Night terrors

twohunts · March 2015

I'm pretty sure DD has had two night terrors in the past
month. The first time it happened it was about 1.5 hours after we put her down
for the night. She woke up screaming. I noticed right away that it didn't sound
like her normal temporary wake up cry. I went to check on her and she was on
her belly just lying there screaming, like she had just gotten a shot. I picked
her up and tried consoling her, but she still screamed. Her body was limp like
she was asleep. I had DH come in and hold her (he's a paramedic/fireman) and he
checked her breathing. She was OK there. After about 2 minutes of him hold her,
lights on, saying soothing things to her, she quieted down. She seemed to fall
back to sleep so he put her down in the crib, but that must have woken her up.
So she cried a normal "hey, you woke me up, now you have to comfort
me" cry; which I of course did. I rocked her back to sleep for about 10
minutes. She had another episode about three nights ago. I looked it up and the
description seems to fit night terrors rather than a typical nightmare (only
that most night terrors happen in older children). I've had night terrors in
the past (many years ago) and so has my sister. They can be hereditary. Plus,
they happen in the first part of the night, rather than later on like a
nightmare. Also, she can’t be comforted – like she would during/after a
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Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone else's child has experienced
this and how they helped comfort them. Some of the information I read said not
to disturb them, but there is no way I'm letting DD just lay there screaming as
a result of being scared transitioning from REM to non-REM sleep.

SmallCityLiving · March 2015

My DS has had two in the last five months. It always happens early in the night and when he's overtired. We just hold him and pass him back and forth. I know it's a night terror bc he won't nurse and his cry is definitely different. Usually I cry along with him bc his last 20 minutes and it's awful. I've heard you might as well just leave them since they are still asleep but I can't leave him so I just rock and pass him off to DH when I get tired from the thrashing. It's awful but thankfully ours have been infrequent.

Mport90 · March 2015

I believe my son was having them last week he would wake up an hr after going to sleep screaming bloody murder. I was nervous so went and got him and he seemed confused. Can't say for sure but I think that's what it was..

AmberLiz99 · March 2015

My oldest used to have these as a baby. There is no way I could hold him safely during one so I would stand there and pat his back till he either calmed down or woke up. They are really hard to get through