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Parenting
Is it a night terror?
Hi all, thanks for reading. Our 19 month old son is having what I believe to be night terrors. He had a few sporadically but now has had them the past 3 nights. They last about an HOUR! He is screaming bloody murder and then crying huge tears and saying "mama" and "dada" but if we pick him no out of the crib it seems to get worse and he just flails around. I thought it terrors were just screaming and not actual crying or talking, so I am confused about what this could be. Any advice, tips or tricks are welcome.
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Re: Is it a night terror?
The doctor said that there wasn't much to be done and to just make sure that he is safe and can't hurt himself and that trying to wake them is more disturbing to them than to just let them get through it. It does seem like lack of sleep/rest is a contributing factor so I try to make sure he gets good naps and goes to bed on time, but I've also noticed that it seems to happen when he's at a big milestone marker (maybe not, but this is what it seems like). The first round he was learning to walk, and now they're back again and he is in the midst of a huge vocabulary explosion.
The last few nights he is crying inconsolably and cannot be comforted. He doesn't want to be picked up or held, he won't talk to us or focus on us at all, and doesn't respond to anything we say. I just rub his back and talk quietly to him to try and soothe him some (though this is probably more helpful to me than to him). It's such an awful feeling to not be able to console him.
For DD it helps if I curl her up in a ball and just hold her really close, hum, and rock/sway. I know when I am really upset I like the comfort of heavy ness on me so it doesn't surprise me that it works for her as well. It hadn't happened in a while but she went to bed super late after a crappy nap day so probably lack of sleep. She also has them when she is constipated/doesn't feel well.
Our Little Raspberry Born 3/27/12
DS goes through phases where this seems to happen every night for a few days, then stops. I know you are not supposed to wake them, but for him that seems like the only thing that helps. (He is 17 months, btw). He will wake up screaming bloody murder, inconsalable to hugging, rocking, etc. But when I talk to him he eventually seems to snap out of it, just like that, and then lays down and goes right back to sleep. It is super weird. But its like I have to wake him up, tell him its the middle of the night and everything is okay, and then he's like, "Okay mom, goodnight" and hits the pillow like nothing every happened.
(He doesnt actually talk like that. In my head thats what he says, lol)
DS1 doesn't have night terrors, but he's a sleepwalker. One time we had DS2 screaming bloody murder and DS1 was mindlessly wandering into the basement. It was like Night of the Living Dead here.