Nightmares Vs. Night Terrors

I agree, definetly NOT a nightterror as he is conscious, you can talk to him and he understands and he remembers the next morning. Try to find out where he could be getting these stories from - maybe a buddy at preschool? Did he have playdates and watched something scary there? As he has a recollection of what he dreams, try to talk to him about it and find out more what makes them so scary to him. Talk to him about the difference between a dream and reality. Did his older brother tell him some story that scares him?

M. - I am not sure if it is night terrors or nightmares/ active imagination. My daughter experienced night terrors --- she would be screaming in the middle of the night, eyes shut at times, couldn't wake her, sometimes kicking and punching. You She absolutely had no cle what was going. Didn't speak to you, she was ASLEEP and couldn't be wakened. She was even know to sleep work. It seemed to go in cycles --- happening very frequently and then not again for awhile.

I read everything out there -- my kids watch little to no TV, no video games, etc. so frankly blaming it on that would not be my issue. If it is truly night terrors or others are experience night terrors here is my wacky solution....I came across some recommendtions which seemed to work for us (or she out grew them or a combo of both). My daughter always slept with socks on in the winter. We removed the socks and lifted her bed covers to expose her feet. I know this sounds TOTALLY bizarre!! The comments I read (which don't have any medical backing) stated that cold feet would help. It worked for us. ALso to wake them from the terror they suggested to put their feet in cold water... we never had to do this because she never had a night terror again. She always sleeps with her socks off now and many times I go into her room to find her feet hanging out the bottom of the bed (she is now 10 yrs old).

Good luck!

Hi,

Night terrors happen while they are still sleeping, and generally don't have a memory of them the next morning. My daughter went through this last year. I know that it is horrible, but it will pass. Maybe before bed, you can look under the bed with him, in the closet, behind the drapes, etc to ensure that there isn't anything in his room. We made it into a game, I think that this made her feel in control of her space. We also prayed with her before she went to bed and told her that God would send angels to watch over her while she slept.
Ultimately, it will pass. I hope this helps!

Night terrors are neurologically-based. There's nothing wrong and they are very common. Essentially, the neurons fire and the child experiences the feeling of "terror" without any dream attached. They wake up screaming and often sweaty/shakey b/c their adrenaline is pumping. They go away.

Nightmares are bad dreams. You are very aware of what your children watch on t.v., but that doesn't mean that they don't see/hear things that scare them. If your child is identifying specific "scarey" things, he is likely experiencing nightmares, not terrors.

The best thing that you can do is let him have a drink of water, wash his face with cool water (if he was crying) and either cuddle him or rub his back until he is calm. If he has a night-light, check out what kinds of shadows it casts. Also listen to what noises may be outside his room late at night. You may need a white noise machine or a different light.

Well it's not night terrors that your son is having. A night terror is when your child is still sleeping but is screaming or crying as if they just woke up from a nightmare but still sleeping. They might be talking to you, but they won't remember it in the morning. Night terrors are said to happen during the time that you child is potty training. Apparently there body is trying to tell them they have to get up to use the bathroom but they only wake up half way. Both of my sons had these. One much worse than the other. But it is definatly some sort of night/daymare that your son is having.

Sounds like a nightmare to me. My son has night terrors. We CAN NOT wake him up during them and watch him struggle. I can even carry him from room to room and he is still in the terror. My son doesn't make much sense during the terrors and can not carry on a conversation. He sweats a lot during them and typically they appear when he is beginning to get sick. you can google all this for more information. Good luck!

Hey Ma,

My boys had them,

I suggest watching his diet, make sure he isn't eating anything sugary, or caffinated, or with preservatives.

Before bed, go into his room look around and see if there are any dark spots.

Take out the big pile of toys, Dirty clothes pile, and anything that could look or morph into a monster.
Anywhere a monster could hide.

Look under his bed, if its empty PUT a couple of big clear boxes. LET HIM SEE them under there. ( these are monster blockers)

Buy or make a dreamcatcher. to catch
bad dream and take off his socks.

Put a night light in the hallway. and in his room on the wall opposite of his bed in the darkest corner.

Close the closet door. make sure nothing is sticking out, and that the door isn't ajar.

and leave his bedroom door WIDE OPEN

in his room put one of those nice smelling glade plug ins.

I also bought some alarms ( SPY KIDS) They were like 5 dollars, but we set them infront of the door, and closet
These actually worked with a red laser beam LOL
But because we had a dog I had to turn them off before bed.
And I gave him a sword with a shield.

I would read stories about fairies before bed and a lamb
and in the story the mom finds her baby Lamb, and the mom kisses her boy goodnight.

I would tell him that our Dog LOLA would eat any BAT, MOnster, Vampire Whatever.

She would Kill them, and then I pointed out that she barks if anyone passes by the house. and this comforted him.
Because he knew this was true.

I also gave him a flashlight,

and we walkedinto the room together at night and I asked him to l0ok around in EVERY CORNER. then we sat down on the bed and I turned off the lights, and we looked again.

then if he saw something scarey, I took the flashlight first, and pointed it, and showed him it was just a shadow.
then I turned on the light, and again showed him it was nothing.

THEN I showed him his shadow and my shadow during the day.
And again at night.

Seems very elaborate yes but it made his bad dreams go away.

I transformed his room into a safe place,
where nothing could get to him,
where he had things to protect himself, and
investigate, PLUS LOLA the dog was his guard dog.

Hope this helps.

Good luck

M

I like that idea the one mom had of leaving his feet bare..... that could really work! Good luck. My older son used to walk and even run & talk in his sleep. One time, he came barreling down the stairs in the middle of the night when he was around nine or ten. He ran though the house and I got up to see what was going on. I found him standing in the middle of the family room..... in his bare feet..... surrounded by millions of those little lego pieces that he and his brother had been putting together earlier in the day. I flipped the light on and asked him what he was doing. He looked at me and said; "Nothing." I realized he was probably walking in his sleep, so I told him to go back to bed. He said; "Okay." and he went back up to his bed! LOL! When I asked him about it the next day, he did not remember any of it and asked me if I was making it up! LOL! It is weird and scary though.

I think you have received some pretty good advice. The only other thing I wanted to mention is that not all "G" rated shows are child appropriate. Jimmy Neutron, Fairly Odd Parents, Growing Up Creepie, Rugrats, Hanna Montana, iCarly, Phinieas & Ferb, Spongebob come to mind. I am not saying these shows are bad but they are all rated "G" and have inappropriate images or material from time to time.

For example, Growing up Creepie is a great educational show for older children but the characters are quite gruesome. Phinieas & Ferb, which is also one of our favorites can have a mummy or monster every now & then. I threw Hanna & iCarly in there too because the content in these shows are totally inappropriate for young children; sexual inuendos, cheating, hacking into computers is not a big deal etc.

So my point is, be careful what shows you allow and make sure they are really appropriate.

Good luck!

Mydaughter went throu a phase of monster nightmares that lasted about 3 weeks and she always remembered in the morning. Then nothing for 2 months. Then she switched to full blown night terrors. We would get woken to her shrieking that there were bugs in her room. When we got there we would find her standing on her table "swatting" the bugs she said were all around her. It was beyond terrifying!!!! Yet when she woke in the morning she had no memory of the terrors. It would take us over an hour to calm her down. Some nights there was a repeat performance. And then once again it suddenly stopped. We just kept comforting her and during daylight hours tried to show her bugs and monsters arent scary. Good luck.

I don't think that he is having night terrors. It sounds more like nightmares to me. My daughter suffered from night terrors and she would pop up eyes open and the more we tried to comfort her the more aggressive she became. When she would wake up in the morning she had no idea about what had happened the night before. We spoke to our doctor about this and she was diagnosed with night terrors. If this keeps on happening I suggest speaking to your child's doctor.

M. - you are definitely describing a nightmare, not terrors. My oldest son had terrors and they differ from nightmares in many ways. The first and obvious way to figure it out, is that with terrors, the child has no memory of what they were dreaming about. They can even wake up in the middle of it, and look at you funny because they can't figure out why you are there and concerned. There are other telling signs, but your child in my opinion is clearly having nightmares.

My second son was afraid of the dark for a long time. The way I got him through that, was to use a 'force field' when I put him to bed. Make a funny sound, wave your hands over the bed... tell him he is safe now that you put the force field over him. Sounds crazy, but works! Soon enough they'll forget about it... and will drop off in no time at all.

I often hear this book recommended when parents are trying to solve children's sleep schedule problems... but more than that it is a fast, comprehensive explanation of our sleep patterns in general. It will help you understand all types of Sleep issues. I recommend it often. Get Dr. Farber's "How to solve your child's sleep problems" book. It will help you understand terrors, and nightmares. Dr. Farber is actually a sleep psychologist, who wrote that book after numerous friends kept asking about sleep issues for their kids. A great read for everyone though!

Hi,

I am a school psychologist and get this question once in a while from parents. I am certainly no expert on the matter. I usually recommend that parents read the following book:
Sleep Better!: A Guide to Improving Sleep for Children with Special Needs by V. Mark Durand, Durand

Special needs or no special needs, I think this book is helpful for most children with sleeping difficulties.

Mark Durand was a professor at SUNY Albany and would probably answer questions from you via email. I am not sure if he is originally from the Albany area, but I have found him to be approachable and very knowledgeable.

Good luck.