Bad Dreams, Scared...Normal or a phase or what?

Ok so when it was time to switch from two naps to one I missed the signal, the cranky wake up from the afternoon nap. So is this another sign? My DD is 2 1/2.....all of the sudden having night terrors, bad dreams, scared to go to bed, waking up from naps inconsolable, sweaty, and screaming. I am not sure what to do. We can't do cio, she is the kind of kid who screams until she pukes.
Is this is sign she is ready for a big girl bed?
Or some other sign I am missing?
Is it a common phase or what is this?
I hate not being able to comfort her upon wakeups...
She is normally a very happy child....

 

We went through this (or something similar) with one DD earlier in the summer. For us, it helped to take her out of her crib. She sleeps on a crib mattress on the floor and is happier. I moved her out because she was so scared to go to sleep that I was having to rock her to sleep, but she would wake up when I put her in her crib. We moved her to the floor and then I was able to sit next to her until she fell asleep. Then a few days later I sat in the chair until she fell asleep. Then I left while she was awake with a promise to check on her in a minute (literally, I checked on her every 1-2 minutes and waved to her from the hallway). Now we are finally back to mostly normal sleeping where we put them to bed and can leave the room while they are awake. The other DD is still happy in her crib. Good luck. It's not a fun phase (I guess few of them are).

 

This is where I was headed. We have a Dora toddler bed we got very cheap at a garage sale back in March but put it in the closet not ready for that yet (me not her) but I was really thinking it might help her as we are currently potty training too and if we throw all that "big girl" talk out, maybe it will help.....thanks, good to hear it did help for you....
yeah not fun....
Thankfully DS is in his own room and has no idea what dd is going through...
thanks for your reply!

 

Jessy had night terrors but finally out grew them. It would help just to hold her till she quieted as like sleep walking she isn't aware of her surroundings.

 

I've heard their brain can really become very vivid at this age. We too are going through the same thing. We have a night light, light on in the hallway and still kicking up a stink. Some nights she is so tired she falls asleep within 20 mins. Last night she ended up in our bed. I was checking out your thread to see what other's advice was. We are moving in a few weeks and will be temporarily staying with friends, so we will be doing a pnp. I'm hoping since I will be in the same room as them :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: That hopefully she will be ok plus we will have music again before she goes to bed. (our radio died a month before we leave and didn't want to buy another).

good luck with your adventure. Come back and let us know what works for you.

Heather

 

Last night was much better bought her a toy story flashlight and told her it eats bad dreams plus put music and lights on she woke up once asking to sleep with me I reminded her about the flashlight and she slept until 7 am well see how naps go that is harder

 

I don't know about the night stuff, but waking up inconsolable from naps can be what they call "confusional arousal" - basically when for whatever reason you get the wrong amount of sleep for a nap and/or wake up at a bad point in your sleep cycle and feel like total dog doo. Sometimes it happens to me if I take a nap during the day - I'll wake up feeling lousy and it takes a long time to feel normal again. I've also noticed my kids waking up VERY sweaty when it happens. I don't know that there's much you can do about it except ride it out.

 

Makes sense

 

I know dreams are oftne starting at this time. My DD has had them also. This is also teh age where we gave up naps all together. Might be worth trying for a week and see if that helps. We also do lamp and music to help go to sleep.

 

She def needs the nap I gave her a toddler bed today and she did much
Better