Night terrors? Post Reply

[Mrs.G]

My youngest is almost 4 and is suffering roughly once a week, during the night, screaming, kicking, thrashing and utterly inconsolable. He has no memory of it the next day but is raising the household (and probably the neighbours). He cannot bear any physical contact during these episodes and appears not to hear us speaking to him. Our only option seems to be to wait it out and make sure he doesn't hurt himself.

I think this is known as night terrors. Does anyone have any experience of this? I'd welcome advice on how to avoid it and how to deal with it when it happens.
I'm feeling concerned about leaving him with a babysitter.

Thanks

[marysmungo]

My son started getting these regularly at around the same age. It is very scary. He is now 9 and has them now very infrequently. What I would say is that he probably can hear you speaking to him but is unable to respond - as he gets older and if he still has them he will be able to reply to what you are saying - this was the case with me - and they are in a really scary place from what he can tell me he is seeing/doing during one.

The only thing that worked to 'snap him out of it' was to get him in front of the tv with his favourite programme - maybe because it gets them to focus on watching something and 'forget' the nightmare. The minute he calms down he will go back to 'sleep' (remember he has never really been awake) and you can put him back in bed. It will reduce over an hours episode to about 10mins!

Two triggers that I know are being too hot and needing a wee or a poo (I lost count of the number of times I was wee'd and poo'd on after he calmed down!!)

As he was having them nearly every night I could only leave him with a babysitter who I knew could deal with the situation.

It will get better! Good luck!

[vendredimanche]

I feel for you. We experienced these too when our son was around 2 y old. The episodes are scary and distressing to handle - our son looked almost possessed... I found the night terrors usually happened when he was tired or had had a lot of excitement during the day. But he grew how of it. What worked for us was taking him for a drive in the car. Not sure if it was the change of temperature or the movement of the car, but he usually settled down. Of course you have the issue of fastening a screaming, kicking child in a car seat in the middle of the night...
Good luck, hopefully he will grow out of it soon.
VdM

[Mrs.G]

Thanks so much for the advice and support.

We have re-inforced a strict bedtime routine and we have had a (slightly) more peaceful week.

Looks like we will have to let it run its course.

[Joe's Mum]

Yes it is very upsetting to see your child in that state. With my son it was definitely triggered by being overtired and over stimulated during the day. Trying to avoid this helped a lot, but is not always possible.

It always seemed to happen at the same time in the evening - i.e.: after he had been asleep for around three hours (as I seem to remember, it was quite a while ago) so if we knew that he was very tired on any particular night and therefore likely to have an episode we would go in and half wake him up just before that time, he would settle back to sleep quickly and the possible night terror never materialised. Something to do with it happening in a certain phase of sleep I think. Could be worth a try if they are happening at regular times.

Good Luck

[Larapru]

We have a similar issue with one of my twin boys aged 2,although he's not screaming or upset but making yipping and squealing noises. Has anyone else ever had any experience of this? It can go on for about 3 hours and is very loud. He's happy enough but it starts with him crying. He doesn't seem aware of me sometimes but will stop if I go in and tell him to quieten down. but then he starts up again, it's like he can't help it. This really keeps me up and often I feel exhausted. In the last few days I have found the key to stopping it, well at least I hope I have! He has an early nap, 12noon for an hour (I did try stopping this but it didn't make any difference) then I put him to bed at 7.30pm. He has been getting out of bed and pottering around his room until 8pm but then sleeping through the night. I wonder if your little boy is like my little boy and just experiencing so much during the day that his wee brain just can't switch off. Let's hope this phase ends soon, so we can all get some sleep!!! Best of luck.

[3hotcrossbunnies]

My eldest child had night terrors quite regularly from age 2 and eventually out grew them by about 5 - the frequency did reduce towards the end. You have my sympathies as it was extremely distressing to witness - same thing of screaming and thrashing, eyes open but unresponsive, no memory the following day, dripping in sweat etc. I did work out some triggers for my boy including being very overtired, or over-stimulated during the day. Also being overheated was a big factor - we used to open the windows, strip him of his bedclothes and nightclothes and try to cool him off with a damp flannel. I also got him a silk filled duvet as these are much lighter - worth every penny! But otherwise during the terrors themselves we kept the lights off, stimulation to a minimum and talk to him quietly and soothingly. They never lasted more than 5-10mins but that was plenty enough!!! As I say he outgrew them in time so just need to manage them in the meantime. Good luck!

[LuvHandles]

What a difficult time...I feel the need to add to this thread, that there are also spiritual effects which cause night terrors which I can testify to personally. If you would like to speak more about it in person. Prayer has been the only thing that has helped me through it. The other responses are correct in that they seem to occur when the child is at their weakest ( tiredness, schedule changes etc. )

Feel free to email me pascalemercedes@gmail.com