Night Terrors - Bellingham, MA

I've gone through this with my son and it is scary. It usually happens when they are overtired or overheated. So make sure your child isn't over dressed at bedtime. When it happens just be there with them and talk calmly to them until it passes or try to get them to use the potty.

My son used to have night terrors. He would wake up panic'd and sometimes telling me that something has gone wrong. I could not get through to him or get him to calm down at first. Then I learned that it's an anxiety thing for them and they need to control their breathing. Forget about telling him to relax. It won't work. Get him to lay down with you in his bed. Just tell him to breath in real deep. You will have to say it more than once, but he should do it. When he does it, tell him to breath out now. Real long breaths!! Get him to do this for a few minutes. Do it with him. He will start to yawn and then calm down and fall asleep.
If you think he will understand, in the morning tell him that he woke up. Explain that all he needs to do is breath long deep breaths for you. Good Luck!!
He may be stressed in his life. Do what you can to talk to him and give him one on one to see what is bothering him. Sit with him "every night" and read to him. Do this even when he gets older. Make it a habbit.

Our son finally stopped having night terrors at 11! You are right, they can be very scary. He would actually jump and run during them. We would intervene, stop him, hold on to him and speak to him (not yell, just in normal tone) "You're okay, you're fine, you're dreaming" and it would interrupt whatever was going on in his mind and though he did not actually wake, we could get him back to bed and settled. He never has had any memory of them, which is good. I did talk to our pediatrician, so you can look there for some direction too.

Hello,
My son gets them too and my husband had them in the past. I find that if he is too hot they get worse. I usually strip him down to his underpants open a window turn a fan on and once he cools down he goes right to sleep. My husband also gets them if he is too hot so we sleep with a window cracked open and in the winter he has a small fan next to him to stay cool. My mother in law said he was very scary as a child. Good luck.

My son had night terrors between 2-3 years of age. It was VERY scary, I often told people that I was going to video record this happening because I don't think people truly understand until you see it. There was really nothing I could do, I couldn't help him in any way. I tried everything. I just had to watch to make sure he didn't hurt himself. I asked the nuerologist and he said just wait it out and that it goes away and it did after a couple of years. Maybe you could talk to his pediatrician

Hi K., these can be very scarey. I have a 5year old son taht has had them since about the same age. However, our start was complicated by Hydrocephelous... he was diagnosed at 5days and had surgery at 5 weeks. When they occur, they are terifying. I try to hold him and reassures him that he is in his own home and safe. But he seems to be out of his own skin at the time. thye only last for about 5-10 minutes but feel like an hour.They have become less frequent as he ages. Only once in 2-3 months. I have not figured out what triggers these episodes but am glad they are less and less. Good luck.
P.

I see I'm not alone, my son now 3 1/2 has been having them on and off for about 6 months. They only happen on occasion and it appears that he doesn't even know we are in the room with him. I know you are not supposed to wake him but I found puttting a light on helps to shorten the terror. I just try to reassure him verbally hugging gets him more aggitated. I see may posts that note the child is hot and he was too, drenched in sweat. Our pediatrician suggested that since he seems to have them around the same time of night that we wake him about 20 min before he usually has one and tell him he is safe and we love him and put him back to bed. My sons were infrequent though so we never tried this and he hasn't had one in quite a while.

If your child is waking up then it isn't a night terror and it is a nightmare. If it truely is a night terror just make sure your child is safe and can't hurt themselves. The child will have no recollection of the event so trying to talk about it in the morning is useless. Every kid is different and the night terrors can be infrequent and occasional or can last for years. Our daughter has had less than a hanful of them around age 2.5. She is now 3.5 and we haven't had one in about a year.

Isn't it terrible? I feel for you - my daughter has had a handful of these - more when she was two, but she's nearly 3.5 now and occasionally will still have one. I know waking is not a good thing, but we've noticed also that if we distract her with a potty trip once she isn't screaming so intensely, it seems to help. Sometimes I don't even think she's awake when she goes, but she isn't screaming any longer. Occasionally my husband has held her and rocked her and it's worked. Other times she doesn't want to be touched at all because she's so intensely into it and we have to stand back and watch her pitch a fit in fear... and it's awful! I also noticed it's when she's skipped a nap or is super over tired.... and many times she is sweating (never thought of being hot... but maybe that has something to do with it too). I will say, as she's getting older, they happen less frequently. Make sure your doctor knows too - they like to record that sort of thing, but my pediatrician has always reassured me that it's not a huge thing to worry about... (it just breaks our heart!).

I found out that in England they had done a study and I did the exact same thing and it worked. Wake your child up an hour before these night terrors occur just for a few minutes for a few nights in a row. Make sure they are wide awake, then put them back to bed. I did this with my daughter and her terrors were nothing short of awful. They totally disappeared after I did this waking thing a few days in a row. Up to a week they said to do it. She has never had one again. Good Luck!

I totally understand how you feel. My sons was so bad that I thought someone was murdering him. Nothing could prepare me for the almost night event of his screaming as if someone was cutting his skin off. Gross but the only way I can put it. I dind't know you weren't suppose to wake them but even when I did pick up my son to comfort him, he didn't wake. He would wake up everyone in the house and probably the neighbors. The DR told us to just be concerned for ourselves because going back to sleep after that was near impossible. He said that my son had NO idea it was happening and it didn't effect him at all.
I hope and pray my daughter never has them as well as your experience ends soon.

My son had these as well and they are very scary to watch. The worst thing is that you feel so helpless because the usual means of comforting your child don't work and sometimes make him worse. The best thing I learned was to immediately turn the lights on and just keep him safe. For some reason the lights seemed to break the momentum and he would calm down slowly, half wake up and usually go right back to sleep. From everything I learned there is nothing you can do to prevent them but my son is now 19 (and very well-adjusted) so I could be out of date. Good luck.

D.

Hi K.,

I know exactly what you are going through! My son went through them as well right around 3. You're right, you are not suppose to wake them. We just rubbed his back, softly talked to him and put his sleeping music back on. We found his night terrors were related to lack of sleep. When he took a good nap and went to bed at a resonable time he wouldn't have them. Once we got him on a better sleeping pattern, the night terrors went away. We found some useful information on line and by talking with his doctor. Good luck!!!

both of my little ones have these once ion awhile it does get better. It sounds horrible to just let them cry. I ussually try to wake them up and soothe them, but sometimes you just need to. I notice it happens more whne they are overtired to begin with. It is so scary knowing your child is screaming an dyou can't do anything for them.

You can talk to her aobutr what her dreams are and try and sort thru that, what we did with my osn (who was haivng more bad dreams etc) was we got a night light and told him it was made for removing the 'shadows' that were scaring him and causing the bad dreams, he knew mommy, daddy & God were to help and he still was very upset..so this has really helped.

Hi K.. My daughter also experienced night terrors between the ages of 1 and 1/2 and 3 years old. They were frequent and scary. I talked to the doctor about it and looked online for what to do. It is something they eventually outgrow, my daughter who is now four has not had one in a year. The best thing to do actually is not do anything. I found that trying to comfort her or to talk or touch her just made it worse. I finally just left her alone and she put herself back to sleep once the episode was over. Sometimes it lasted longer than other times but just make sure they are safe and shut the door. I would just check in on him/her and everything will be fine. I don't think there is anything you can do to prevent them, so don;t worry it will be fine! K.:)

Hi,
My duaghter had some really scarey ones for about two weeks when she was two. My son has been having them off and on for over a year now. The best prevenion we found is to make sure he has a nap. As he has them mostly when he is over tired. Once we snap him out of his night terror pattern with enough rest it does not happen again until he is over tired again. His episodes usually last about 20 minutes and with him I found if I sit in our recliner with him and just reassure him over and over it does calm him eventually back to sleep. They say just talk to the quietly and tell them its ok and mommy is there. Good luck!

Both my kids suffered from night terrors when they were younger & I agree they are terrifying to watch! We found it to happen most when they were out of their typical routine & over tired. When I could keep them on a good schedule, I seemed to be able to avoid them. However, when they did happen my husband & I found that if we sat in front of the tv & put on one of their favorite shows, that it seemed to bring them out of the terror. I don't know if it will work for you, but I know it worked for us! Hope it helps & my sympathy for you having to go through it! It was never fun! Best wishes!

My five year old daughter experienced night terors last winter. She had them everynight for a week and then they ended and she has not had them since. I found it best to just sit with her until she calmed down and was able to lay back down to sleep. During the terrors I was not able to wake her and just had to let them run their course. She also did not remember having them the next morning (the differences between night terrors and nightmares). My advice is to just sit with your child until the episode ends and hang in there, they shouldn't last long.

My son started having them at age 2 when he had to move from one room to another at daycare. It was rather a scary moment and I did wake him up and calmed him down. Never knew I wasn't suppose to wake him. He still has them sometimes and it is wehn he either has not had a nap or has to go to the bathroom. If I do try to touch him he freaks out so I know he is scared and it upsets me more than anything to watch but they have lessened over time and he is 4 now.

K.,
I would look for something that might be causing him anxiety. My experience with night terrors are that they are caused by something that can not be dealt with during waking hours. My oldest son had them for almost three years. I can suggest the following- Make sure that his room is 'safe', by that I mean, no objects near his bed that he can throw, trip, or bang into. Watch him while he is having these episodes so that he does not hurt himself by throwing himself into the walls or off the bed onto the floor. Sometimes when he had really bad terrors, I would put a pillow next to him by the wall and one on the floor so that he would not hurt himself. What ever you do, do not try to restrain him because it will make the terror worse. I found that while you should not wake him, you can talk softly to him. My son responded to me when I talked to him. I would say things like, 'it's o.k., mommy's here. Mommy loves you.' Sometimes he would scream at me telling me to go away, other times, it would calm him down. Just do not take anything that he says during the episodes personal. He really has no idea what he is saying or doing. Also check and see if he is running a fever at night. I found my son had more of these episodes when he was too hot and running a fever. You have my sympathy, night terrors are terrifying for the adult more than the kid. My son never remembered having them. Hang in there, if you can reduce some of the stresses in his life, then you should see them decrease to the point of none. If you want to know more, message me and we'll talk. C.