My son has never been a great sleeper, but over the past 6 months, he had been able to sleep through the night with only wakign maybe once when he woke up and wanted his music on, but within the past month (he turns 2 next week) he has started wakign in the night 3-6 times screaming and crying. Often he appears to still be sleeping, and we have to wake him and calm him down. The it takes a good 2 or 3 times of us coming back in to get him to actually go down.
I am aware of nightmares and night terrors, and while I don't beleiev he is having night terrors, it may be nightmares. I have tried moving his night light closer to his bed, and when we ask him why he is upset, he doesn't tell us anything, nor even points to something that may be scaring him at night.
Does anyone have any pointers? I hate to hear him sound so scared at night.
Thank you all for your input. We'll try it all out and see what happens. I did put an extra nightlight in his room (closer to his bed) and it seems to have given us less terrified screaming...yet, somehow, I doubt this will be a quick fix.
Alot of children around that age do have night terrors. I know my youngest son did until he was almost three. i found that by not letting him tv before bed and keeping him less active around bed time calmed the night terrors down. They have found that if children are over stimulated that is when the night terrors occur. Good Luck
I'm sorry you're going through this! It's hard to function well with a poor sleep pattern, and having a newborn just compounds it!
Sleeping is a function of rhythm, habit, comfort, and allowing yourself to let go. Nightmares and night terrors have many causes, but one to check that really works woth our little boy (who wakes up screaming) is that he has absolutely nothing sweet at least two hours before bed. If he does, he wakes up screaming. It's a simple equation!
My ohter suggestion is something called sleep therapy.
Basically, you go talk to your child in a soothing voice right after they fall asleep...go in about 15 minutes after he's asleep and just start talking to him. Tell him positive, present-tense statements about being safe, sleeping all night long, being comfortable...also include positive statements for his self-esteem, stuff about how much you and Daddy love him, how special he is, how glad you are that he's yours. Really tell him a lot about how he's safe and it's okay to sleep deeply. Getting this message into his "subconscious" mind, where the arousal has been programmed in, is a very powerful tool for correcting a pattern.
Good luck with that!
It may or may not be night terrors, but if he seems to be asleep when he is crying..you may want to wait it out. Don't wake him. Sit next to him to be sure that he doesn't hurt himself, but waking him may be scaring him more.
When you wake from a nightmare do you know where you are right away and what is going on? Imagine having a nightmare and then being woken up. It may be very scary for him.
My daughter suffers from nght terrors occasionally, so I know how awful it is to just sit there and let them cry. It is heart breaking. But...it may help him go back to a restful sleep.
Good luck! I know it's hard.
my son wasn't able to sleep in his room all night until he was 9 years old. He was always scared and said he had nightmares. Solution: I bought him a puppy. He now sleeps all night in his own bed without waking up. The puppy now 13 months mix lab sleeps next to him and makes him feel protected. good luck
My son 13 months can't sleep in silence. If you have a room full of noise, he passes right out. As soon as I move him to a more quiter room. He wakes right up. I leave the radio on in his room pretty much all the time. He like to white noise int he background. He has also been waking up and crying, and I let him cry. If he is crying over 15 mins, then I go in. Most of the time he's still asleep, and with 5 to 10 mins, he's quit. Try acouple different ways of dealing with it. If he's still asleep, let him cry it out for a little bit. If he's standing up, lay him back down and rub his back. After a certain amount of time, wake him up gently.
On Dr Greene.com there is a description of a problem that fits your situation more perfectly. My daughter had this when younger. The child appears to not acknowledge your presence during the episode. Still appears to be sleeping. "D...something arousal" it's called.
Often linked with being overly tired or overstimulated during the day. Check out night terrors on Dr Greene's site and he describes the difference, and then some ideas for what MAY help. Your son may out out grow these as well.
