Waking up from Naps Angry

Updated on November 06, 2015
J.C. asks from Seattle, WA
17 answers

Hi Moms,

My 2 year old has recently started waking up from her naps (sleeps 2-2.5 hours) really angry and crying. She is sweaty and crying hysterically for about 30 minutes after she wakes up and there is nothing we can do to console or distract her. It was happening only occasionally but now it is starting to get more frequent. She sleeps 11 hours at night and wakes up happy in the mornings.

Any ideas on what may be going on? Have any of you experienced something similar?

Thanks!

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P.R.

answers from Grand Rapids on

Yes we went though this same thing, people told me its called night terrors and they are actually still sleeping. I was scary at first because she wouldnt stop crying and screaming, the only thing I have found that has worked is giving her a drink of cold water..try that it worked for us. Good Luck

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D.S.

answers from Grand Rapids on

J. ; i would try to not give her naps, they may not be for her, see how she does without one, she may be fine, some kids dont need them, adn it only gets them depressed sometimes they feel like they missed stuff, and sometmies its just hard to wake up adn she may be a bit confused as to wehre she is or what day it is, it could just be her awareness of life, i would try her without and see how she does, other wise she may just felt like she was left out, and mssed you , yet does not know how to express it, either way sounds like she is pretty happy and content keep up the good work, D. s

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C.G.

answers from Detroit on

My son is 5 and he has done this for a long time. For a while it was frustrating, but we finally figured it out. When he gets up he gets a snack and a drink (it doesn't have to be much, just a few goldfish and a little milk for example) and he gets a few minutes to enjoy his snack and be left alone and he will come out of it. I think that after napping so hard for a couple of hours, and sweating so much they are a little dehydrated and/or have a little low bloodsugar. Hope this helps!
C.

2 moms found this helpful
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G.B.

answers from Detroit on

Try to comfort her all you can and ease the transition. My 3-yr old granddaughter does this if you have to wake her sooner,and we don't know why. Maybe you can shorten either the nap of the nighttime sleeping, but I don't know if that's the problem. Sorry. Some kids just do this crazy stuff.

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K.M.

answers from Detroit on

Sounds almost like a night fright terror. She is sleeping but really doesn't look like she is and than she just wakes up. My pediatrician called it a night fright terror and than again we sometimes calls it sleep walking. my son does it occasionally now but use to do it all the time. Hes six. I would when she starts tell her to wake up calmly and make sure she is in her room and try to talk her down with a quiet calm tone and maybe rub her back if she will let you touch her or ask if you can hold her. What ever you do donot shake her to wake her because it will make the sistuation she is dreaming or reliving worse. she has to do it in a calm atmostfier. also not saying you are or your husband is. But try not to yell or raise your voice. If theres alot of yelling during the day it seemed like thats when my son would flip out more. Like it not necessarily be toward him I would be yelling at his sister or I would just be stressed and not yelling at really anyone but myself. Than he would flip out that night so I started doing things to change and relax more so he now does it if he gets upset or sometimes he just does it just because we don't really know what strikes it to happen or what is involved. Some times I thought it was because of disagreements he has had in school or with his sister but that doesn't have nothing to do with it he would still have them even though nothing happened. So good luck but I think it will work itself out. If your real concern talk to your pediatrician.

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C.Q.

answers from Detroit on

Hello, and this to shall pass. That being said I have gone through a similar thing. My daughter now 5. She no longer takes naps however if she goes to bed overtired she will wake from 1-2 hours into her sleep & be histarical. She will be so upset she makes herself vomit. Sometimes she will be wandering around or just screeming & babbling. Sweating up a storm. These are night terrors. I even took her to the dr to make sure nothing else was wrong.
It is a developmetal thing. Normal. They say let them cry it out - leave them be. However I can NOT do that. I go in and try to console her lay sown with her. Try to hold her hand if she is wandering. Speak calm & soft. Sing. Sometimes I can't even get her to lay back down. Thank God for daddies. He will come in & pick her up, craddle her. I will usually sing - anything to make her feel better. They say (if it is night terrors) they will out grow them by the age 12. at one time it would happen 5-7 times a week we are now down to 1 every 6 weeks. It does get better.
Just remember they are not doing this to you. It is something happening to them. They don't like it either. If it was happeing to you, you wouldn't like it either.
Hope this helps. Give a little extra (I know sometimes it's hard) of yourself. Compassion goes a long way. Kids remember good things with their parents. Give them good memories & lots of hugs.
Cyndi

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J.C.

answers from Detroit on

Maybe something is waking her up that is scaring her. There are a lot more noises during the day than at night or in the morning. Maybe she hears lawnmowers, airplanes, a washing machine, etc.

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J.B.

answers from Detroit on

My son does this occasionally too. I used to try and console him, but that seemed to just make it worse. Now, I usually let him cry in his room until he's calmed down. Usually, that works the best and once he comes out, he's my happy little boy again.
Good luck!

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T.P.

answers from Saginaw on

my daughter did the same thing. I couldn't figure out what the problem was but it passed within a couple weeks.

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K.R.

answers from Detroit on

My son did this a lot at that age (bedtime, naptime, carnaps..), and still occassionally now (he's 3 and a half), The doctors best guess is bad dreams, or possibly night terrors. If her eyes are still closed while it's happening, they advise -not- making contact with them, just standing by in case they wake up. Something along the lines of waking a child mid night terror will only make it worse.

The worst will (hopefully) pass soon for you. It only lasted about 2 months for us, at it's worst.

C.D.

answers from Detroit on

J. -

I don't have any advice - I just wanted to encourage you and say HANG IN THERE! My son, who is 20 months old, does the same thing. He sleeps about 12 hrs/night, 2 hrs nap in the daytime, and sometimes wakes from his nap crying and angry. I've tried rocking with him, having a snack ready when he wakes up, playing with him...Recently, I've tried treating it like a tantrum. I let him lay in the middle of the floor where I can see him while I fold laundry or watch TV or whatever. I've noticed that he looks at me for some type of response and if he doesn't get it then he kind of turns over and screams more until an interesting toy catches his eye, then he just goes and plays and boom, fit over. I also stopped running into his room when he wakes up screaming his head off because I think he expects me to come running in. Of course by now, I can tell the difference between his tantrum-type cries and his genuine help-me cries.

Rarely, he wakes in the middle of the night, crying and acting kind of hysterical, but when we go to check on him, his eyes are closed like he's still sleeping. We believe it's his version of night terrors or something like that, so we just comfort him and he generally wakes up a few minutes later looking confused and sleepy. Then we can lay him back down once he calms down and he goes right back to sleep.

Hang in there, honey! I don't think there's anything wrong.

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L.O.

answers from Detroit on

yes my daughter did this.. it is some developmental thing.

they are processing something in their minds or getting ready to make a developmental leap..

It goes away...

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D.D.

answers from Detroit on

my son still does this at age 3 1/2. I usually cuddle him and have a snack ready. SOmetimes it works (usually the food works the best). If I ask him -Are you hungry? He will say no. but If I just have a small snack ready, it disappears and he is back to his happy self soon.

good luck!

ps - I have twins, and my daughter has never done this, so who knows.

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B.S.

answers from Grand Rapids on

My daughter is 2.5 yrs old and kind of went though a similar phase, she was super, super cranky and crying instead of angry though... after she fell asleep for her nap I would put some books and toys in her crib and not get her right away when I heard she was awake.

Also I would get her at times but if she started being really cranky and crying I would put her back in her crib and tell her that I will come get her when she isn't cranky anymore. I would go in every few minutes and ask if she was done and sometimes she would tell me no and other times she would say yes and I would pick her up and we would go on with our day.

Kind of a hard stage!

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N.A.

answers from Daytona Beach on

I have the same problem with my 2 year old boy .but he does it only in his afternoon naps , I wonder why ?

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A.I.

answers from Lansing on

Hey J. i would try waking her up after a hour instead of letting her wake up on her own that what i do with my little one.she would wake up mad and crying dripping with sweat .put a small fan on low to

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C.J.

answers from Lansing on

J.,

My son is 7 now, but when he was about the same age as yours is now, he started doing the same thing. He would wake up after every nap crying and screaming, but couldn't tell me what was wrong. The crying would cease pretty quickly and after about 1/2 hour of alone time he would be back to his happy self.

6 months later things changed and he gave up his naps all together. Instead of naps we did "quiet time" in his bedroom for about 1 hour so we both could have a chance for peace a quiet in the middle of the afternoon.

Hang in there!

-C. J.

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