North Carolina Babies

Night terrors?

The last two nights Natalie has woken up crying in her bed around 3-4 a.m.  Usually if she wakes up in the middle of the night she'll just fuss a little and go back to sleep but this has been all out crying, not just fussiness, that she doesn't calm from until I go up and rock with her for a few minutes.  Then she's fine and asks to go back to her bed to go to sleep (well, asks by saying "nigh nigh").  Nothing else seems wrong and she wakes up in the morning in a fine mood.  Do you think this could be what I've heard referred to as night terrors?  Anyone else's toddler have this happen?
Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers
Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Re: Night terrors?

  • Reading on babycenter, I might just be more nightmares than night terrors since she's not unconsolable, etc. when I go in.
    Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • J has night terrors, except he goes from completely silent asleep to an all out scream. It startles me every time & I literally jump out of bed! At least she'll go back to sleep in her bed, if J has them he will NOT go back into his crib. One of us has to sleep with him b/c if we put him back in his crib he will scream the rest of the night, which is just not worth it for anyone. It's sort of hard to describe, but this screaming is like an "I'm really scared" scream rather than an "I'm mad & trying to get my way" scream, if you know what I mean.

    Hope it gets better soon! 

  • Loading the player...
  • imageraceyrae:
    Reading on babycenter, I might just be more nightmares than night terrors since she's not unconsolable, etc. when I go in.

    I think you're right.  Eli has had night terrors before and they are very different from what you're describing.  With NT, they really aren't awake, even though their eyes are open.  It's very scary.  And they'll fight you and not want to be held.  The first time it happened we didn't know what was going on or how to handle them, and we did all the wrong things.  Afterwards I did some research and figured it out and he doesn't have them anymore.  It was like the lights were on, but nobody was home.  And he didn't recognize us at all.

    Sometimes when Eli is teething he'll scream out like that suddenly too.  But he can usually put himself back to sleep after he finds his paci, or I can easily get him back down.  It usually coincides with teething, so that's why I think it's that and not nightmares.  I'm not sure what you can do if you think it's nightmares.  But babycenter helped me alot with the terrors, so I'm sure they have good advice about nightmares too.

    image

    Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • I think Liam has nightmares sometimes too.  He'll wake screaming hysterically sounding completely terrified.  He can't get resettled unless I come in and stay with him while he falls back asleep.  I figure at their age, the only nightmare I can imagine them having is not being able to find mommy or daddy, right?  I mean, they don't even know about monsters under the bed yet! :)
    Rachel & Bill 9-10-05, Liam Andrew born 5-30-08 (formerly lakebride05)
    imageBaby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Like the other posters said, I think night terrors are worse than what you described. Ashley gets them sometimes, they normally happen when she is overtired and falls asleep right away. She will then wake up an hour later SCREAMING and nothing I do will help. It is almost like I am not there, like she is still asleep, even though her eyes are half open. I hate it, but luckily it does not happen very often. The only thing I can do is wait until it passes, which is really hard to do. Hope it gets better for you soon!
  • When its a night terror, the child is not really awake and can not be comforted. I have experienced this a couple of times with Kathryn and it was terrifying! She was crying and screaming, completely inconsolable. At first she was thrashing around almost like she was having a seizure. Then I was holding her and rocking her and she just kept screaming "Mommy Mommy Mommy Where Mommy" and she was still not awake. She never did really wake up, but eventually just stopped and after a few moments I woke her up to make sure she was ok, and she had NO idea what just happened, she said she was snuggling with Mommy in Mommy's bed. In the morning she has NO idea anything happened overnight. It is by far one of the most terrifying experiences and I was so frightened the first time, it took me FOREVER to get back to sleep. Typically, a night terror happens earlier in the night, within the first couple of hours of being asleep. I'm guessing Natalie might have had a night mare, or maybe was awakened by a strange noise. Sorry you and she had to go through that!
    image
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"