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From what age and why does a baby have nightmares?
Nightmares sometimes occur from the age of one year, to become commonplace from 18 months … Note that they are absolutely essential for baby’s mental balance: many psychologists ensure thatthey allow the child to relieve guilt and release his unconscious desires.
But for our child, the dream is sometimes difficult to distinguish from reality. Rather than laughing in his face when he asks us to check that the big bad wolf isn’t hiding in the sock drawer, let’s try to get him explainthat this is just a bad dream and let’s ask him to tell it.
From what age does a baby have night terrors?
In the same ages, night terrors can occur, generally at the beginning of the night unlike nightmares, and this can sometimes be quite impressive. : our baby is agitated, screaming, sweating and his heart rate accelerates… These episodes can last from two to thirty minutes. Most of the time, our child calms down and continues to sleep like nothing, without remembering anything the next day.
Even though he sometimes has his eyes open, baby is well and truly sleeping, and we must avoid waking him up. Early childhood specialists recommend in these cases to stay with the baby to ensure his safety, to put our hand on his forehead, his cheek or his belly if possible, to speak very softly and to try to lay it back down in its usual position.
Why does my child wake up screaming?
The reasons for our children’s bad dreams and nightmares are countless. Those of night terrors can be linked to hereditary, physical (asthma, fever flare, sleep apnea, etc.), stress or a specific event, or taking medication.