Night Terrors

Liz342

Ok, I posted this on the preschool board because I asked about them on here recently and didn't get many responses- probably because not many people here have encountered them yet.  But what the heck, you guys know me so I will post here too just in case anyone else has info for me!

My 3 year old DD recently started having night terrors.  She has had maybe 5 of them in the past month or two.  She has mainly had them on days she missed her nap.  She is in the process of outgrowing her nap so it's not really something I can control.  I put her to bed a little earlier on nights she doesn't nap.

I am kind of confused because she went through a huge no-nap streak when she was about 2 and would be really overtired and cranky but never had a NT.  I am guessing it's just something she was too young for at that point.

We are dealing with them alright but everything I find says "my son grew out of them when he was 10" etc.  Does this mean she will likely have these for several more years?  Do some kids just have them over a short period of time and then they disappear?

They are starting to happen more frequently- maybe once a week.  Previous ones only lasted 5 minutes but tonight she had one that was probably 10 minutes and she would keep calming down and then start screaming again so I am afraid they are going to get worse.

I'm going to call the pedi tomorrow but am nervous because I read some things that said a lot of pedis are not very well versed with them.

Any info would be great!! TIA

LynsiBHM

From what I can tell, my son has been having them since he was about 3m old. He would randomly wake up from a nap or in the middle of the night screaming "like he's on fire" (different than his regular cries) and he didn't want anything. He wasn't hungry, had no fever, no gas....  I thought he was sick, I thought he was posessed (lol) I had NO IDEA what was going on. I started to realize that he wasn't himself during them... he'd open his eyes but didn't look like he was "in there" if that makes sense? It did tend to happen if he had a busy day, missed a nap, went to bed late, etc. My pedi's answer was "oh sometimes babies just do that"    We asked another pedi and got pretty much the same answer, so I did my own research. As it turns out, NT tend to be hereditary and they are related to sleepwalking.  My mom and brother are life long sleepwalkers. My mom said my brother did the same thing as a baby. He did "outgrow" the "sleep tantrums" as she calls them, but then a few years later he started sleepwalking.

Liz342

LynsiBHM:

From what I can tell, my son has been having them since he was about 3m old. He would randomly wake up from a nap or in the middle of the night screaming "like he's on fire" (different than his regular cries) and he didn't want anything. He wasn't hungry, had no fever, no gas....  I thought he was sick, I thought he was posessed (lol) I had NO IDEA what was going on. I started to realize that he wasn't himself during them... he'd open his eyes but didn't look like he was "in there" if that makes sense? It did tend to happen if he had a busy day, missed a nap, went to bed late, etc. My pedi's answer was "oh sometimes babies just do that"    We asked another pedi and got pretty much the same answer, so I did my own research. As it turns out, NT tend to be hereditary and they are related to sleepwalking.  My mom and brother are life long sleepwalkers. My mom said my brother did the same thing as a baby. He did "outgrow" the "sleep tantrums" as she calls them, but then a few years later he started sleepwalking.

Yes, I have had (very minor) sleep walking episodes as well as talking in my sleep a lot.  I also get those hallucinations where you see bugs and stuff so she probably got it from me!

LynsiBHM

Weird question, but is your LO potty training or potty trained? My brother said he finds that he sleepwalks the most when he has to pee in the middle of the night. It's like he wakes up enough to know he has to go, but never fully wakes up. My mom said she never would have potty trained him if she knew that would cause it (he's 33 now hahaha)

sometimesalwayschaotic

My DD was having them when she was around 6 month old.  They are terrible!  Hers were being caused by medicine I was taking.  I took Singulair for allergies which can cause night terrors in children.  If you son is on any meds, I would search the internet for any reports of night terrors.  Other than that it can just be something that happens and nothing can be done.  I hope they stop soon!

RoseandLevi

DS has had night terrors since about 3-4 months old. Sometime not picking him up works better than trying to sooth him. I just let him stay in bed and rub his back and talk soothing to him.

He has more night terrors when he's teething or over tired. It has to be a special kind of over tired though. It isn't when he's cranky from being overtired. It only happens when he's so over tired he just wants to stay awake and then falls asleep quickly when he lays down. (I hope that made sense)

My husband also sleep walks when he's stressed and after a bad dream. It has in the past helped DS to keep a sippy cup of water in his bed and during a night terror he likes to snuggle with it. (I don't know why but he chooses the cup over his lovey every time.) 

I hope that you find something that helps. I think it's in the air this week. DS has been having night terrors all week. It breaks my heart to see him so upset with nothing I can do to help.