bird hallucinations in 3-year-old boy

My 3-year-old son woke with what I thought was a nightmare of butterflies on him, but he did not go back to sleep afterward and would not be comforted.  An hour and a half later, he started to relax, then leapt up in terror because a butterfly had fallen on him.  Under normal conditions, he is not afraid of butterflies and laughs if they land on him.  Again, he had trouble relaxing and he didn't want me touching him.  He said it hurt.  I ended up having to turn on the light, but he continued to see (and I think hear) things.  With the lights on, the hallucination became a bird, which he described in great detail, but which disappeared when I carried him to the blank wall where he said the bird was.  He was talking coherently and responding appropriately to me, but was very agitated, talking loudly and incessantly.  Including the two "nightmares", he had a total of six episodes between midnight and 10:00 a.m. and did not sleep at all in that time.  I took him to the doctor but she just told me to watch him, that if he had more hallucinations, I should bring him right in and they would do some tests.  

[margypops]

Could he have seen something like this on TV or a computer, has he older siblings may have shown him or talked to him about them ?Sometimes young children do see things they dont understand then dream about them .Is he at  daycare could there have been any story telling of butterflies there .

[allmymarbles]

I wish I could get into children's heads. I would publish a book and make millions (or billions). My son had an on-an-off hallucination about evil potatoes. He would get scared and wind up in bed with me. He got over it eventually. There never was a reasonable explanation. Give your boy a little time. It may just go away, and you may never know what caused it. Ain't motherhood wonderful. (Actually it is.)

[margypops]

hahahh you are so right allmymarbles I could have also made billions ..lol and yup motherhood is great 'most' of the time