Can a 20month old have nightmares?

[slworld]

DS is 20months old & has been sleeping in his own room for about 3.5months now. In the past 10days he woke up twice screaming during the early hours and just won't settle down until we bring him into our bed. The first time his pacifier fell into his sleep sack when DH went to check on him (so I thought that was maybe the reason) but last night he woke up again crying really hard and I can't figure out what the issue is. I mentioned this to his DCP & she said he woke up crying from the nap too yesterday & it could have been a nightmare. Does anyone have any similar experiences? Can they have nightmares that this age? Should I be concerned about this? Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much

[srhs]

My 23mo is experiencing something similar. He's been sick the last couple of weeks so has good reason to wake up upset--fever, hurt ears, now diarrhea from the medicine, etc. But he gets completely hysterical, looks frantic in his eyes, thrashes around, and cannot be comforted. I was just going to look up night terrors in toddlers.
FWIW, I had 2 friends who'd mentioned their LOs going through something similar, and both had brought their LOs into the living room and turned on the TV. No idea why that calmed them down, but I remembered it at 3am, and it worked! DH thought I was nuts, but I was desperate to help him snap out of it. Sure, it was hard to get him back in bed but not moreso than any other regular bedtime when he's not ready to go.

ETA--I found this on babycenter. I'm not prone to just observe and not interfere at this point, since my guy is really needing something--diaper change, medicine, etc. And I wouldn't just leave him in his crib if he was looking right at me screaming. But it might be good advice in other situations. Some of the parent comments at the bottom were constructive though.

[maestramommy]

I think so. Dora started having what I thought were nightmares starting around 14 months, and tapered off around 20ish months. In the beginning we had to lie down with her to get her to go back to sleep. Then after a while she needed to be held for a few minutes while she calmed down, before putting her back in the crib.

[arivecchi]

Probably night terrors. DS1 went through that stage around 2 yrs of age.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_night-terrors_142.bc

[MamaSnoo]

I agree with the night terrors thought. DD seems to go through this occasionally (23 mos old). The thing that seems to really distinguish it the inconsolability.

[rlu]

Sounds like night terrors to me as well. Fairly common on the board, check old threads for comments. We do talk to DS during his (he still has them even at nearly 6 unfortunately) and basically ask him if he wants to lay back down and "be covered up with love" (our key phrasing as part of his nighttime routine) at which point he almost always does lay back down and we cover him lightly. He usually calms down at that point. He's much older though than OP and PP kids who may not have the communication skills and "routineness" that DS has.

DS's night terrors can be attributed to heat and overtiredness (is that a word?) pretty much every time. DS started having night terrors early - the ped told us they couldn't be night terrors since he was "too little" at the time. Not sure when now, a search of old threads would find it, but probably before 2 years old.

eta: DS's night terrors happen in the first two hours after he goes to sleep. OP mentions "early hours", so wondering if that is shortly after DC goes to sleep.

[slworld]

eta: DS's night terrors happen in the first two hours after he goes to sleep. OP mentions "early hours", so wondering if that is shortly after DC goes to sleep.

I meant early in the morning ... the first time was around 3am & second time around 4am. He goes to bed between 7:30-8pm

[rlu]

I meant early in the morning ... the first time was around 3am & second time around 4am. He goes to bed between 7:30-8pm

I would call your ped and ask them about it. It was my understanding night terrors happen within a few hours of sleep, not 7 hours later. The Dr. Greene link pp posted mentions a possible tie to need to urinate, could that be a possibility? eta: the link to Dr Greene is actually on the other thread for 6.5 yo with nightmares.