6 Year Old Wakig up at Night Yelling, Running Around

Hi B.-

I am a parent coach, and when I read your description I thought night terrors. I grabbed my favorite sleep book by Dr. Marc Weissbluth to read-up.

What you describe definately sounds like night terrors. Additionally, the occur about 2 hours after the child goes to sleep often when the child has been sick (has a fever), or when normaly sleep habits are being interupted.

Dr. Weissbluth suggest allowing the child to sleep more, getting them to bed early, even by 30 minutes.

I hope this helps. I suggest you reseach night terrors more if going to bed earlier doesn't help after 3-4 days.

R. Magby

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My girls have gone through this but at much younger ages. Definitely night terrors. I notice in one post the person said that they talked to thier child and the child became calm. That does not always work. The child is having a nightmare and sometimes you become part of that nightmare and can upset the child even more. The best is to make sure your child is well rested, eating right and has little stress. As a mom it is so hard to watch this and I would approach my daughter even with her screaming and hitting me but I would hold tight and rock her until she fell asleep sometimes it took 20 minutes. They are suppose to grow out of this but my girls still have them when they are extremely tired. Good luck

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My daughter (recently 4) had terrible night terrors as and infant and young toddler. We took her to a neurologist and were told she was perfectly healthy aside from this, and to expect sleep talking and walking from her fo along time to come (it coincides w/night terrors). She talks in her sleep every night and sometimes walks. It is true that it is scary, and the walking raises questions of how to keep them safe. I don't have any real answers, except if this is the first time this is occuring, at his age of 6, I would think it was more likely to be related to illness, not night terrors (which are typically diagnosed in infants or very young children). Talk to your pediatrician and Good luck!

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B.,
I didn't read all of the post but the few I did read didn't offer how to help.
According to Marc Weissbluth, sleep researcher and author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, the best thing you can do is to have a regular consistant bedtime. This means the same time every night of the week. All 3 of my older kids had night terrors. They are very deeply asleep and often they become more aggitated if you try and wake them. Frequently, my kids would need to go to the bathroom and if I didn't get to them soon enough, they would go in some very interesting places. My daughter went to the bathroom in a closet once! Anyway, send them to the bathroom if you notice this need and steer them back to bed. My daughter was never very upset, just seemed to be sleep walking but her brothers were frequently very aggitated. So the reaction varies tremendously from child to child. It helped my middle son to lie down in bed with me until he calmed down. His night terrors lasted until he was 14 or 15 because he did not sleep well for about 5 years due to an unrelated medical condition. Usually they only last for a few years.
We were staying in a condo once while on vacation and my daughter had a night terror which I did not hear. In the morning, I found her asleep on the couch with the living room door ajar! Fortunatly, I had put the chain on the door or who knows where she would have gone. If you are a heavy sleeper, use a baby moniter turned up loud enough to hear any night time stirrings. To the best of my knowledge, they walk as if they are awake, we never had to worry about them falling down the stairs.
The very best thing that you can do is to make sure they are getting to bed at the same time every night- even on weekends. Yes, this is a pain in the butt and yes we didn't ever stay out late and they rarely went to sleep-overs. Practically every time that one of them stayed up late, the next night, they would have a night terror. Any kind of disruption to their regular schedule from vacations to being sick would cause a night terror. They almost always occur 2-3 hours after they go to bed as this is one of the times that they are in their deepest sleep cycle.
In case you are concerned, night terrors have absolutely nothing to do with stress, they are simply a sleep issue.
My kids have never remembered any of their night terrors, even when they have a coherent conversation, which ocassionally happens.
B.

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Oh, welcome to my world! (lol) My daughter, now 5 1/2, has been having night terrors for a good year now- at least. She wakes up almost every night- screaming, sometime tears running down her face, often sitting on her knees on her bed facing the corner of her room. FREAKY!!! But when you talk to her- her voice instantly becomes calm and sweet and she swears nothing is wrong... obviously still not awake- but no longer scared. She never remembers anything the next morning (thank goodness). Just recently she started walking in her sleep. We have decided to put a chain-lock thing at the top of our doors that lead outside of the house, just to try to keep her a little more safe. Her Dr. also said that it can be a totally normal thing and that we are going to just have to ride it out- probably into early adolesence!

There are times that it gets worse, for instance if she is not feeling well, or if she didn't get a nap earlier in the day and is perhaps overly tired... all kinds of things. But quite often these experiences happen when there is no clear explination.

Just hang in there, keep talking to him, and do what you can to keep him safe.

From one Mom to another, good luck! ;)

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That is scary isn't it? My child did this once when he was three. He awoke yelling, running, and seeing things in detail (but NOT seeing us). He seemed terrified. We took him to the ER, and they suspected it was a night terror. After research, I extended his nighttime wind-down routine, so there was more calm time prior to bedtime, and make sure he got enough sleep, and he never had another incident. There is a lot of advice out there - lavender, non-restrictive clothing - you should take a look, since I can't recall much.

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It sounds like night terrors to me. My son used to do it also (and my husband, as a child). I don't think you can necessarily make it stop. I don't think you are supposed to try to wake him either. I would just follow him and keep him safe and gently try to steer him back to bed. In time, it should pass. Hope this helps! S.

It sounds weird but when my cousin's son had this problem it ended up being a food allergy. He was allergic to tomatoes and once she stopped giving him those they quit. Never know, checking out allergies may help.
Good Luck!!

Two of my boys, ages 9 and 6, talk and walk around in their sleep much as you describe your son. It usually happens when they are sick and not sleeping the best. But it goes away soon after the illness. I usually talk calmly to them and soothe whatever concern they seem to have. Then they soon go back to bed. Both the boys always get a real kick out of hearing the stories of what they say or do in their sleep:)

I went through both spells of sleepwalking and night terrors with my son. Both eventually went away on their own. I didn't know what to do either at the time. My son is also 6. When he was about 3, I started experiencing night terrors with him. The doctor told me two things I needed to do to help him through a spell. DON'T touch him if at all possible when going through a night terror, unless absolutely necessary. It can cause more damage than harm. Instead, talk to him in a soothing voice and try to calm him that way. Sleeping walking was a bit harder, considering the same...not supposed to really touch them if you can help them. At least the running around, talking, and yelling is all he does. Mine would pee everywhere because he was asleep and thought he was in the bathroom. Was horrible. Poor guy. Talk to your local pediatrician about ways to handle the situation. :D

I had that happen when my son was taking tylenol with codeine. But when he went off of it, it stopped. Maybe it is still in his sytem and needs to work its way out. I know it can be really scary, so hopefully it stops in the next day or two.

Sounds like a night terror to me. Check it out with his ped.

All you can really do is keep him safe. Make sure doors are locked and (bolted may help), gate at the top/foot of stairs, things like that to prevent injury in his sleepy state. It is worse to try to wake him than to just let him be, it can startle him and scare him more. You can try rediriecting him to his bed, it doesnt always work.
Like the previous posts say, it is usually a phase. It wouldnt hurt to put a call in to his dr.