My son is much older now. It started as a baby. He would often wake from a nap, or in the middle of the night, eyes open, crying frantically, but I was absolutely unable to console him. It was as if he didn't recognize me. He would scream, wail, flail, as if in terrors. So as he aged, it subsided substantially to the dread on my part of waking him up, example if we came home late in the evening and he dozed off in the car. He would wake up -- eyes open, not even able to recognize me, screaming, flailing, running away from me, etc. I never really looked into it but thought I saw something about "Night terrors." Didn't know if it was exactly what my son experienced.
Fast forward a few years and very few incidents in between to last night.
So my son sleeps in the top bunk. He was ill yesterday, mild fever, nothing severe. We put him to bed last night and in the middle of the night, my husband was heading up the stairs. The hall light was on and my husband looked into my son's room as saw my son standing up on his bunk bed. Confused, my husband just watched, just for a minute and my son jumped off the top bunk. He landed on his feet and rolled forward. He started crying hard because he landed so hard on his foot. My husband looked at his foot, my son appeared to be awake. He limped to my room, and got into my bed. I went to hug him and he pushed my arm away as though he didn't recognize me. He scrambled to my dvd player and started shaking it. He was talking crazy like , "I can't take this." and he began running from room to room as though he didn't know he where he was and didn't recognize my husband or I. I couldn't console him needlessly and knew, from experience, that my words were useless.
We turned on the light - that seemed to calm him and he calmed down.
But it was still scary because he jumped off his top bunk and his ankle is now severely sprained. I thought these 'incidents' were done with. His last one prior was a few years ago.
Just curious if anyone has ever heard of this type of thing and if there is a name for it? Is it sleepwalking? Night terrors?
Thanks.
Get rid of the bunk bed. OMG he is lucky he Only has a sprained ankle. Yes night terrors. Do not assume it will happen again. Even if just sleepwalking, the bunk has to go. Now!
This is really frightening. I have to admit that I'm surprised that you have a bunkbed. Get rid of the bunkbed today and put his mattress in the floor.
Have you actually researched night terrors? I don't mean just read a little. I mean research. You need to understand what you are dealing with, and you should consider taking your son for a sleep study. A pediatric neurologist may be able to help with that.
There are some studies that suggest that waking a child a few hours after they go to sleep can break the sleep cycle that can cause night terrors. If I were you, I'd try that. At least it's an easy thing to try.
I have to admit that this is the worst night terror story I've ever heard of. I really think that you need to take this seriously and really work hard to figure this out. But no matter what, you need to be more safety minded for him. Bunk beds? Not safe at all for a child who you know has had a sleep disorder.
Why did your husband just watch him? Did he not predict he might get hurt by standing on a bunk bed? My kids are not allowed to stand on bunk beds, even when it is clear they are awake and 100% in control. You don't mention his age, but I second Doris day's thought on that.
Yes, it sounds like a night terror. My son experienced these crazy behaviors until about the age of 6. It hasn't happened in a quite a while, so I assume he's done with it, but if he had a fever, I would not be surprised to have it happen again. I would consult with your pediatrician, however, to be sure.
when I was a kid, I used to sleepwalk and have night terrors.. one time, when about 4ish, in the middle of the night, I took a chair and leaned it up against the front door and unlocked it.. I then moved the chair out of the way, opened the door and began walking down the apartment hallways.. eventually, a woman said, what are you doing little girl, I said, I am looking for mom.. right before I could walk down the back porch stairs, she said, let me take you back to your apartment..
my mother was stunned that I had gotten out and worse, she didn't even hear me...
Although I remember everything about the event, I was in a trance like state and couldn't stop myself from doing it. it was like I was watching a movie..
point is, your son may seem like he is awake, but I think part of his brain is asleep. kinda like in hypnosis when you do things, but aren't sure why you did them..
I used to sleep walk all the time... then I started to have night terrors (even into adulthood) ... I had them particularly when overly tired or stressed....
I don't know that there is a cure for either.. BUT.. it seems that as an adult, once I got rid of some of the stress in my life, the terrors have almost disappeared. .that isn't to say that I still don't wake up in the night from weird dreams .. that much I do..
my son who is 12 will at times sleepwalk, hence the reason he has no bunk bed.. (I'd separate the bunks if I were you) you just never know what a sleepwalker will do...
I don't know that there are cures for sleepwalking.. in which case, just try and make the house safer in the event your son walks around again. if he's like me, he WILL sleep walk again..
good luck
How old is he?
First - get rid of the bunk bed - no sleep walker should have one.
Second - talk to your pediatrician about it - you need techniques in how to handle this because he's going to hurt himself or others if you don't.
An alarm on his door is a great idea.
He might eventually out grow it completely or he might not.
Most do outgrow it but a few don't.
I talk in my sleep - my husband has had many interesting conversations with me over the years that I know nothing about.
I once went camping with a 17 yr old who still got night terrors - we had to be told not to panic if anyone heard any screaming during the night.
My ex and my older son never had night terrors but they did talk in their sleep, move around, fairly sure they could have walked, may have and I didn't notice. It was always very strange because you could talk to them and they would respond to you but they thought you were who they were dreaming of.
It always happens when they are over tired or stressed.
My son also slept on a top bunk, if he got up he never did it in a way that would hurt himself.
My younger son had night terrors and also does the same sleep talking.
Anyway their doctor said night terrors end by four years, the sleep talking moving around is the same thing as sleep walking.
It is really strange especially when you consider I have two boys and two girls and the boys have it, the girls do not. I asked the doctor about that, he shrugged.
My youngest son had night terrors from the age of 2-7. It was horrible.
My mom, brother, oldest son, and I all walk and talk in our sleep. It's very entertaining to be at any of our homes at night. :)
It isn't all that rare. A girl in my summer camp did this. Woke up 3 cabins of girls. Okay, maybe the hysterical screams of terror from the girls in her cabin woke the other two cabins up, but you get the idea.
Get rid of the bunk beds. Put an alarm on the door --we call them hotel door alarms, but used them to stop our little Chickpea from pulling a Houdini once she learned to open the front door.
A neighbor has those kid-resistant balls on all her doors since her daughter sleep walks and they do not want her to be able to leave the house. A friend has a daughter who has sleep terrors, which sounds more like what your son experienced. Here is a link. I would discuss this with his doctor.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/night-terro...
A friend of mine goes through that with her daughter. She even got up one night and peed in the hallway and did not even know what she did. She said it's been much better after she had her go to bed earlier, cut back on sugar (especially before bed), and would give her a light massage before she laid down. Her performance at school also improved once she started getting her down earlier along with the other stuff.
