My 2 1/2 year old son wakes up in the middle of the night screaming for me. Is he old enough for bad dreams?

Answer 1

he is at the age where he is begiinning to be able to "pretend" so that means he is at the age where he is able to picture things in his mind when they are not there just by remebering how the object looks. ( i hope you understood that) so yes he can have bad dreams but help him get thru them independantly. keep him in his room and show him nothing is wrong or he will become too dependant

Answer 2

My daughter once had a nightmare when she was about 6 months old. She just woke up screaming for no reason and we couldnt get her to calm down for a while so I assume it was a nightmare at least. Shes 19 months old now and has a nightmare every now and then. She'll fall asleep and when she has a nightmare she'll start making weird facial expressions and says things like "No" or "Want it" in her sleep. I assume shes dreaming of doing something me and daddy dont want her to do and we're saying no to her and she just takes it as a bad dream.

Answer 3

Yes, my daughter did the same thing. I checked with the dr. and he said it is normal. He reminded also that what is like a true nightmare to us adults is not that to a 2 yr old. as they can be startled by much smaller things. He will grow out of it. I did make sure she had her favorite bear and left the closet light on at night. I know this is upsetting to us as parents seeing our little ones so scared, but it will pass in time. Best of luck.

Answer 4

Yes. Try getting him a cup of water and a cool damp wash cloth. Is he in a stressful situation at all? Do you have any disagreements in front of him? Are you stressed out yourself?

I'm a little perplexed by this coming in the middle of the night. Seems the kind of thing that's most likely to happen when he's only been asleep a short while.

Answer 5

My daughter does the same thing and she just turned 3. They are definitely old enough for bad dreams. My daughter often describes her dreams to me.

Answer 6

oh yeah, definately. If he talks well, ask him to try to describe his dream. He may be seeing something scary on tv and he is thinking of it in his sleep. My friends son was afraid of the Jeopardy theme song and would cry whenever he heard it. He would even have bad dreams about it.

Answer 7

No no one is ever old enough to have bad dreams .He's a child and children don't know that bad dreams are fake. I think you should talk to him and tell him that all his bad dreams are not real and that he shouldn't be afraid of them.

Answer 8

of course they do, its how you handle them, assure your child that it is alright, watch what he or she eats, like sugar etc. @ an hour or so before bedtime calmin him down by reading to him or sing a little bit just get into orginized pattern to make feel safe and secure, and also is there alot of stress hoing on at home? any changes can really frightn some children, it might not be bad dreams at all, how about a big boys nite lite in his room just be flexable, no one knows your son like you do.

Answer 9

Chances are he's growing--he's experience new things and it's scaring him resulting in nightmares.

A child as young as 3 months can have nightsmares, if you can believe that.

Personally, I wait 10 minutes and then go in to make sure it's going to develop a new habit. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just let him cry it out.

That being said, you are his mother. You KNOW his cries and you KNOW when he's seriously scared or sick. Go in when you hear that cry, but if his cry is just for attention? I would let him cry for 10 minutes and then go in.

Answer 10

I don't think that there is a specific age to have nightmares. Since he's so young and hasn't experienced the world as long as you have then he probably substitues what he thought was scary for a weird image. He's probably frightened by it.