night terrors

Jenelle101

So I've been researching about nightmares and night terrors, and it appears that my 3-year-old is actually having night terrors. And it's pretty much every night... 

I found this info online: "Your child is more likely to have night terrors if either parent had them as a child, or if either parent had a partial arousal sleep disorder such as sleepwalking." 

I definitely was a sleepwalker, sleeptalker and had night terrors frequently. Does anyone have a child that experienced this? I don't know what to do! It's like she doesn't even know where the hell she is when it's happening. She had one in the middle of the night last night. Mt husband and I both went in there separately. She was screaming and sweating. I went in and was trying to talk to her, and she would respond, but sometimes I couldn't understand her. Then she pushed my chest away and "woke up" (even though it looked like she was awake the whole time...) It's like she "came to." Then she quieted down and fell asleep for the rest of the night. It's so strange. I don't know what to do!

wedsept

Like PP said, you have to ignore it.  The one thing that our pedi also said is to get books like "The Sleep Book" by Dr. Seuss and read it right before bedtime.  Also, she told us to get stuffed animals and put them in her bed and tell her that they will protect her.

kicks616@msn.com

I had night terrors when I was little and now my daughter (who is 2) has them.  Super scary but my mom told me that the way she got mine to stop was to almost "reset" my sleep cycle.  She would let me fall asleep and then wake me up after about a half hour.  This reset my sleep cycle and they went away.  With my daughter, we did the same and it is rare now that she gets them.  I also notice that if she doesnt get a nap and/or is very over tired then she is more likely to have them.  So now I make sure she gets her naps and we have been terror free for ab 5 months. Hope this helps

mommytoconnor

My son suffered night terrors, Peds said do NOT talk to them or wake them.  Simply make sure they are safe and do like a quiet little shhhhh sound and they usually will fall bak asleep.  Typically they will have them several days in a row and often times they are caused by some sort of disruption in their sleep cycle.  I gave my son a tiny bit of benadryl one night and it was better, and then a dose the next night and that was all it took and he was back into a better sleep pattern.

BabyWhalen

Our almost 2.5 year old has night terrors. We currently have his toddler bed in our bedroom with the open side pushed up against our bedframe; otherwise he will fall out of the bed. Him being in our room sometimes helps stop a night terror before it starts. Before some of his night terrors he gets real restless and starts muttering in his sleep. From our bed I just talk to him in a very calm voice telling him that everything is alright and that he can wake up if he wants to. This doesn't always work (or sometimes there are no indicators that a night terror is coming on) though. He will scream "no" and thrash around in his bed talking. If you barely touch him he gets much more violent. It's so heart wrenching and very difficult to just sit there and listen to. My husband and I have been able to figure out a time during the night terror where we are able to pick him up. We hold him firmly in our arms and just whisper to him or not say anything at all. He typically calms down very quickly and the night terror passes. He is able to go back to sleep in his own bed afterward.

I know that most doctors say not to touch or pick the child up, but thankfully this works for us. Hopefully it can help our with your DD's terrors too!