Sudden EXTREME nighttime violence.

[Ldavis24]

DD is almost 21 months. She has coslept with us since she was a newborn. When she started to get bigger we attached the crib in side car fashion. We have never had a problem with co-sleeping. She is not a greater sleeper generally, she tosses and turns a bit and cries out periodically in the night, not loudly just enough to get my attention for a nursing session. We night nurse every night still.

For the past 3 nights she has woken up maybe 2 times during the night, screaming and flailing so violently that our dog (who sleeps on the bed and next to it) freaked out and ran out the bedroom and she punched me in the mouth hard enough to give me a fat lip. This is crazy, she is screaming like she is being seriously injured and throwing her body so violently that I have to pin her down to stop her from hurting herself. She is fine during her nap and is only doing this during the night.

She isn't sick, she isn't teething, she is fine when we go to bed (I nurse her to sleep and then get up). She is not constipated although she was a little gassy this morning when she woke up. She has NEVER been like this before and it is sooo extreme and violent. I mean she is literally throwing herself around. I try to nurse her to comfort her and she won't even take my breast. She had a nightmare once and it was awful but it was nothing like this. Her nightmare just made her scream loudly and just keep crying for nearly an hour. No violence in the body etc. She just cried a lot.

Has anyone else experienced this, all I keep reading online is about nightmares and I don't really know or think that is what these are. She's never been like this and all of a sudden she is having them 3 nights in a row? Any thoughts, DH is not thrilled and none of us are getting any sleep. Well me mostly, I end up staying up with her while DH sleeps because he has to go to work.

[mamaforever]

Hmmm I can only think of nightmares or night terrors as being the reason, but I really don't know.  Their imaginations get much more vivid as they get older, and maybe her nightmares or night terrors feel so realistic.  I hope you can find out what's going on soon.

[Shanny2032]

My daughter did this for a short time right around that age, I could probably go back and find my post too!  One of the things someone mentioned and I then researched a little is that they read something about night terrors and what could cause them.  One of the things was when kids get too warm, especially their feet.  My dd had just started wearing feety pajamas so I took them off and that was the end of it - that simple, I couldn't believe it.

[Ldavis24]

you know what Shanny, I have noticed she sleeps way way better when the room is pretty cool. I do too, so does DH.

She has been pretty good the past couple of nights. The fatlip night was NOT a good night. It was like DD was possessed and she was literally flipping and rolling around like a nut. Unfortunately we have the heat cranked in the bedroom which heats the office where my seedlings are so I think we'll just do really really light pjs to compensate for how warm it is in our room...I also noticed the fuller her stomach is before bed the better she sleeps so we are working on making sure her tummy is reasonably full before bed.