You can't reason with them or calm them down. We usually just tell my daughter everything is ok just go back to sleep. At the younger ages we would just hold them for a little bit. But they usually need to calm themselves down. Most doctors/websites say it happens within the first 2 hours of sleep but my 5-year-old can have it several times a night. Hope this helps!

Our child has night terrors. He is currently 23.8 months old (almost two hehe) anyways. So he started at very little age. LIke 9 months. It is HORRID for the parents to watch your kid go through this.
We have to give him a strict diet of very calm shows w/ no violence or quick movement. Preferably no tv at all or more in the morning.
Another thing that is the MOST important was having a regular 'predictable' schedule. Maybe you guys have new stuff going on that is a bit chaotic. Going on one too many errands. Seriouly it was weird, we had one every week and I stopped going on my weekly trips 60 miles away, and letting him be babysat and it stopped. Then we got a pretty reasonable schedule and if things get a bit excited he will have one. It can be hard, but so rewarding for a parent not to have to experience their little angle going through such scary stuff.

Please privately email me if you want to talk more!!!
-steffi

First of all, if your 20 month old is not talking at all, he should probably be seen by the dr. anyways. My daughter is 20 months old and communicates well enough to tell us if she is hungry (num-num), thirsty (juice) or is hurt (owie). I think that by 20 months they should be saying a lot of different words. As for the waking at night screaming, it could be night terrors. My son (now 4 yrs.) used to get them. You might look into it. You might also think about turning the TV off right before bed and reading a book or something else. Also, if you don't have insurance, you should check into DSHS (at least for the kids). It's so important to make sure that your kids are covered in case of an emergency. We had it for a while when my husband was new on the job and insurance hadn't kicked in yet. You can call the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services to find out more or check out the gov't website. I hope that this can help. I know that's it's hard to tell in an email, but I mean all of this lovingly and without critism. Good luck and I wish you the best!

Sounds a bit like Night Terrors to me. Almost something like a nightmare, but they seem awake and can be way more terrifying. My son went through Night Terrors and it was horrible to go through. I talked with my doctor and was advised not to touch them if at all possible when they go through this because it could wake them up and scare them even more. Not sure if this helps, but something you could look into.

He may be starting to have dreams that scare him, which is natural. I have a daughter that just turned 2. She also didn't speak much at all at 20 months, but understood most of what I said. She occasionally would wake up crying or calling for me. I would bring her into bed with us to comfort her and that seemed to calm her down. When she fell back asleep, I put her back in her crib. I eventually asked her if she saw something or was thinking of something in her sleep. She nodded and I asked her if it scared her. She nodded again. I tried to explain to her as best I could that I did that too, and it was okay.

All three of my children had "Night Terrors" they appear to wake up screaming. They aren't awake. They scream for a while then stop and go back to sleep. When they get up in the morning they are perfectly fine.
They were all done with this after about 6 months. We were reassured that there wasn't anything wrong and that we didn't even need to pick them up. They usually fought us anyway.
It's hard to listen to, it make you want to scream, and cry yourself.
Hang it there, it won't last forever.

Hi M.,
My name is T. and I am a 33 year old mom of four. My youngest daughter would wake up screaming in the night, and the Dr. said it was growing pains. We gave her some Motrin before bed and that seemed to help her. You could try that and if it works than great if not than might be night terrors. None of my kids have had that so I don't have any ideas about that. Good luck.

- This is just a suggestion- but cartoons can be very agitating for children-. ( is the tv in his bedroom?) - If he watches tv as he goes to sleep- this could very well be the issue -- studies show that tv watching before bed truly does create more night disturbances - sorry- I can imagine how unwelcome this counsel may seem- but I'd surely take it out for a couple of months and see what happens -.

Old Mom
aka - J.

M.,

This sounds like my 16 month old about six months ago. Is there a night light in the room? Is there a dimmer switch on the light?

That's what it was for us. Suddenly she was afraid of the dark. The outlets aren't in good places to put a night light but we did get a dimmer switch and installed it. Since then those problems went away. The only problem with the dimmer switch is that the energy saver bulbs that are all twisted up don't work with it. We have to buy the "regular" bulbs and put them in the kids' rooms.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

These are called night terrors and they happen if you are concerned talk to your Dr. My daughter had them real bad at about two years. They do grow out of them and have no harm to the child. I know that these also were accompanied by sleep walking with my daughter. Do not worry.

I recently talked with a friend of mine who has a 2 year old son who was also waking up screaming in the middle of the night. She took it personaly at first cause she was scarred that their may have been something emotionaly off kilter with her son. She then came to realize that some of the films that had been watching that are technicly rated okay for children still had plenty of "ammunition" in the forms of imagrey that was enough for her son to conjure up some really really scarrey scenarios in his sleep. Apparently he's afraid of bears. So, he's getting less t.v. exposure, she's making video choices with a more critical mindset, and he's not watching them before bed. He hasn't had one since. good luck

I agree that he's experiencing night terrors which are common at this age. You can learn more about them on the internet.

I noticed that some posts expressed concern about your son's speech. I was thinking that he could not tell you what was happening and not that he doesn't talk at all. I'm including the following information if he doesn't talk at all.

Because my grandson is 5 and still having difficultuy with speech I'd like to tell you about the process of learning speech. At 2 he should be saying single simple words that are related to his world. If he's not saying words by the time he is 2 I suggest getting an evaluation thru your county's school district. Sorry, I can't think of the office name right now.

Schools are mandated by federal law to provide assessment and treatment of any condition that will or does prevent learning. The people involved are trained professionals in whatever area the child is having difficulty. It's free paid for by our taxes.

Many babies start talking later than the norm and the evaluation may be able to tell you if he's just a late learner.

If he's not saying single simple words by the time he is 2 I recomend taking him for evaluation then. The school district has more funding and therefore can provide more intense treatment. My grandson was just a couple of months short of his 3rd birthday and everyone wishes he had been evaluated at 2. Maybe that would've made a difference. He's entering kindergarten this fall and he will continue to have both speech therapy and vocational therapy.

I'm very concerned about this transition. Change and/or chaos causes him to be very angry. He covers his ears when there are loud or unexpected noises. At 2 he was a reasonably able baby and was not upset by change or noise. By 2 1/2 he was beginning to be overly sensitive to noise and needing strong touch. He still runs at me so fast that I have to brace myself so that I don't fall down. It's like his nervous system has a glitch in it. Finding out early the possibility of a nervous system disorder and beginning treat may increase success better than starting later as my grandson did.

Sounds like Night Terrors - from what I've read, it is a developmental stage for some. Maybe do some research on them and decide for yourself if that's what it is. Good luck!

Our first had night terrors. Books say they occur at a certain age, but our daughter started pretty early. THe books also say they don't last too long, but our daughter's lasted a while (30 minutes?) It was always kind of freaky as it seemed like a mixture of sleepwalking and nightmares. She would sometimes appear awake, her eyes open, but she wouldn't really see us. So comforting her didn't work. We would just hold her. After the terror passed, you could see her eyes start to focus and our comforting would then help her calm down and she would be able to go back to sleep.

They are not fun, but the good news is it is just a phase and will not last forever! Good luck.

-D.

I have to tell you my son did the same thing - he quickly grew out of it but what happened with us is that a little before 2 we found out that he was scared of chickens and rockets. Sounds a little weird but most of the cartoons have chickens and rockets (little einstiens, wow wow wubzy, tiger and pooh). Sounds a little wierd but we stopped watching cartoons about 2 hours before bedtime. Books and games only. A couple of our friends had the same problem. Good news is once you figure out what he is dreaming about it is easy to put a stop to it. Maybe try some pictures and see what he dreamt about the night before.
Hope that helped.

I have a nineteen month old that wakes up every night screaming all he needs is a hug and for me to lay him back down on his pillow and I sit with him and rub his back until he falls asleep. Sometimes he will scream but is asleep. I suppose it depends on how long he is screaming? Can you console him at all? If you can not console him or he does not seem to fully wake up when he is screaming he might be having night terrors and he will outgrow those.

Sometimes in the past with my son when he cried so much in the middle of the night I would sit with him and turn on Noggin and that took his attention off of what ever he was crying about. I haven't had to do that in a long time, but he still wakes up every night.

Good luck, wish I could help you more.

N.

My 2 year old started this about a month ago, and we believe it to be nightmares. I have also caught her laughing in her sleep. I have been told its not too early for them to have nightmares.

From the time my daughter about this age until almost 5 she suffered from night terrors. From your brief explanation this could be what you little one is having. Night terrors are very different from nightmares. My daughter would wake screaming at the top of lungs, she would fight us when we tried to comfort her - her eyes were open but she wasn't really awake. It scared the daylights out of us at first. We talked to her pediatrician and came to the night terror conclusion. It took a few trys but we finally came up with a solution to get her calmed down and back to sleep. She fought us, like I said, so we would wrap her tightly in a blanket and hold her closely facing away from us. Then we would put in whatever her favorite disney movie was at the time and sit in a rocking chair right in front of the tv with the volume way, way up. As the familiarity of the movie started to get through and she became more aware and realize she was in a safe, familiar place she would calm down and the tv volume would come down with her. Eventually, she was back to her normal self and we could put her back to bed. Her terrors seemed to come in clusters. If she got we knew that there would be 3 or 4 coming over the following days. Then they would go away for awhile, a month or two sometimes before returning again for a few days. We could find any pattern, no rhyme or reason to when/why she would get them. They are not fun to deal with at all. On the flip side, I had read that this is a sign of creativity - if a small child can come up with something in subconscious that can scare them that much with the little bit of knowledge they have of the world. That's pretty creative. I tend to believe it. My daughter, now almost 11,is very musical, dances, and is on her way to becoming a very good author.
Good Luck.

If he doesn't seem to be truly awake and with it when you go in then it could be night terrors. They are harder on the parents then the kids from what my sister-in-law says. If they are night terrors the best thing you can do (i think) is to comfort him until he goes back to a real sleep, it is kinda like sleep walking as you don't want to wake them up. Good luck.

From what you are saying, it may just be that he saw or heard, experienced something that is causing him to have a nightmare. Troubled digestion may also cause nightmares.
I live with my daughter and her 2 children, 8 and 4 and while they are much older, my grand-daughter had a similar experience a couple of days ago. Because she is able to express herself we found out that something we saw at curio shop the other day really disturbed her, we had no idea it would have that impact on her, as she didn't even talk about it during the day. Somehow the memory twisted and scared her in her dreams. 2 nights in a row she hardly slept, in between cuddling with me in my bed.
I would suggest you enjoy comforting him for a few nights before stressing yourself over a possible medical condition.

Another idea is that he may be starting to get ready to potty train, and is either peeing/holding it in at night. My son did this for a long time, even after he was trained, as he was too sleepy to know what was going on. I'd also suspect molars coming in. They can be pretty sneaky, and only show discomfort in the middle of the night when everything is calm and quiet. Try some teething med/Tylenol at bedtime and see if it makes a difference.

My son has been doing it forever, I've had him checked, nothing. I read that it sometimes happens for kids who were rocked to sleep or slept with parents and never learned how to put themselves to sleep, to be a self soother. I used to go in all the time, had a monitor on and would wake up to that high ear piercing scream and would go in there rock him back to sleep and it would be fine. Then it started being every 2 hours it would happen. Finally I just let him cry it out. He goes down for bed and nap fine too just middle of the night screams. Mine is almost 2 and they seem to be getting less, maybe once a week. A friend said her daughter does the same thing so I think it is a somewhat common thing, and before someone says something of course you want to be sure that nothing is wrong with your child and they haven't pooped in their diaper or something. Good luck!

He may be having night mares

I agree with Aimee...sounds exactly like night terrors. My son had them when he was about that age. Its a developmental thing for the most part. The baby is not completely awake when they occur and really all you can do, in my experience, is comfort them back to sleep.

Hi M.,
He just might be having a nightmere or waking up and getting confused and scared. Both of my girls started having nightmeres at about 20 months. I would just rub their backs or hold them and talk to them and they would fall back asleep.
I would not worry about this since he seems fine during the day!
Best of luck to you...
MJ

My youngest daughter started that when she was about that old. You should ask your doctor about night terrors. My family suffered with that for about 3 years before i knew what it was and could manage them. My daughter is know 9 yrs old and only has them occasionally. Your doctor can help with tips to help you out.

Married mother of 5

Your son may just be having a growth spurt and is indeed hungry. My daughter is also 20 months and she will wake up about once or twice a week screaming in the middle of the night. I just take her downstairs, get her some milk and a graham cracker and then put her back to bed. She seems happy and satisfied and will go back to sleep on her own. There might also be too much stimulation in his room. You might try to cut out some of the things he has access to in bed and see if that helps him to calm down on his own. Hang in there. Like everything else it's probably just a faze and he will find another way to wake you up soon enough.

This was the age our little girl and her friends started getting more scared of things and would get nightmares on occasion. I'm going to guess he might have started getting bad dreams that wake him up. If you can calm him down and soothe him, then I wouldn't worry too much. If he seems out of it and/or uncontrollable during these episodes, he might be getting night terrors (which is a sleep disorder) and you should talk to your pediatrician.

I have night terrors on occasion (but don't know if I did as a child, even though I did sleep walk and have ALWAYS talked in my sleep) and they can be terrifying sometimes because you cannot tell that you are hallucinating/seeing things and that they are not real and you don't know that you are not awake. Even the ones that aren't as scary freak you out because you can't wrap your mind around them because you are basically in a limbo period between being awake and asleep (making it so you can completely move - unlike normal nightmares). I know they can be very common for kids and your doctor may be able to help. I'm not sure what they do for treatment, but I do know lowering their stress helps. If you have had any big changes in his life, that might be he's getting them.

Hopefully, they're just bad dreams and you'll be able to soothe him while he deals with these new fears that seem to start hitting kids around 20-24 months. It'll be easier once he can talk so you know if he's scared of any particular thing (our little girl was really afraid of dinosaurs and kept telling me that one was sleeping on part of her crib) and you can address them. In the meantime, you might want to get him a night-light, or wave your "magical wand" for sweet dreams, things like that. Just make sure to keep everything positive, for example, don't mention anything like "monster spray" if he's not telling you he's afraid of monsters because then he might start dreaming of monsters. Good luck! :-)

Ok i know this sounds crazy but i would suggest taking away all refined sugars. my son who is now 3 and a half does that every time he has sugar durring the day. doesnt matter if it was at breakfast or right before bed. its worth a try! good luck!

Hi M., its normal for some kids to scream at night . I used to have friend whose kids would wake up screaming and she asked a bout it and nothing happened to her kids , theyare grown up now and they complain no problem.