6-month old daughter cries hard in her sleep

[Paul Johnson]

Any assistance with the above problem would be appreciated. We are
stumped.

My 6-month old daughter has begun doing the following: about 50
minutes after she goes to sleep at night (usually about 11:30), she
lifts up her head (usually) and begins to cry, starting out medium
loud and getting progressively louder and more pitiful over the next
couple of minutes. We don't think she is actually awake--her eyes are
closed and she doesn't respond to anything. She is either asleep or
in some weird in-between state. If we pick her up, it doesn't make
any difference. She continues crying hard and isn't consoled. After
about 8-12 minutes of this, she subsides and goes back to quiet sleep.
Sometimes it happens again an hour later, and sometimes even another
hour after that. Usually these later episodes are not quite so
long-lasting and disturbing. Sometimes the first episode doesn't even
start until around 5am. Sometimes nothing happens the entire night,
although this is becoming very rare. The crying she does during these
episodes is the worst sort--not like her daily crying when she is
irritated or tired-out. It is like the kind when she gets hurt or
scared, which is very unusual. In general, she is a happy baby that
doesn't cry much. She sleeps with my wife and I and these episodes
are very disturbing and anxiety-evoking. We don't know what to do, or
whether to intervene and pick her up or not. When we do, we are not
sure that it helped.

What should we do?

Regards,
Paul J.

[JG]

"Paul Johnson" > wrote in message
m...
> Any assistance with the above problem would be appreciated. We are
> stumped.
>
> My 6-month old daughter has begun doing the following: about 50
> minutes after she goes to sleep at night (usually about 11:30), she
> lifts up her head (usually) and begins to cry, starting out medium
> loud and getting progressively louder and more pitiful over the next
> couple of minutes. We don't think she is actually awake--her eyes are
> closed and she doesn't respond to anything. She is either asleep or
> in some weird in-between state. If we pick her up, it doesn't make
> any difference. She continues crying hard and isn't consoled. After
> about 8-12 minutes of this, she subsides and goes back to quiet sleep.
> Sometimes it happens again an hour later, and sometimes even another
> hour after that. Usually these later episodes are not quite so
> long-lasting and disturbing. Sometimes the first episode doesn't even
> start until around 5am. Sometimes nothing happens the entire night,
> although this is becoming very rare. The crying she does during these
> episodes is the worst sort--not like her daily crying when she is
> irritated or tired-out. It is like the kind when she gets hurt or
> scared, which is very unusual. In general, she is a happy baby that
> doesn't cry much. She sleeps with my wife and I and these episodes
> are very disturbing and anxiety-evoking. We don't know what to do, or
> whether to intervene and pick her up or not. When we do, we are not
> sure that it helped.

> What should we do?

It sounds like classic "sleep terrors" or "night terrors," although your
daughter is younger than the average age (3-4 years) at which these
usually first appear. You might want to do a Google search using the
above terms for more information. Here are a few sites to get you
started:

http://www.nightterrors.org/ (This site does state that sleep terrors c
an begin as early as 6 months.)
http://www.drhull.com/EncyMaster/N/night_terrors.html
http://www.sleeping-tips.com/sleep-terrors.htm (lots of links to sites
that discuss sleep terrors)

Good luck!