Night Terrors! - Streamwood, IL

My daughter had this and it lasted on and off for about 2 years. It was awful and my husband is NOT the must patient person. As Amanda says do NOT wake him up. Just calmly talk to him & assure him. He will eventually get through it. My d also had sleep walking episodes. it appearred like she was awake but wasn't. One time we just stopped her from going to the bathroom in the kitchen. Don't panic and stay calm. This will pass.

Unfortunately, your Pediatrician is correct -- there's really nothing you can do. But on the positive side, there's nothing going "wrong" with your child either...and he won't have any memory of the event.

The difference between a night terror and a nightmare is that a Night Terror only happens during non-REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. We do not dream during non-REM sleep (it's our "deep sleep"), so a child having a night terror is NOT dreaming. Research indicates that Night Terrors happen during the first third to half of the night, when the majority of non-REM sleep is occurring.

Since he is not dreaming during a Night Terror, there will be no memory of the event from the child -- he is in deep sleep. The only person who is scared during the Night Terror is the person/people watching the child have the event!

Even though it is very unnerving to see your child in such a bizarre state, there is nothing dangerous about Night Terrors and there is nothing you can do about it (except make sure that your child doesn't accidentally hurt himself by falling down the stairs or things like that). I was told to NOT try to wake the child. Just let the event end on it's own and your son will go back to sleep.

I hope this helps in some way. Don't be overly frightened. We went ahead and picked-up our daughter and held her. However...it didn't make a difference for her. The Terror continued until it was done.

We use "give me your hand" technique to gently get them out of it.

Sit gently next to your child. Say calmly "give me your hand." He may not respond, so just gently take his hand. Then say "Thank you." Then put his hand back on the bed. Say again "give me your hand." Take his hand, or accept it if he gives it to you. Say "thank you" and put it back on the bed. Believe it or not, it works. He'll eventually come out of it and return to his surroundings. Don't forget to say "thank you" when you get his hand (even if you have to pick it up yourself.)

It's a calm way to bring him up out of his terror. Once he's out of it you can stop. The instinct is to run to hug him and say soothing things, when the best thing it to bring him gently back to reality.

Hope that helps! It works for us!

Hi M..
I agree with the previous mom's suggestions. My son had them around the time he was 3.

The one thing that helped a little was that if its happening consistently at 2am, then it might be helpful to wake him up around 1 or 1:30, to break that part of the sleep cycle. We would wake him up to go to the bathroom, but since your son is younger, maybe just wake him up to get a sip of water or something.

The one thing that helped was that someone told us (or maybe I read it) that its like when we wake up from a deep sleep and don't know where we are for a second or 2. They are stuck in that "limbo" for 20 minutes or so. You can't jolt him out of it or it will be worse.

It got better before it got worse and then it tapered off and now (at the age of 5) he has one maybe every couple of months.

Hang in there.
B.

My friend's little girl gets night terrors and her doc said it was b/c she was not getting enough sleep consistently. I looked it up in the sleep book for her and confirmed his statement. They should be sleeping 11hrs at night and about 2-3hrs during naptime. Just make sure he is getting his zzz's.

Good Luck.

Hi M. ~
My daughter had night terrors! They were so scary and really freaked us out the first time. We were told that talking to them and touching them makes it worse. It's almost like flight or fright...if I'm saying that correctly. You just want to sit quietly with them and make sure they're safe until it's over. They really have no recollection of what just happened and it's really best not to talk to them about it because it can be very upsetting to them.

Good luck, I hope they go away quickly.

Take care,
J.

Hi M.! My son used to have HORRIBLE nightmares when he was little. He has them now every now and then. He used to wake up screaming, crying, grabbing and pointing to something. We had to turn on all the lights and both me and Daddy had to wake up and simply talk to him very calmly. DO NOT wake them up, they have to wake up on their own. With you talking to him they slowly come out of it. We would say things like Mama and Daddy are here and you are okay. We would ask questions, which triggers their brain to thinkl. We would say do you know where you are? Who am I? Wheres Daddy and he would point to Daddy. We also offered a drink of cold water which usually worked really well. It's hard and stressful but we found that when we were relaxed and reassured him that everything was okay it calmed him down tramendously. I hope this helps. :)

My son had these for about 3 weeks after his adnoid surgery. It is really scary...my husband and I were really freaked. There really isn't much you can do to get them out of it. We just held him and made sure he was safe...I know how you feel- my heart broke everytime he had one...

I have 4 children and one of my sons had night terrors. It is so scary to you as a parent but all I can say is just pick him up and hold him and try to wake him...and this too shall pass....it's a stage and he will grow out of them. I did try to make sure my son went to bed at the same time every night so that he was always rested. It seemed to help that he was not over tired.

My son has had a couple and unfortunately there is not a whole lot that you can do. It's hard to go through but trust me when I say that it will pass.

My daughter had these also but she was older with them. She would never remember waking up either. There really isn't anything that you can do about it, just stay calm and try to comfort them until it passes. It is something that does go away eventually. My daughter would have them for a week or two, then they would go away for a month or two and then she would get them again for a week or two and so on. I think she finally outgrew them, since it has been quite a while. At least you know what it is now. At first me & my husband had no idea and would get a little frustrated after the 3rd night or so, but they have no control over it and don't even know it is going on.