My 6-month-old is getting really cranky in the past few feeks. At times, he would cry all of a sudden while asleep. Is this just a phase?

This happens every so often with my daughter also (though not as often now that she's past 1). I chalked it up to teething (or bad dreams?) but usually if it's difficult for them to go back to sleep, they give you clues and you just go through the process of elimination. Last night my daughter had a hard time falling back asleep and was scratching at her shirt. I thought it was because there was some water spilled on it (so I inserted a towel). Later on I realized it was because the bumps on her skin were itchy. Massaged lotion onto the rough patches and she fell right back asleep.