Bad dream? Opinions?

My 8 week old daughter obviously has odd sleep habits right now but this one new thing has my husband and I puzzled. Once or twice a week for the past two weeks she will wake out of a sound sleep screaming (not crying) and can not be comforted for 15-20 minutes. Last night I said to my husband "it's almost like she had a nightmare or something" but he thinks that's crazy and babies don't dream.

Nothing is wrong when this happens, her diaper is dry, she is fed and rocked to drowsy but not asleep and then placed in her crib just like my pedi told me to do. No fever. It's just inconsolable screaming followed by some crying that is almost like weeping. When I can get her to make eye contact and calm down a little I will rock her some more and let her get some skin to skin time and then she is fine and sleeps her normal 3-4 hours.

I read somewhere that babies dream in utero, so why wouldn't it be possible for my little one to be dreaming now? My husband claims she has "nothing to dream about".

Any insight? I think it's just her being a baby, but I am just putting it out there in case someone knows something I don't. :) Oh and as a side note she is already showing she prefers me over anyone else and hubs and I are working on that.

your daughter is beautiful.  congrats momma!!

I think babies must dream.  What do they see/where do they go when they are asleep??  Do they just see darkness?

every once and a while, starting at around 6 months; my Julia would wake up out of her sleep screaming!!!  not crying.  Like she felt some sort of pain!  when I told my only other friend who has a 2 year old; she replied "she probably had a nightmare".  She was inconsolable for 10 minutes.  I had to just put her back in the crib and stroke her forhead.  then after that she finally woke up and looked at her horror-stricken scared **** parents and started laughing.  that's our julia!  (I think I've taken her out of the crib in the middle of the night maybe 5 times since she's been born and she's almost 11 months now.)

I think maybe she had a nightmare.  Or, she is cutting a tooth.  Julia had her first two by the end of three months.

When she was your daughter's age- skin to skin was definitly very soothing for her, as was the eye contact.  I too; put her down awake and she started sleeping through the night in iher own room at 6 weeks.  And this pattern hasn't changed yet; which I'm so very grateful for!!

Julia preferred me from everyone else at that age-  but now she's really opened up to other people; around 5 months she liked EVERYONE; by 7 months she was weary of a few familiar people (like; do I like you?  haven't decided....) and now at 10  1/2 months she is very social and laughs hysterically at most people; but if anyone gets too close that is not familar-  she'll look at me and start wailing.

You are doing just fine momma! it's so hard learning this momma thing.  Ask your doc at her next wellness visit; but it could be a nightmare, could be a hunger pain, could be teeth.  As long as there is no fever either.  Her ears maybe?

Does she sleep w/ a binky?  Julia does; but it falls out of her mouth once she falls asleep.  Sometimes she'll put it back in; but most of the time she doesn't.

Aria, who is just a day younger than your beauty,  had this sort of thing happening in her first week. Dada thought she maybe was dreaming about being born!

If I had dreams about L&D in the first week PP I probably would have woken up screaming, too!

She is indeed very cute! Could it simply be wind?

Thanks vanessa! She has just recently started drooling so much that she can soak the front of her onesie in an hour so she has been wearing a bib (and hates it!), so maybe she is cutting teeth already. She was just at a well baby visit last Monday and they checked her all over. I didn't mention the screaming thing because it had only happened once at that point and I dismissed it as an "I'm overtired and I don't know what to do" meltdown. We bring her back early in July for 2 more vaccinations so I will certainly bring it up then if I need to. I don't think it's hunger pain because she won't go for my finger when it happens and she is on formula so she stays satisfied for at least 3 hours (usually 4-5 at night) between bottles. She does sleep with her binky and whenever I can get her to calm down when this happens I give her 1/2 a dose of gas drops and smear the other 1/2 of the does on her binky and she looks SO funny... like it's the best thing ever or something.

aaetheri, LOL... I agree!!! I delivered on a packed night in L&D so my nurse was out of the room and it was just my husband and I for most of my labor. The nurse came back in at one point, looked between my legs and started laughing, pointing, and telling my husband to look... Pearl's head was visible and she was moving like she was shaking her head "no" trying to work herself out of me. Not really all that funny to me when I had to let my body "labor down" with contractions and I wasn't allowed to push when I wanted to!!

nat1968, thank you!! I don't know! It's really hard to get her to burp but I always always make sure I at least get one good one out of her after every feeding. There have been mornings when I will get her out of the crib and she burps in my face, haha. Her gas doesn't seem to bother her as much as it did when she was brand brand new... she would scream bloody murder until you got a burp out of her until about 4 weeks old.

My brother did this too from about six months until 1-1/2. It was horrible, we couldn't figure out was was wrong and he would just scream and cry like he was terrified. Mom figured he must have been having bad dreams. I personally think babies can dream, I think that the bad dreams they are having can come from overstimulation. For adults our brains convert information into things we recognize when we dream. But for a baby it must be something like a swirling mass of color and sound, pretty scary. What you are doing is about all you can do, maybe buy a nightlight or a babymonitor with one built in. You could try co-sleeping, but then the habit is hard to break as my mum found out.  Good Luck

It almost sounds like a night terror...

"...a night terror is a physiological state of hyper-arousal and what happens in that state is people have rapid heartbeat, are panting and breathing much more rapidly than usual, and they appear terrified."

It's literally like a nightmare they can't wake up from. I don't know if it's something infants can have but I know in preschoolers and up, night terrors can be brought on by things like starting school or mastering new skills. My son will occasionally wake up screaming and crying and I know he's not awake. I have to spend 10-15 minutes trying to wake him up and once he's awake, like Vanessa's daughter, he's smiley and happy as can be like nothing happened.

I'm not sure what "they" say about infants having dreams/nightmares/night terrors but from experience, I say they can. Hopefully they will stop or at least diminish so everyone can sleep soundly :)

my DH had night terrors when he was little-  from 2-4.  I hope it's not hereditary!

Original Post by vanessa1031:

my DH had night terrors when he was little-  from 2-4.  I hope it's not hereditary!

 Crap!!! My husband STILL gets them occasionally! He was one of the "lucky" few that it carried on into adulthood for him. We don't co-sleep with the baby at night because of this, he has literally pushed me out of our bed during a night terror once. Luckily in the 4+ years that we've been sleeping in the same bed I can count on one hand how many night terrors he's had.

Another thing to ask my pedi.

make a list!!!  and remember to bring it with you.....b/c i always make lists of questions, then forget the blasted list at home.....LMAO!!!

julia gives me this baby "oh my god this is the best thing that ever happened to me eyes rolling to the back of the head" binky look when she wakes up looking for it.  it's sooooo funny!

I am a sleep tech & this is a night terror.  It is normal & happen sometimes until childhood then is usually grown out of.

Also babies do dream, most of there sleep is dream sleep or active sleep, they dream much more than adults.  ever see baby trying to suckle while asleep maybe they are dreaming about food, hehe.

I dream about food all the time.

Tjlo

Original Post by theychangedmyname:

I dream about food all the time.

Tjlo

 LOL-- me too!

Original Post by disease_of_ease:

Original Post by theychangedmyname:

I dream about food all the time.

Tjlo

 LOL-- me too!

 me three!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i do it is crazy, my mom & sister think it is so odd & crazy. I usually dream about naughty food.

Tjlo

Yeah I had a dream last night that I was hiding in a bakery and eating all their cakes!

YA~! I have bad doughnut & cake binge dreams! especially if I'm eating clean though.  Like when your fasting... almost every night you have dreams you broke your fast then and you are so sad, then you wake up & it is like yayyyy!

it was just a dream

Tjlo