2.5 yr old nightmares

[sugahbee]

My son hasn't always been the best sleeper, we've gotten into a good groove for the past year or so, with the occasional nap/sleep strike.  But he's screaming, talking and crying a lot at night, and DH will go in to rub his back, and find he's still asleep. (If I go in, he wakes up and wants to rock back to sleep) He seems well-rested when we get up, but I'm not!! I can't sleep through the screams, even if he can!   I'm assuming it's just nightmares, some nights are worse than others, but lately it's every night, several times.  To make matters worse, he just had an injury to his mouth with some dental trauma, so Dentist said no pacifier (which he only used at sleep time), and he had to quit it "cold turkey."  He's done pretty well, considering, but I'm now almost expecting that every cry and whimper will require my attention for him to return to sleep.  Long story short (too late?) I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with toddler nightmares and if anything helped.  

thanks, mamas!

[newmamalizzy]

My DD is 2.5 also and seems to have had a huge increase in dreams over the past month.  She talks in her sleep a LOT, and often wakes up crying.  I was thinking "nightmares" in the traditional sense at first, but then I noticed that when she wakes up crying she's saying things like "I wanted juice!!!! Mommy won't give me juice."  It's very much the same type of stuff that makes her wail and cry during the day - but in her dreams.  So, I'm just trying harder than ever to keep our days peaceful and give her as much autonomy as I can.  It does seem like calm days beget calmer nights.