Episodes of crying throughout the night - what does that mean?

[Anonymous]

My 18 month old is hopefully getting his sleep back on track after several illnesses. However, every couple of hours at night, he's been loudly crying for a few minutes. Not screaming, which is what he was doing before, but loud wails/cries. He stops after a few minutes and goes back to sleep. (I, however, am completely woken up by these episodes!)

Any guesses as to why this would be happening? Is it a teething pain issue? Too hot or cold? Bad dreams?

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing teething.

[Anonymous]

In my experience, that's always teething. You can tell by touch if the baby is too hot or cold, and that doesn't wake them up crying so much. Maybe the molars are moving down, so you aren't seeing other signs just yet? Try giving Motrin before bedtime tonight and see if that ends these episodes. He must be hurting, poor guy ... and poor Mom! Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. (OP here). He was just at the ped last week and he said it's not likely molars are coming (little guy only has 4 teeth on top and 3 on bottom) and he didn't see any other strong signs of teething. I guess perhaps stuff could be moving around in there anyway?

[Anonymous]

Another vote for teething.

From what I've read teething can be a loooong process. So, maybe he's got something going on that you can't see.

Another thing might be gas/stomach issues. DS does that sometimes (wakes up) if he's had a new food, or something overly salty. It seems to be related to stomach issues. Because the next morning, he'll have a strange poop. Maybe make note if he eats anything unusual? And see if it could be related.

[Anonymous]

OP, is your child actually awake when crying, do you know? I don't think he's too old to be crying in his sleep, not conscious.

[Anonymous]

could be night terrors...my dd had them for about a year and she would cry in her sleep most nights. not great for my sleep, but she didn't even know it was happening.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I can't tell if he is crying in his sleep or if he's awake -- I worry that going in there will make the situation worse, so I don't go in (I give him five or six minutes at least to see if he'll calm down, and last night at least he did). He definitely could still be asleep, or half-asleep at least.