Tonight our 17 month old boy, who usually sleeps from 8pm to 7am, woke at 11:30pm crying. Within a minute mom went to see him, and he did not react in the usual "you're here!" calming down way... he kept crying. I joined them a minute later, and told mom to take him out of the dark room. In the light, we saw his face was swollen, his lips were swollen and drooping on the left side, he seemed to be holding his left arm, and his eyes were glazed over and looking through us, not tracking anything or blinking. Just crying uncontrollably. His temperature seemed normal.

We tried calming him down, offering milk, but he refused even his pacifier, which is his favorite thing on the planet.

I told my wife we're going to the emergency room, as the droopy lip mainly freaked me out. We strapped him into the car and he started to mellow a bit. This is 15 minutes after he woke up crying. As I started driving he mellowed more, and stopped crying. Slowly he stabilized. As he came back to normal, we just drove around more, and after 15 more minutes decided to see if taking him into the all night deli would cheer him up. It did, to some extent, and he even accepted a bit of ice cream. But, he was not back to his normal self... like he would not point to his nose when I asked "where's your nose?"... something that he normally does no problem...

We drove back home and now he is sleeping peacefully... still, really freaky!

Did he just hyperventilate, have a nightmare, or is it more serious?

Why did you not go to the emergency room. You said his face was droopy?

Thanks... At that point, he had returned to normal. No more droopy lip. Also, it was my impression that it was droopy, but he was crying so much... I know the emergency room, they would have laughed us out of there if I bring in a cute baby and complain that he was crying for 30 minutes and now he's normal.
Also, we got through to the pediatrician, who told us if he's back to normal it's our call, but he'd give a bit of benadryl in case it was some kind of allergy. When we got home, the little guy was sleepy, no swelling anymore, no drooping, not his normal happy self but close to it. Now he's sleeping quite peacefully...

I'm happy he was back to normal. Could have been a night terror. My son has them a lot, especially when he had an overstimulating experience. He is now 51/2 and still has them.

What made me think of this was that he seemed unresponsive to you, next time comfort him dtsy close and don't try to wake him. He will be fine

Like the above post says it could have been a nightmare,these can really upset children especially of that age.

Your son is around the age when something called night terrors occur. The swelling of the face and droopy lip was most likely caused by the crying. Sounds like nothing to worry about at this point.

Thanks for your input. I think parents gave this phenomenon the name "night terrors" because it's so terrible to see your kid go through this.

I appreciate your answering me, and do feel relieved that it's nothing serious. Today he was his charming little self, and I felt even more grateful for being blessed with this incredible kid.

Thanks.

If this happens again.. please see your pediatrician. There are several kinds of seizures, and other problems that he could have. I am not saying this is one, but it never hurts to have a check-up. I don't want to worry you but it is better to be safe then sorry. I. like you, would let one time go, but not 2 times. It is the lethargy toward you that worries me. Also the fact that he just wasn't his old self for a small amount of time.
I can see where the ER was not a necessary at this time but if it happens again... get a check up.

Isabelle, you are totally right. I thought about a possible seizure when I watched our little guy go through this. Especially, as you said, after he seemed to have forgotten some things he had already learned for a while after the crying... also, when I read about night terrors, one article referred to the actual night terror as a "storm of neural emissions" which sure sounds like a seizure to me! I appreciate your thoughts. We did tell our pediatrician about this, and will keep a close eye on it. We also are much more careful to give him a more regular sleep schedule. This all happened on the heels of losing an important family member and all the stress, the family in town, and a lot of chaos... our poor little guy! Thanks Isabelle

I have a 19 month old daughter and also has just started waking and crying. My sister who has just finished a course in child pyscology reassured me around that age is when they start havig nightmares. There's no hand book on kids as she hasn't any but you did the right thing to just be there when it happens... x

Just to clarify. A night terror is different than a nightmare.

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Originally Posted by Vlntnpop

Tonight our 17 month old boy, who usually sleeps from 8pm to 7am, woke at 11:30pm crying. Within a minute mom went to see him, and he did not react in the usual "you're here!" calming down way... he kept crying. I joined them a minute later, and told mom to take him out of the dark room. In the light, we saw his face was swollen, his lips were swollen and drooping on the left side, he seemed to be holding his left arm, and his eyes were glazed over and looking through us, not tracking anything or blinking. Just crying uncontrollably. His temperature seemed normal.

We tried calming him down, offering milk, but he refused even his pacifier, which is his favorite thing on the planet.

I told my wife we're going to the emergency room, as the droopy lip mainly freaked me out. We strapped him into the car and he started to mellow a bit. This is 15 minutes after he woke up crying. As I started driving he mellowed more, and stopped crying. Slowly he stabilized. As he came back to normal, we just drove around more, and after 15 more minutes decided to see if taking him into the all night deli would cheer him up. It did, to some extent, and he even accepted a bit of ice cream. But, he was not back to his normal self... like he would not point to his nose when I asked "where's your nose?" ... something that he normally does no problem...

We drove back home and now he is sleeping peacefully... still, really freaky!

Did he just hyperventilate, have a nightmare, or is it more serious?

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If this happens again get him to the hospital ASAP just to be safe he can't tell you what's wrong:(

The same thing happen to my grandson twice. He is undergoing tests now. Did you ever find out what it was? Please email me at [email protected]. We are very anxious to find out what's going on Please email me!