does anyone have any experience with night terrors???

Jerayskin

We brought DD to the doctor yesterday bc she hasn't been wanting to sleep and has been waking up screaming for hours every night. DH and I are absolutely exhausted, she wakes up and is absolutely inconsolable and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. The doctor told us yesterday that she is having night terrors and the only thing we can do is wake her up before she wakes herself up, we need to interrupt the sleep cycle. Does anyone have any advice/experience TIA. I seriously don't know how much more of this I can take!!

posvane

I coworker's daughter had night terrors for a while. And, I remember her saying it was so hard because she felt like she couldn't do anything to help. She did say that her pedi told her to limit the amount of playing her daughter had before bed. For example, no romper room - over stimulation (tv, or normal play).

Good luck. I am sure it's getting stressful and I hope you can get some better answers!

groovygrl

I thought you weren't supposed to actually try to wake them up but just soothe them as best you can until they wake up on their own? i might be wrong though & I'm sure everyone has a different approach.

Anyway, our daughter has had them a few times & each time it has been when she has been overstimulated at bedtime, playing too much & getting all revved up.  The only thing that we were ablet o do to calm her was to run a warm bath with minimal light & sit her in it. She sat pretty quietly each time (I wouldnt have done that if she were screaming & thrashing in there) and just sort of stared at the water & would put her hands in & I'd give her one toy to hold but she wouldnt respond when we said her name but usually after about 5 min of me just gently pouring warm water over her shoulders/belly she would suddenly look up at me and give me a big smile...and then would want to play for real.

We talked to pedi about it & she gave us a handout that said that some recent research by some dr showed that interrupting the sleep cycle around the time it happens (it was pretty much at the same time each time for us) by turning the child in the crib to wake them ever so slightly & readjust the sleep cycle could help prevent it, b/c apparently it tends to happen at a particular point in the cycle. We did that for several nights after we'd had it happen a few times and didn't have it happen any of htose nights & we've been really cognizant of making sure she doesnt overstimulate at bedtime since.

Good luck. It is exhausting, scary & all around crappy for everyone  

Sammy-Mae

When DD was having them we were told that she wasn't getting enough sleep.  Obviously she has been waking up a lot duh.  We were told to put back one of the missing naps.  As soon as she started making up the lost sleep during the day, the night terrors stopped and we all started getting sleep.  True night terrors are like sleep walking.  You shouldn't wake up someone who is having one.  All you can do is wait to see if they will wake up on their own and then put them back to sleep. 

Jerayskin

Thank you ladies! Our pediatrician didn't really go into details about how to handle them and we have been doing just about everything wrong! Hopefully tonight we will have some luck. 

realisticdreams

Peyton's NT's (night terrors) are usually triggered by her having a much later than normal nap.  

She has had them since around 6 months old, the first one we almost put her in the car to go to the hospital bc we had NO idea what was wrong with her.

Sometimes her eyes are open while she's screaming but her eyes don't move or track, sometimes they are closed.  

Her scream is always the kind of scream that sounds like her arm is being cut off from the bone.  

Our pedi wanted neuro to handle it and our neuro said it wasn't neurological. So..we just try and deal with it the best we can.  I do pick her up & just hold her bc otherwise..it goes on and on and on..for hours.  Until she's red, sweating and hardly breathing.   It's very exhausting.  

Also hers usually happen within 1-2 hours of falling asleep, 3 max.   

angelproberts

Whatever you do don't wake her up! I did the first time Brooklyn had a night terror and her body started trembling and shaking (remnant of a seizure) which completely feaked me out and I ended up taking her to the ER. The doctore said that when we sleep our bodies are paralyzed and since I woke her up her body was still paralyzed even though she was awake. Very scary. Since then she has had one or two and I just hold and rock her until she calms down. HTH

Idhreniel

Everything I've read says you shouldn't wake them up - just make sure they aren't hurting themselves.  Once it has happened a few times you'll be able to recognize when she's having one, as opposed to just having a nightmare.

With my son, (who otherwise is very good about sleeping through the night) he would wake up about 2 1/2 hours after I had put him down, screaming, and if I walked into the room he would look right at me but not "see" me.  The first couple of times it happened I didn't know what was wrong and the only thing that would get him to snap out of it was running tap water over his hands.  Now I just make sure he's not banging his head against the crib or anything, and after 10 minutes he'll suddenly stop screaming and go back to sleep.  It goes from ear piercing screams to absolute silence.  Still freaks me out every time.

Like some of the previous posters said, lack of sleep during the day seemed to trigger it.

cranberry27

This article got me through night terrors:

https://www.drgreene.com/qa/what-are-night-terrors

I agree - you do NOT wake them up!  I tried to wake up DS the first few nights and it was awful.  It was more than an hour each time and he just stared straight through me and screamed and flailed in panic.  It made it so much worse.  We had to turn on all the lights, put him in our bed, and turn on the TV to finally snap him out of it.  We started following the article's advice and got through it in a few days.  It was hard, but the alternative was SO MUCH WORSE. 

maryverrecchia

FWIW, I am currently studying child psychology and the general consensus is to put the child to bed as normal for a few nights and time the time it takes from sleep onset until the night terror begins. Then, after establishing if there is a time pattern, gently waking the child about 5+minutes before the predicted onset of the terror. Don't wake the child completely, just possibly give the child a drink of water or warm milk and put them back to bed. Children normally get night terrors while they are very young but most tend to diminish or go away complete by age 5+. If all else fails and it is causing a disruption in her lifestyle, take her for a secondary opinion from either a neurologist and/or child psychologist. Best of luck to you.