Nightmares?

smb722

Does anyone's LO have nightmares? 

I think my LO had one yesterday...

He awoke from his nap seeming disoriented and hysterical. When I went in to get him, I flipped on the light (I just assumed he was up from his nap a bit premature and that's why he was crying) and picked him up out of his crib as I normally do. He was inconsolable for 30 minutes. I mean, hysterically crying, generally seeming frightened. He kept wanting to get out of my arms and then wanting me to hold him so he could put his head down on my shoulder. He even went and stood in the corner of the room as if I was the enemy at one point (but didn't resist when I went to get him to try and hold/comfort him).

I finally brought him in my bedroom into my bed where he calmed down and started playing with the remote control to the tv and within a few minutes was back to his normal self.  It was absolutely terrifying. We've had a few incidents during the night where he'd wake up hysterical and when I would look at him on the monitor, he would be sitting up, again, looking disoriented, so my husband would go in and lay him back down and rub his back and he'd go right back to sleep.

My husband had really awful night terrors as a child and I'm beginning to assume DS has some form of them or nightmares as well.  It's not consistently happening, but it has happened enough times for me to take notice.  DH thinks I made it worse during naptime because I didn't soothe him back to sleep, I went in to get him thus waking him out of his dream which he apparently could have still been in even though he seemed to be awake. I had no idea obviously, now I know to try to lay him back down in the future.

I will be asking the pedi about this all at his 18 month visit but in the meantime, just curious if anyone has had any experience with this issue? It was very scary for me to not be able to console DS and makes me sad for him if this is indeed the case that he will be dealing with this night terror issue.

Thanks so much if you made it this far!!

smb722

Kimbus22:

Joey had a couple weeks in a row where he did that most nights.  I just consoled him and it stopped on it's own after a while.  I'm thankful for that since I don't know how I would have dealt with it if it were a long term thing.

Both of my brothers had severe night terrors as young kid and ended up being medicated for a while, which did help.  But they had to take steroids, which brings up all sorts of side effects.

I hope your LO moves past this quickly on his own too!

Thanks! It's not happening every night - It's probably been less than 10 times total (with the bulk of them being in the last 6 months) - but it's still something I'd like to address sooner than later.  I'm not looking to medicate him for it, but if there is anything else I can do to help makes his sleep more peaceful, I'm all for it.

DH had night terrors terribly bad (along with sleep walking, my poor MIL!) for a long time and was never medicated and just grew out of it. 

Rachey1082

Kimbus22:

Back then the pediatrician said sleep disturbances like that are a sign of high intelligence and a healthy imagination if you're looking for the positives :

I agree with this.

My oldest has them and has had them since he was a baby. I've read a lot about them. I can tell the difference between a regular nightmare and a night terror now that he's older. Also the night terrors have lessened.

When he was this age I timed how long he cried. I think it was twenty minutes. If he was screaming longer than that I would go into his room and rub his back, cover him up better, and whisper that I was there for him. If he continued to scream I would keep rubbing his back.

There isn't a lot you can do. DS1 is very imaginative and smart. As a two, three, and now four year old, he can spend hours in the basement or outside playing by himself. He makes up people and stories and places.

I wish I had more advice for you. It's so hard to hear your LO cry and not be able to soothe them.

NotSharknado

Ds had night terrors up until he was 4. It took awhile before I realized he wasn't awake during these fits. All you can do is try to comfort them. I would also wait to go get him when it starts because sometimes they will calm down on their own. Like I said, most times they aren't even awake.

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha

What you are describing really sounds like something DD1 went through at about 2, except for she was sleepwalking. But the confusion, being hysterical, inconsolable, etc. that was her to a T the first few times we caught her. We didn't realize she was still asleep, so we would basically end up waking her abruptly, hence the apocalypse that would ensue.

In DD1's case, the situation only lasted a few weeks (thankfully), and once we figured out what was going on, her episodes became much more manageable. Not sure that's what's going on with you rLO, but I just thought I'd throw it out there as a possibility.

Also, 18 months is when DD1 decided she was D.O.N.E. with her crib. How does LO go down at night? Has he started putting up a fight recently? Or is he just that way when he wakes up? Again, not sure that's what the problem is, but I figured I'd throw it out here as well.

Good luck - Whatever it is, I hope you can find a way to somewhat manage it soon

smb722

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha:

What you are describing really sounds like something DD1 went through at about 2, except for she was sleepwalking. But the confusion, being hysterical, inconsolable, etc. that was her to a T the first few times we caught her. We didn't realize she was still asleep, so we would basically end up waking her abruptly, hence the apocalypse that would ensue.

In DD1's case, the situation only lasted a few weeks (thankfully), and once we figured out what was going on, her episodes became much more manageable. Not sure that's what's going on with you rLO, but I just thought I'd throw it out there as a possibility.

Also, 18 months is when DD1 decided she was D.O.N.E. with her crib. How does LO go down at night? Has he started putting up a fight recently? Or is he just that way when he wakes up? Again, not sure that's what the problem is, but I figured I'd throw it out here as well.

Good luck - Whatever it is, I hope you can find a way to somewhat manage it soon

Thanks, everyone for the responses!  

I don't think DS is done with the crib yet - he hasn't tried climbing out and he goes down fine at night and generally STTN. Naps have been an issue the past few days, getting him to go down, and when he does go down he is not napping for as long as he used to.  Not sure if that could be crib related or more that he is just overtired or wants the extra soothing of me staying there til he falls asleep. These kids sure can confuse us mamas!