My daughter has had what her pediatrician calls ‘night terrors’ for years.
Ever since she was about two years old and about 2 hours after she falls asleep, she will start stirring and then begin whimpering, sometimes she’ll cry out, and sometimes she’ll scream. She usually sits up and rocks back and forth while she’s sitting up during a night terror, which I have to admit, kind of freaks me out. There are usually no tears involved and she doesn’t remember it the next morning.
These are apparently signs of night terrors. My question for the pediatrician was, what on earth could she be having night terrors about at such a young age?
Her answer.. she could be having night terrors about anything.
Dropping a cup, falling down the stairs, bumping into a wall, shutting her finger in a cabinet door, Tom & Jerry fighting, or Sponge Bob Square Pants.. in general. I would have night terrors if I watched that show. Sheesh.
What we tried:
My husband and I used to try to wake her up and comfort her but quickly learned that made it worse. She would get angry and would shove us and things would escalate. It was hard to let her go through a night terror alone but her pediatrician told us to not go in her room while she was having a night terror so we backed off.
What we do now:
These are just a few things that we do that we think helps her sleep comfortably at night. Doing these things does not stop night terrors from happening.
- We always keep the baby video monitor on at night so we can see her.
- We do NOT go into her room.
Her pediatrician told us that it is important to not go into her room while she’s having a night terror unless she is in danger of hurting herself by falling off of her bed or hitting her head on the bookshelf behind her bed. We keep a close eye on the video baby monitor at night to make sure that during a night terror, she’s not about the fall off the bed or hurt herself.
- We never try to wake her during a night terror.
- Sometimes, the next morning, we’ll ask her if she remembers any dreams, to gauge how much of an impact the night terror had on her. Every once in a while she’ll remember having a dream but has rarely remembered details of a bad dream.
- We keep a sound machine on in her room to block all outside noises in hopes of keeping her in a deep sleep.
- Up until very recently we had bed rails on both sides of her bed so she wouldn’t rock herself off the bed during a night terror. We took the bed rails off about six months ago and she’s keeping herself on her bed just fine, so far. Fingers crossed.
- We use a light blocking shade on her window so if she does wake up in the middle of the night, the outside lights won’t disturb her.
Do you have any night terror tips you’d like to share with me?
My questions to you is did or does your child have night terrors?
If so, how long did these night terrors go on and did you do anything to try to stop them?
Do you do something that you feel helps keep your child from having night terrors?
I am not affiliated with WedMD. I found that WebMD provides good information about night terrors but I do not endorse WebMD nor am I compensated by WebMD.
Alicia…..OMGosh….My son has them too, since about a little before 2 years old. They don’t happen that often anymore he is now almost 4 but when they do, I feel like they come on days when he is overtired from a weekend full of activity (over stimulation). My pediatrician said yes they sometimes begin when a child’s level of awareness increases. Let me tell you they scare the bejesus out of me. At first I would try to wake him, but what I learned is even though sometimes he would open his eyes he was still asleep, he screams, argues(no mommy no…. it’s mine etc), whimpers and cries and trashes about. The trashing is why I don’t try and wake him (plus Dr. said not too), it makes things worse. I’ve been punched, kicked in face etc…what ive learned he my boy is quite scrappy.
Yes! The eye opening really freaks me out. Knock on wood.. she hasn’t had a night terror since I wrote this post so maybe both of our kids on easing off the night terrors, thank goodness!
Yes -my oldest used to have them and now my youngest is having them. Not saying that we got a clinical diagnosis – but I call it ‘the phase’ … driving my nuts though b/c my boys share a room so the younger sometimes wakes up the older one up b/c he’ll start screaming – so we almost have to go in their room to calm him down before he wakes up the oldest. We don’t wake up the youngest (is this confusing) if he’s sleeping but I rub his back. He’s also afraid of the dark so I make sure his nightlight is on – it’s a mess. Almost like having an infant again! But I’m sure that this too shall pass. I actually think it’s getting a little better already (I’m hoping!)
Thanks for the comment Andrea. I’m sorry your youngest is having night terrors. You’ve got it harder than I do, with two kids in the room. I hope it gets better for you soon and thanks for sharing your tips. Hopefully my daughter will get out of ‘the phase’ soon too.
My daughter used to have night terrors when she was two years old also. What I did was wake her up, and let her know that she is not alone “Mommy is here with you. You are dreaming.” When she turned three years, she stopped having night terrors all together.
Thank you for sharing! I hope my daughter stops having night terrors very soon!