Tuesday, September 21, 2010

nightmares?

so, what I originally chalked up to toddler-regression type sleep issues, I'm now thinking could instead be nightmares... I have no idea what in the world E would have been exposed to at this age that would cause her to have nightmares, but - it's the most likely explanation I can come up with... for example:

usually when she's hitting developmental milestones or teething & such - her sleep is crap, and when she is awake she's clingy, fussy, somewhat whiny.... BUT - she sleeps a bit, and when she wakes up she fusses until Hubs or I get her out of bed or grab her some milk... that's NOT how she's been the past few weeks...

lately she does NOT want to go "night night" - ever. it takes laying down with her (or cuddling/rocking her, or taking her to bed with me) to get her to fall asleep... and the whole time she's clutching my finger. and when she wakes? wow. she wakes up sobbing and gets out of bed, runs to the door, and screams & sobs as she tries to turn the knob until Hubs or I opens it to let her out... upon the opening of the door she appears with arms outstretched, wild, terrified eyes, and uncontrollable sobs... once she's in our arms however - it is like someone flipped a magic switch. she's back asleep (with or without finger in her grasp) almost immediately... kinda like "oh, I'm safe, I can sleep now"... and even if we lay together in her bed, or ours she still wakes up screaming - but she can immediately grab for me/Hubs and is right back asleep...

so, I have no idea what's going on... I thought she was too young for nightmares, but Hubs brought her up to bed with me at 5:40am yesterday, and when he came back up to kick us out so he could go to bed at 6:45am Goose was smiling in her sleep... and then she started giggling.... and she giggled some more... all while completely.asleep. I know this because Hubs tried to wake her up by tickling her, playing with her feet, her hair... nothing. she didn't budge... so I guess she was dreaming, and if she's dreaming good dreams, I guess it's just as likely that she's dreaming bad dreams... I wonder if anyone else has experienced this... I wonder if our doctor would have any words of wisdom for us...

1 comment:

RecoveringCoffeeholic said...

Elena has not had nightmares, but I did grow up having something called "night terrors". You might want to call the pediatrician and see what they suggest.