Anyone Dealt with Toddlers Night Terrors?

Yes, I have to many times. I have a daughter that is now 23, but when she was around 3 she would do this and walk around the the house and at times try to get out. I have a grand daughter that is 3 she does the samething often I looked it up in my pediatrician book and yes itis both common and scary. They do not know they are doing it. I sometimes take a cold wet rag and wash her face sometimes it will wake her and sometimes not. In my book it says they have no reason as to why a child does it. The differnce between a dream and night is you can wake them from a dream. DonnaS.

My daughter had them. and they are a very scarey thing to see. he will grow out of them. eah child is differnt as to when they will stop. all i can suggest is just sitting by him and talk in a calm voice, let him know that mommy and daddy are there. trying to hold them an only make them more scared . try touching him while talking to him. in night terrors they are asleep, even though the eyes are opened . so just sit close by him and keep talking in smoothing voices. he will snap out of it. the next morning talk to him and let him know that mommy and daddy will protect him, let him kow of the night before. he will not remember, but just let him know that you will be there for him if it happenes again. good luck.

My son (now 6) used to have night terrors when he was a toddler and now his sister (2 1/2) has them occasionally. They out grow them but while they are happening they can be quite scary. My son would cry and try to hide in the nearest corner, the whole time screaming for "mommy". I would be right there but it was like he didn't see me. Luckily my daughter's are night quite so dramatic. I read somewhere that they can run in families because my younger brother used to have them as well when we were little.

My advice is Pray, Pray, Pray. Pray with him before bed, pray that he doesn't have another episode, pray that whatever is bothering him is discovered and cured, pray that peace reigns in your house, pray for his comfort, pray thanks when he doesn't have an episode. Pray that God would show you the cause(s).

I think it does help to monitor what he watches (it's hard for the brain to totally imagine something, it's usually a combination of things seen before), and monitor what he eats (nitrates, food coloring, sugar--all very bad--water's good...), but you never know what could be triggering it, so pray to the One who gives wisdom. We also would play instrumental praise music on auto replay all night--that definately lends to the peacefullness of the house.

Praying for you!

~A.

My son did this for awhile as well - around the age yours is. He would also walk around and point and it was really creepy - I usually had my husband get up with him because it was so weird to me to look in his eyes that way. Anyways, we started to pray with him at night for God to "guard the loins of his mind." That's a phrase out of scripture. I would read to him out of Psalms before bed and I would turn on soothing music for bedtime. We also were very careful what he watched on tv. That all worked for us and he still loves the soothing music at bedtime.

My 2.5 year old also has them on occasion. Everything I read says to try to calm them down in such a way as to encourage them back to sleep without talking about what happened, then or the next morning. They do not have a memory of what happened and talking about it might upset them more. I've also read that they are primarily triggered by lack of sleep interrupting their sleep cycles so make sure they are napping during the day as needed and getting good sleep at night.

I haven't read people's response yet; so if someone has mentioned this already I apologize for being redundant. I know that night terrors that children experience (my 5 year old still experiences them sometimes) is used to cause fear in a child so they will not want to go back to sleep. My son is now able to tell me what he sees and let me tell you it would scare me too. So, before we go to bed we pray the scripture in the Bible that says God promises sweet sleep (Proverbs 3). I also share with my son that God speaks to people through dreams so he isn't afraid to go back to sleep. One story I share is found in Genesis 37 about Joseph's dreams. I don't know if you read the Bible or believe it I know that praying for my son before going to bed has helped a lot.

My son was having night terrors as well. He started when he was about 2 1/2. He is now 3. We asked our family doctor. He said not to worry. As we were telling him what was going on, he sort of finished our sentences. He knew exactly what we were gong through. His advice to us was to make sure that he got enough sleep, which meant that afternoon naps were important. Putting him to bed early so he was getting a longer sleep time. Make sure he wakes up on his own, that way they are well rested in their own bed. That was the key, lots of sleep and rest. My son has yet to have any night terrors since we started this. Believe me you notice the difference when they are well rested. He also mentioned that when a child is sick or not feeling well can cause night terrors. Good luck and don't worry everything is okay, They are not hurting and they don't even remember the next day. Just give them lots of love and PATIENCE!

Hi B.,

You've had a lot of suggestions, but the one that worked for us is very specific and recommended by a sleep doctor. Here's the background: my son started having night terrors at age 3 when we were out of town sleeping in a strange environment, but they continued for over a year (the whole time I was pregnant with my daughter :). They were horrible...like something out of a horror movie. I thought he was having a fit in his sleep. We went on vacation with him and he had 6 episodes a night the whole time we were on "vacation!"

I researched all I could, but the best and easiest advice was what I found in Dr. Marc Weissbluth's book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child: A step-by-step program for a good night's sleep. Make sure and check out the revised 3rd edition. That is the one that addresses sleep terrors. (Disclaimer: This doctor recommends soothing a child and providing a calm environment, but then he suggests letting the child cry if needed. I know some people are against that method.) However, the best piece of advice he suggests that worked well for us was to put the child to bed 30 minutes earlier to disrupt the current sleep cycle that is causing the sleep terrors. (There really seems to be a connection between the overtired state and night terrors.) This simple step really worked for us. I was already very careful about what kinds of tv shows he watched, and I carefully monitored what news programs or other tv shows I had on while he was awake. Of course, people could not understand why we were so rigid about nap times and sleep times, but they didn't have 6 night terrors a night while pregnant or with a newborn! Plus, we knew it was a phase. I also recommend letting the child have somesort of comfort item: lovey (blanket) or suffed animal, etc. Now my son is 6 1/2, and he only cries out in his sleep once in awhile, but nothing like the full blown terrors we used to get. We still like to keep the same bed time if possible, but we don't have to stick to it like before. It was hard to put him down earlier (not as much family time), but the quality of the family time and the quality of everyone's life in our family improved when we all got more and better quality sleep.

I hope this helps. I wish I had handled things better when all this was going on. I was so bewildered. I wish I had known about Mamasource when he was younger. No one around us had the issues we had with him. No one seemed to understand. I felt like a horrible mom with a very difficult child. It was very isolating. Hang in there! You are reaching out, and hopefully getting help.

Blessings to you,
H.. M.

My daughter started having them when she was 3. She had them nightly for several months and now she just has them occasionally. My understanding is that it can be caused when they are overly tired or stressed. This is what I think triggered it with my daughter because she had just started pre-school and was no longer taking a nap during the day. The dr. told us she would outgrow them. It's really scary but you get used to it and she never remembered them the next day.

My son had this about that age. It seemed like they always hit when he was extremely tired. About the only thing that ever helped was walking outside with him. I'm not sure if it was the night air or what but he almost always came out of it when the air hit his face. Good luck. It will pass!

My daughter (now 11) had them when she was a toddler - I had almost forgotten about it 'till I read your post, so it does get better!

We eventually noticed that hers happened primarily when she was very tired, so we tried as best we could to stick to a regular bedtime. When she did have them, some were just minor and she'd go back to sleep after 10 or 15 minutes. If she had a really bad one, our dr. told us to just repeat her name in a calm voice until she came out of it.

She outgrew it after a year or so, and has no issues now, other than talking in her sleep occasionally. Good luck!

I have a son who will be 7 next month and he has them all the time. I wonder if it could be genetic since I had them...and still do. I feel for him bc its so hard to see hm so scared. We tried everything.

Our doc said to not wake him up and just put him back to bed. That really works, they don't remember what they were dreaming. I also noticed that he has them more when he REALLY needs to pee at night while sleeping so we watch his fluid intake at night.

Other than that there isn't much else.Best of luck!

You are not alone in this one B.. I remember this vividly with my daughter (about to be three). She did this around two years old and I, too, thought she was possessed or something. If your child is not feeling well - has a cold, or low-grade fever, these can even be more intense. I remember having these myself at five years old. They most always happened when I was running a fever.

They are a natural part of toddler years, around 2 or 3 though. And, there isn't a whole lot you can do about them except talk calmly to your child and hold him/her tight to comfort them (if they want you too - my daughter did). They will subside eventually. My daughter used to wake up and swear she saw snakes on the floor. She seemed perfectly wide awake and would have complete conversations with us about the things she would see. It was so strange. I started to worry when it happened several times in a row. But then I did some internet searching myself and found out that they are normal. Be patient and this too shall pass.

L. P

Both of my children have had them...they are scary while they last, but they eventually do go away. My daughter would actually get up out of bed and run out of her room. She is 5 now and hasn't had one in a couple of years. My son who just turned 3 has started having them, but stays in his bed. We just go in and try to wake them up. We usually pick them up and either put them on our lap or walk around and sing to them. We comfort them and keep them from accidently hurting themselves by running around and they go back to sleep. Once they sort of wake up, they are fine and then go right back to sleep. Neither child seemed to remember them, it was much more traumatic for mom and dad than either of them!!!
Good luck!

Hi B.:

I can feel your pain. It is so awful watching our beautiful babies (mine is also 2 1/2) going through this. My son does the exact same things; shaking, screaming, crying, etc.

My husband holds him and whispers to him while I stand right there, rubbing him, whispering in my worried Momma voice! When he finally wakes up, I start talking to him about something funny that happened that day, to get his mind onto something different. That usually helps. I so hate to put him to bed after that!

My now 9 year old had the night terrors also. If I remember correctly, he outgrew them after a few months.

Good luck with all your babies!

I don't recall what age my son started to have them. He just turned 7 and he had one even last night. Just like what you described. My husband and I have kinda gotten used to handling them, but we will never be 'comfortable' with him having them. They usually grow out of them, but it never hurts to see a doctor...especially if you have insurace to help. I know it is no fun for you to have to see your boy go through the drama of night terrors, but fortunatly they do not remember them!

I know you already have quite a few responses, but I wanted to comment as well.

My daughter has night terrors. She has probably had a total of 4 so far, they are spaced way apart and aren't that predictable.

The best thing we have learned is just to go in and comfort her, hold her and make sure she is safe. She usually calms down and goes back to sleep with no memory of what happened at all. Now, these episodes are different than a nightmare because she remembers having thoses.

A night terror is more difficult on mommy & daddy than it is on the child.

Good luck, I hope he grows out of them soon.

HI B.

I am writing not for advice but becuase i have girl triplets. My girls are 9 months and it has been the best time. I was wondering if we could chat sometime I would love to pick your brain on things that will be approaching feeding, walking and things to that nature.

____@____.com

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my son also went through this around the samge age. The doctors all told me that it usually could last up until the age of 8 yrs. My son had it on and off up until 7 yrs old. When he would have this episode, we would go in there and not say a word to him and just hold him. Once it passed, we would lay him back down and he wouldnt have anymore during the night. We also made sure that he wasnt playing video games or watching anything that had fighting in it, like some cartoons, power rangers...at least not before bed. The time that he normally would wake up would be about 2-3hrs after he has fallen asleep. What we were told to do, is go into the child's room about 15 minutes before he usually starts this night terror and wake him up. Make sure he is really awake, and then put him back to bed. You will probably have to do this for a few days until his night terrors stop. This all seemed to work for me. If he is waking up so many times in the night, then this should hopefully diminish all the way down to one time a night. Good Luck! Let me know if I can help any more.

I have had night terrors for all of my life. I am 44 and still have them occasionally. Some experiences I would remember but most my parents told me about the following morning. I recall always having nightmares, rarely pleasant dreams. My parents blamed it on watching scary movies before going to bed but it happened regardless of what I watched. As I grew older my dream pattern changed and I did not have as many nightmares but I did not know the reason for the change.

Currently this happens when I am overly stressed. I see things plain as day but it really isn't there. My husband sometimes plays along with it then when I start coming out of it and realize it is just a dream I get mad at him. Though I do get the last laugh because I go immediately back to sleep and he is left wide awake! There are other times that apparently I seem so out of it that alarms my husband and he tries to "sooth" me awake. I have gone so far as to jump out of bed at times because of something I believe is there. Once I walked down the stairs, into the kitchen, opened the microwave, stuck my head in, closed it then went back upstairs to bed.

I never did see anyone about it, I just basically live with it. I can say from experience it is comforting when someone is there to help talk you out of it. Your son probably will go right back to sleep and not recall anything the next morning. Or if he does, it may only be because he is asked about it and then will realize when he thought he was dreaming he was really doing.
I know I am probably not telling you anything helpful but I want you to know that many people experience this and it may go into adulthood. Some, such as myself, consider it a part of sleep patterns.

My daughter started having them at 9 months but it wasn't properly diagnosed until 2 years. She had 1 or 2 EVERY night. All we could do with her was put her on the floor so she didn't roll off the bed and leave her alone. It took us a long time to figure out that if we tried to console her it made it worse. If we left her alone they would only last about 15 minutes. If we tried to hold her or talk to her it lasted about 45 minutes. We drove to the ER twice before we knew what they were, but by the time we got there she would be awake and talking and happy. The doctor gave her something to take every night before bed for 6 weeks. It worked great for a while. It didn't make her go to sleep but she stayed asleep when she took it. After about 6 months we put her on it again because they started back up. We did it for about a month and it worked again. After that she only had them about once a week or so. She had them until she was about 6. She's 7 1/2 now. It felt like they would never stop, but they finally have. Good luck! Just know that it has nothing to do with anything you've done. He's not traumatized! He doesn't even remember them. It's harder on you than him.

I have heard:
When playing your son might say: Mommy I want to marry you when I grow up.
And it is met with..."oh no I am already married to daddy". Or Daddy says something like"She is already married to me". All in good fun. But this sometimes manifests itself as night terrors and it is also where "witches and monsters" come into play.
This kind of play is how children learn to have adult relationships. So if you just go along with it and have Daddy say something like " ok I will share mommy with you. You can marry her too. Shes a great wife"... I hope this makes sense to you....I tried it with my daughter and it worked instantly on night terrors and has none since. I have no idea what is going on in your house but I hope this helps.

Hi B.!
I used for my kids "Bad Dream Sprinkles" and "Serenite Jr.". Both products are natural herbal remedies and they work great for young kids. You can find more info at www.zoneofnaturalremedies.com . Good luck-W.

My daughter went through something similar and if I remember correctly she was about the same age as your son, maybe a little younger. Her eyes would be open and she would be throwing a "fit" in her sleep. She would move away from us when we tried to get close to her and would hit at the bed or wall. It seemed like the more we tried to calm her or get near her the longer is lasted so we just tried to make sure she wasn't hurting herself until it was over. I don't remember how long she went through these but it wasn't too long. If I remember correctly, I think one of the changes we made was not letting her eat anything too late. I hope this helps you feel a little better about your son. I know how hard it is to watch them go through these night terrors and what a helpless feeling it gives you not to be able to help them.

God Bless!
A

Both of my sons had some night terrors regularly when they were very young. The important thing to remember is that it is NOT a nightmare. They are not having a bad dream and will not remember anything in the morning. My understanding is that they are caught between a certain level of sleep and wakefulness and it has nothing to do with being in "terror." It just appears that way. My oldest would sit up and yell and thrash about and nothing I did would soothe him. They say to just leave them alone to work through it, but watch them. Eventually they will settle down and go back into a deeper level of sleep and remember nothing. My younger son would have tremors, which was very frightening. He appeared to be having a seisure. With him, I could push him back down in bed and hold him and he seemed to settle down faster. Both of these lasted for maybe a year or two, but were not a nightly thing. Just occasionally, maybe once a month or less. My pediatrician said they were nothing to worry about, unless they happened more frequently or they did not grow out of them. I think it is just a matter of them learning to regulate their own sleep. Good luck!

I had night terrors as a child. It was the 70s and the doctors didn't know what they were. I went through brain scans, sleeping in the hospital, etc. All tests were negative and they eventually decided it was night terrors. I grew out of them in about a year. My parent tell how terrifying they were. I remember just bits and pieces about some of the longer ones. I can't even imagine being the mom in that situation. How very scary. Hang in there, but make sure that you get a good work up with your pediatrician to make sure this is what you are dealing with.

I have a son who is now 4, and he had night terrors that started around 18 months old. His dr. also said he would grow out of it...which he has (so far). He hasn't had an episode in over 9 months. The only thing we could do is hold him and comfort him until the episode was over, and then he'd go back to sleep. I know it's hard, but rest assure, if it is night terrors, he will grow out of it.
Good Luck!

I just saw this post and I pray to God that your little one is past the night terrors now. My son had one also and it was frightning. Anyways, we don't allow him to eat anything A. hour before bedtime. This worked for our son but I've also heard of waking your child up 2 hours into their sleep and then allowing them to go back to bed. This is suppose to break the sleep cycle that causes night terrors. Good Luck.

We dealt with some of these a short while back. My son is about the same age as yours and had two nights in a row of waking up screaming (but not really awake). It is pretty scary, but supposedly only for the parents because the kids don't even know it is happening and won't really remember it in the morning. I'm not sure calling 911 was necessary, but when you are experiencing something scary like that with your kid for the first time, perhaps that is the natural response.

Anyway, in our research, this is the best article I found: http://www.drgreene.com/21_155.html. We followed his advice regarding keeping my son's wake/sleep schedule regular, and tried to make sure he got enough sleep (naps) during the day so he wasn't overtired at night, and we have yet to experience another episode.

Hope this helps.

Try the emotional freedom technique. Gary Craig is the founder and is wonderful. You can download the 76 page manuel for free. It helps you get to the root of problems. It's easy and practical. I use it on my family all the time.

http://www.emofree.com/newcomer.htm

Hi B.. My daughter also suffered from night terrors, about this exact age. She would 'wake up' screaming and thrashing, and when we tried to relax and console her, she got violent towards us (without eye contact). The first few times, I wasn't sure what it was, so I would take her for a ride in the car with the windows down and her fave music on, thinking she just needed calming down from a bad dream. When I realized she wasn't responding to us, I researched and found out about night terrors. After that, I would take her into the living room and let her flail around until I could either fully wake her up and snap her out of it or she would just stop on her own. A couple times the neighbors knocked on the door checking on us (they probably thought we were beating her or something...she was very LOUD). It was a nightly thing for almost two weeks and then it started to taper off. Over the next month or so, she would have one episode, maybe once a week, but she had completely stopped before two months from the first occurence. Had it not started to taper off and stop, I would have sought further intervention. I had already mentioned it to the pediatrician, but he wasn't worried as long as I was watching closely and making sure it wasn't getting worse.

Good luck and God bless!

We, too, dealt with night terrors with my son. I will agree with you...they are scary. I laugh now about it (now that they are over), because at the time, my husband would say he thought our son was possessed or something. There really was nothing we could do to wake him out of it. He looked awake, and definitely sounded awake - he, too would scream and carry on like something very terrible was happening to him - but he was completely asleep and not aware of anything going on around him. To reassure you, he did pass through this stage. He is nine now, and hasn't had anything like this happen in several years. However, there really isn't anything you can do that I am aware of, other than comfort them and just wait it out, both the individual instances and the stage itself. If nothing else, I hope this is of some comfort to you. Good luck!

Hi - my daughter (now 6) had night terrors almost nightly when she was ~2. After researching, we started monitoring her sugar intake (including juice) during the day and nothing after 3:00/4:00 in the afternoon)which helped alot. She no longer has the terrors but we still monitor her sugar intake. My prayers are with you - I know how scary it is for you.

My son who will 4 soon has had a few of these. It was sad that I could not comfort him thru this.Touching him only made it worse. My best advice is just to sit by the bed and ride it out with him. This way you can make sure he doesn't get hurt.(my son thrashed about a lot My son's on;y lasted about 15 minutes) They say,with a night terror they won't remember any of it I believe that to be true because my son has never re-called any of them. Un-like a nightmare which he can tell me about the scary spiders he saw. I believe my sons happened when he wasn't getting enough sleep but don't know that for sure since he has only had three. I know its scary to watch but I feel better telling myself he won't remember any of it in the morning.
best of luck to you.

I feel your pain. It is a scary thing to have your child so scared and not be able to help him. My family was in a horrible car accident (Thank God everyone is ok), but as a result my 3-year-old son developed night terrors that lasted for about 3 weeks. It was no doubt the worst time of our lives. From my understand there is really nothing you can do to prevent them from happening. I would go into my sons room, depending on the dream and how he was doing I would either hold him or just talk to him. I made sure to tell him mommy and daddy were there for him and told him it was a bad dream/pretend. I talked to him about it while he was wake and every night it seems like it helped out at night. Good luck honey and just be there for your little one... he will grow out of it.

My now 4 year old daughter went through the same thing when she was around 2 1/2. As a young child I experience it also. What seemed to work for me also made a huge difference for my daughter. I started keeping a journal of her daily activities and all food she consumed. After about a week I found a pattern between the night terrors and food. To much protein in the evening. This was the same problem I had as a child. I started changing up her diet and the night terrors went away. Good luck to you!

Oh, gosh. I have a daughter that is about to turn two. Sounds like I may encounter these after reading the responses. I don't have firsthand knowledge yet; however, the idea about journaling is good. That might help you connect the dots. I would try to maybe limit what he watches on t.v. That sometimes can manifest into nightmares. Even commercials or the news. I know children have a tough time differentiating reality from imaginary. It sounds like he was dreaming about spiders or something and he just didn't know that it was a dream. The poor little guy thought it was real :(