Night Terrors - Fenton, MO

I don't know if my grankids has true night terrors, but they did wake up from having bad dreams frequently. We bought them a dream catcher and told them it would catch the bad dreams, it seemed to help. You can also get a kit that she can help to make, it's a simple thing that might help.

Hi J.,

Has your daughter been exposed to scary movies or images? If so, it needs to stop. Some kids sure do have active imaginations, and it can get the better of them.

When she has these, do you turn her light on? Maybe a light will wake her out of them. If that doesn't work, try something wet or cold. If it's cold outside, you may try to take her out on your front porch or out the back door. Or, you may even want to try a wet, cold wash cloth on her face.

Neither one of my kids have had this happen to them, so I'm not sure of what else to say. These are just some ideas I think I'd try if it were me.

Hope I've helped. Good luck and God bless you, ls

hi J.! my son is 4 and he sometimes has night terrors. he had them more when he was 2-3 years old, but one will still happen about once a month. i don't know if she still takes naps or not, but i was told by his ped. dr. that it could be caused by lack of sleep or even stress (his dad and i are divorced and it usually happened the day after he came back home). i was always told to NEVER wake them and let them finish it out. i do get a cold rag sometimes, but it has scared him before. i'll sit at the end of his bed or on the floor and tell him where i am and if he hears or sees me to come to me. usually he will come right to me while screaming...i carry him around and soothe him just like i did when he was a baby. after about 5-10 minutes he's done and he take a drink of water and falls back asleep. it's soooooooooo hard i know, but i was told not to wake them or even to touch them cuz it scares them more and they think they are being attacked by the "scary object." good luck to you...i truly know exactly how you feel.

You should ask your pediatrician, but I believe you are NOT supposed to attempt to wake the child. I think all you can do is stay calm and prevent the child from hurting herself. Try not to allow her to become overtired. Make sure she is getting enough sleep. The other thing to try is waking her up BEFORE the terror hits (if you notice a pattern and can predict when it will strike). This will interrupt the sleep cycle she's on and maybe prevent a night terror from happening altogether.

Hello! I know how scary night terrors can be. My daughter had them when she was young. They seemed to be worse when se was really tired, so we tried to make sure she got enough sleep durng the day (she was still taking naps when they were happening) to help prevent them. We did not wake her, I don't think we could have. I just tried to stay cal and speak to her in a very calm, reassuring way. The biggest thing was to keep her safe. Since she was asleep and trying to get away from the scenario in her dream, this was a bit of a challenge. I just kept her away from the stairs, corners, etc. She would eventually just calm down and I could help guide her back to bed.

Thankfully, she outgrew them and hasn't had them for several years now.

My son (16 now) used to have these frequently when he was younger and would get overly tired or was feverish. To this day he still occasionally has episodes when he is either overly tired, or stressed about school or something. He starts frantically screaming calling me in the middle of the night and appears to be awake, but is completely out of it. He is always frantic in his ramblings and tells me repeatedly, "I'm so scared", etc. It is frightening, especially to people outside of the immediate family if they happen to be around. We are all pretty much used to it at this point. I've found over the years that the best way to calm him is to get him a cold drink of water and a cold wet washcloth. I just sit with him on his bed and gently wipe his face and neck and talk to him in a calm voice. Usually in a minute or two he is awake enough that he will calm down and go back to sleep. He never remembers the next day, except for the fact that I was in his room wiping his face. The rest he doesn't usually remember. Occassionally he remembers the tail end of it as he's starting to "come out of it", and now that he's older, we all laugh about the nonsense that he talks about while in one of these night terror/sleepwalking episodes. Good luck!

My brother had this and sleep walking and when I babysat once he woke yelling the house was on fire, nothing convinced him otherwise and after crying for what seemed to be forever, he went back to sleep. Don't wake them. Just try to talk quietly and get them in bed to hopefully go back to sleep. I think sometimes sleep walking goes along with this but not always. I think my brother's was from stress, my parents gone, etc. He outgrew it and so that's good that it seems they do stop. Try to reduce anything that could be causing her to be afraid or worry.

My seven year old has battled the same night terror type thing off and on for the past year. From talking with my doctor and doing research, I've learned that you definitely should not wake them. There is nothing you can really do to help during the terror other than to make sure they are safe. What you can do is try to avoid overtiring them, as this is generally the cause of a night terror. Their body cannot shut down to go to sleep, so it happens in the early phase of sleep. Also, for my son, it seems to be anxiety related. New situations, upcoming changes, whatever. So we try not to worry him with them until necessary.
Hope this helps - those night terrors freak me out!

Hi J., My name is R., I also had night terrors, I had the same night terror for seven years starting at the age of 7, it was horrible. I also sleep walked and talked. The only thing that helped was my mother would do laying of hands. Thats where you lay your hands on your child, and pray for her! It helped, also she would lay down and read me bible stories, limited my t.v time and what I watched. What she sees and feels is real to her, you as her mommy can do these things for her, and with her! God, can and will help you and her, you just need to ask for his help! I hope this will help her and ease your mind as it did for myself and my mom! Love, R. Tatum.

I know how you feel, my daughter (4) has them too. I started keeping a journal, not really a journal, but writing down on my calendar the day/night she has them. I started to notice that she had them when she was off her schedule and really tired. Especially on the days that she didn't nap or went to bed late or got up early. I don't know if it's realated, but it seems to be in our case. When I asked my doctor, he said that light helps... so we added 2 night lights and a small fish tank to her room. She has them now, but not as much. It does seem like they last forever, but there's is nothing you can do but sit there until it's over and make sure they don't hurt themselves. I just try to keep her on a regular schedule. Good luck, I know it's hear breaking :0)

I found some info on night terrors that you might find interesting: http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep/a/night_terrors.htm

My 5 year old daughter doesn't have full night terrors but has confusional arousals. They happen when she is overtired and usually when she has a fever. They are similar to a night terror in that she arouses at night (she is asleep the whole time) moaning and crying, sometimes her eyes are open sometimes not. She is however more confused than terrified. After her moaning and crying, she starts talking jibberish, sometimes she thrashes her legs wildly or will crawl around her bed in circles, touch the wall or some of the animals she has on her headboard. She will look and me but doesn't actually "see" me. I don't wake her up. I usually get her attention back on her pillow by patting it with my hand until she looks at it. She then lays down and sometimes is quiet but sometimes she is not done and 30 sec. later we do the routine again.
I did try to wake her up once when she had one while visiting relatives and I didn't want everyone to wake up to her crying. It was hard to do - I had to pick her up and say her name quite loudly numerous times and shake her a little. Then she started crying because she didn't know what was going on and why I had woken her up like that. I don't think I'll try that again.
The first few times it happened I was really unsure what was going on because I had heard of a night terror before and I knew this wasn't quite it because she wasn't screaming or afraid. After doing research and finding out there was a name for it, I now have come to expect them when I know she is overtired.
My husband used to sleepwalk as a child when he was overtired. Just like he outgrew it I am sure she will outgrow this too - or maybe it'll develop into sleepwalking! I don't know.