Question
My son is eight and a half months old. For the past two nights, he has started crying around 11 p.m. while sleeping, with his eyes closed and not opening, just crying. He only calms down and falls asleep when picked up and shaken. Is this a case of night terrors? What are night terrors?
Answer
Hello: There should be no problem with your child’s condition. In fact, a baby’s crying can be categorized into two types: physiological and pathological. Physiological crying is common in the following situations:
- Hunger and thirst: This is the most common reason for a baby’s crying, often seen in infants under three months old. It could be due to insufficient breast milk, diluted formula, or not being fed sufficiently due to some reason during the previous meal. High environmental temperature and excessive sweating can cause the baby to cry continuously due to thirst.
- Cold, heat, dampness, itching, pain: Excessive cold or heat can cause discomfort in infants, but heat is more likely to cause restlessness than cold. If the diaper is wet (due to urine or stool) and not changed in time, the baby will cry for help. Babies may cry due to itching caused by eczema, excessive sweating, unclean skin, or due to worms crawling around the anal area causing abnormal itching.