Can a Toddler have nightmares?

I would say yes. Yena, my 18 month old toddler had a nightmare last night.

She was crying at midnight, she looked so frightened at something and her legs and hands were freezing while lying sideways facing me. She looked really scared. I told husband to turn on the lights, reassuring her that we were beside her and rubbing her back seemed not soothing. She cried while hugging her favorite pillow.

I knew at once it’s a nightmare. So I searched and found out that it really is a nightmare. On why she suddenly woke up crying and seemed scared, the reason was the mouse we kept on teasing her before we put her to sleep.

According to babycenter, Toddler's nightmares are most likely linked to something that happened just before bed, like listening to a story that scared her or watching an upsetting show on TV. I felt so guilty that we were teasing her about that mouse that we heard at our ceiling, and we kept on telling her to be still as the mouse will come near her if she doesn't. Now i have to buy her a book that will be soothing for a bedtime stories. I wonder where can i get a copy of Margaret Wise Brown's classic Goodnight Moon. No more mouse scaring this time.