Possible Sleep Talking? Sleep Disturbance?

These are indeed Night Terrors and probably have little or nothing to do with her sleeping arrangements. My brother had them bad growing up (still does occasionally) and now my 7-year-old son has them, they are hereditary from what I can tell, so perhaps you had a version of it and now she does. My brother's got pretty crazy, with lots of running around into things and hurting himself. For my son, he does come out of his room, but is rather calm and I can walk him back easily. I think they started around the same age, when imagination really takes off and they can go into lots of scary and strange dream lands. for my son, it comes and goes, although he has had one every night this week, sadly. (mostly unintelligible, sometimes phrases come through that suggest frightening dreams, but often not -- last's night phrase was "no snaggletooth", the word that's been thrown around since he lost his front tooth.) He goes through stretches where it doesn't happen, then when lots is going on or things are in upheaval, they re-appear. I will always expect it when he's overtired and exhausted. Right now, it's probably going back to school after two weeks off, with lots of video games and free play turning back into school work and no TV. You can often head them off if you wake her gently after being asleep for 50 minutes, just before they usually happen. It's enough to restart her and send her back to sleep soundly. You can also try a few days of putting her to bed earlier, to ensure she's not overtired when she's hitting the pillow. Believe me I know how hard it is, just try to relax and go with it -- sit with her, stroke her hair, "ssshhhh it's OK, Mama's here" -- it won't magically stop it, but you'll feel better watching her calm. Bear in mind that this happens to lots of kids, there is nothing wrong with her, and it's going to be OK.

My son had night terrors at that age, too. It seemed to occur more on hot summer nights or if his pajamas were too warm. (We noticed he was usually very sweaty when he had them). We stopped putting footed pjs on him and made sure his room was cool in the summer and the terrors became less frequent and then eventually went away completely. (Or he just grew out of them!) Who knows. I bet by age 6 or 7 she will not have any.

I would agree that it could be related to over-tiredness too. Usually the summer ones came after a day of swimming with no naps.

My brother had them as a child, too. Your daughter will grow out of it, and like the others said, she will not remember a thing. Hang in there!

I have two 3 year old girls. One of them has gone through this recently. Look up, night terrors. For a while she was screaming and crying out in her sleep and I would go in her room and she would be sleeping. I also have 2 11 year old girls. (two sets of twins) One of the older girls did the same when she was 3/4 but hers was much worse. In fact she would sit up screaming. We were told it was night terrors.

Our 3 year old daugthers come in to bed with us most nights. Sometimes we put them back sometimes we don't. The sleeping with mom and dad or lack of sleeping with mom and dad are not causing her to have nightmares. I have several friends who's children have gone through the same thing. It's a short lived phase usually. Don't worry Mama. You're not causing it.

Sounds like night terrors. Try waking her up about 45 to 50 min after she goes to bed to break her sleep cycle. See if that helps for a couple of nights......

My son went through this very same thing! He cried and was inconsolable for 10-15 minutes every night: I couldn't wake him and he swatted anyone away if they tried to touch him. The only link I found was that he cried more if he didn't go pee before bed... But he cried any way. I can't remember how long it lasted, but it felt like a long time! Maybe 6-8 months? He outgrew it, though. Now he is almost 6 and doesn't cry out.

not sure if this applies at all, but my son is more prone to these outbursts when he is not getting enough sleep in general.
i had night terrors myself and was more prone when my body was stressed. i outgrew them after a few years of only sporadic incidents.
your attitude/reaction seems very calm and like it is working. i do not think this means something is bothering her on a bigger level.

That definitely sounds like night terrors. My dd who is 3 had those for a while. Like you I was very concerned and at first didn't realize what was going on so I would wake her which is the wrong thing to do. She would get them when overly tired. She would sit up even with her eyes open and cry, scream, talk and then seconds later be back to deep sleep. I talked with my doctor and she said there is nothing to be concerned about. Just make sure she can't hurt herself. DD doesn't even know what happened/never remembers.