waking up sobbing mutiple times a night?

[nukuspot]

My 2 y.o has started waking up just sobbing and screaming...All night.  She had a cold so I thought she was uncomfortable from the congestion, but now that's pretty much over.  I brought her to the ped and she doesn't see anything physically wrong, no ear infections, etc.

She seems to be deeply asleep then will start sobbing in her sleep, then more and more until she sits up and starts screaming "downstairs" or "walk around".  I know she wants us to pick her up and walk with her downstairs (we cosleep) until she calms back down, which is what we do when she has the flu or is sick.  But this is so draining and sleep depriving for me and DH that we are not going to do it every night!   Usually I can talk with her for a bit about calming down then she will nurse back to sleep, only to wake up an hour later the same way!  I'm REALLY really tired.

Last night she woke up once really badly, screaming and pointing at the ceiling and was frantically sobbing.  It sounds like nightmares but would she be having them 10x a night every night?

She's totally fine during the day, happy and playful.  There have been no big changes in her life recently.  Nighttime has started to become a scary prospect for me, I am not well rested and am on edge all night waiting for the next episode.

Can anyone shed light on this?

[Carolyn R]

I'm sorry you're dealing with such a frustrating thing! We went through something similar with our daughter when she was around the same age. In doing some research, the term I came up with was "parasomnia".

http://www.sleepeducation.com/Article.aspx?id=495

Here's a link to an article with some basic information. It mentions that parasomnias can be triggered by a fever/illness, so it makes some sense that your daughter's problems began after being sick.

Unfortunately, I wish I had more advice. Our daughter did seem to outgrow the 'waking up screaming' fairly quickly. With her, we realized when she was waking like that at night, it was often because she had to go to the bathroom. We would scoop her up out of bed and place her on the potty (she would remain really out it) Once her bladder was empty she was able to calm again. Oddly enough however, the night sobbing/screaming wakes did seem to initially start after a bout of ear infection.

I realize my experience isn't totally relevant to what you're facing, but I hope I gave you a place to start.

Best of luck, and I hope this passes quickly.