Mom Needs Help with 22 Month Old Waking up Screaming Every Night

J.,

My son had night terrors as well. He just grew out of them. You just need to be patient and hold him until it's over. I know it's frightening, but it will pass. It just goes in streaks.

Good Luck.
A.

my son experienced these when he was younger. it's hard to explain what it is but here is a link to help you out and to let you know that it is not uncommon...so try not to worry (yer a mum so yeah, right!!!)my son DID outgrow these.

Best Wishes, Pat
http://www.nightterrors.org/

Hi J.! My 7 year old did that when she was a baby. The doctor called it "night terrors". Maybe a web search might give suggestions on what to do. Isabelle eventually grew out of it but if you ask me, the baby is not the only one that feels terror when this happens! Good luck! I knwo how you feel!

I am not sure if this will help but my son also woke like that at around the same age. He was wide awake and screaming and I couldn't comfort him. Our pediatrician thought he was having night terrors which is pretty common, i guess. He says that the kids will usually out grow it and have no recollection that they even do it the next morning as they are really still asleep. IT was painful to watch but that is really all you can do, if that is what they are. Ben is now 4 year olds and sleeps like a champ. Good luck

He could be having night terrors. When my son would get them, I would hold him, make sure he was awake, and then sit with him until he fell back to sleep. Luckily, he outgrew them pretty quickly.

I have girlfriend who has a little boy who is about 3 years old now but when he was around 2 - 2 1/2 her little boy woke up in the middle of the night with night terrors. She said it was the worst thing in the world as every night it was scare her to death. She said the only thing that she could do was hold him and rock with him until he calmed down enough to go back to sleep. He had the night terrors for about 3-4 months but they eventually went away. I would just check with the peditrician to see if there is anything else he would suggest.

I have to agree with Sammy on this one. My oldest daughter is 2 & going through night terrors again. We have no explaination and the doctor said they are normal.They just started up again couple nights ago shortly after she got a cold. When they first happened over a year ago, my ped told me to have a cup of water at her bedside. I make sure every night she has her comfort toy before bedtime. I reassure her it's ok and that i'm right there. When she's got the glazed look I wait for her to come around or watch her fall back to asleep.
Hopefully thet won't last long for you! Good Luck

I would bet everything that he is having night terrors. It is characterized by repeated episodes of abrupt awakenings, usually with a panicky scream, confusion, agitation and unresponsive when talked to.

This usually occurs 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours after the child has fallen asleep. They usually wake with glazed over eyes and screaming. They are not aware of their surrounding and sometimes are unresponsive to attemps to comfort them. They may not calm down for 10 to 15 minutes, although they return to sleep quickly once the episode ends. They are not aware of what is going on and do not remember it.

You can google night terrors and find a wealth of information on the subject or you can ask your doctor.

My niece and my second daughter had these.

It sounds like it might be "night terrors". My son (now 17) had the same problem. I think it was much worse for me than it was for him. He would be absolutely terrified, sometimes brushing imaginary things off of him in a panic. The good thing was that he had no memory of it... Difficult was that he was calmed down by different things. Sometimes a drink of water, other times not. Usually, he didn't even seem to hear me talking to him. Thankfully, he outgrew them before too long. Hope the same goes for your son!

hi J.. Welcome to nightterrors. It really is more awful for us that it is for them. My oldest did that right around the same age for a few weeks off and on. At first we thought she was awake...her eyes were open, she was screaming, she would almost fight us off if we tried to hold her! We finally figured out that she was still asleep, so we would go into her room and call her name, and talk to her about anything but whatever she was dreaming. Then we would lay her back down after she calmed and in the morning she was fine. After a few times we noticed that it happened usually after a really hetic day. So we tried to slow down the schedule for a while and the "terrors" went away as suddenly as they began. Talk to your dr. about it if it last more than a couple of weeks. Hang in there!! :-)

Hi J.,
I'm not sure what your religion is....but prayer helps. You should say a prayer with your child every night consistently. This should help.

Hi J.. It sounds like this could be night terrors. My oldest was just a little bit older when he started doing this. He would wake up screaming, standing on his bed, he was fairly incoherent, but occasionally we could understand a word or 2. Sometimes he would point to the corner or the floor and scream until we told him that we were getting rid of "it", then he would start to calm down. After looking into this, we figured out what was going on. We also pinpointed the most likely cause: over exhaustion leading to falling asleep too quickly at night. We read a little bit and one article suggested that if the kids fall asleep too quickly (they pass out when they hit the pillow), they can't slowly fall asleep and process the day's events. It can manifest itself as these night terrors, which the kids can't remember the next day. It sounded like a bunch of bull, but as I monitored my son, I found out that this was likely the cause. He's 7 now and hasn't had one in almost a year, but he had them a few times a month, enough to keep me on edge for a while. Good luck. Hope this helps.

We had the same problem with my son a few months ago and I got a lot of good advice from this board. You can see all the responses here: http://www.mamasource.com/request/2010676097988952065 . I know my husband and I were completely freaked out, but he probably isn't awake. My doctor said it is a state similar to sleepwalking, where the person looks awake, but is actually not. You can usually tell if they don't register your presence in their eyes. Good luck!

hi. sorry for your troubles...my son did the same thing, it is scary indeed, and unsettling. i used to wait on pins and needles, tip toeing around in anticipation for him waking up. we asked the pediatrician, and after determining there was nothing physically wrong, such as acid reflux or gas from new foods, the pediatrician determined they were "night terrors". basically, the little one is halfway between dream and wake states, and can't quite wake themselves out of this in between. the good news is it doesn't effect them, they don't remember. the bad news is for you, in the stress it can cause. i was told not to touch him, or try so much to rouse him out of this state, but to calm him by quietly saying, it's okay, lie down, go to sleep...and like what you are already doing instinctually to sing to him. best of luck with this, it will pass! they are not a sign of any stress or trauma, even though the name night terror is awful...so don't worry too much. i also used an herbal lavender scent spray from a health food store when he would start his screaming...it is a calming scent and opens the sinuses a bit...
sweet dreams..
E. selvin

I agree with the moms here too. Singing to your son and comforting him no matter the length of time is exactly what my husband and I took turns doing around 16 months. It was heart wrenching, but we got through it eventually like all "phases." We are at 18 months now, and I am amazed by the endless "stages" we are in the midst of. If I understand it all correctly, they do not end. We have resigned ourselves to enduring each stage (or phase) with love and affection that will motor us through like the wind! Good luck to all moms and dads in all stages of parenting...

B

First off, I am sympathetic to your situation. It hurts to hear our babies scream like that.
It could be so many things. Since he is waking up so soon after being put down, could it be that he is getting too much sleep during the day?
I believe that their 2-year molars come in around your son's age, also. Does he have his? If not, they could be coming in and there is nothing like silence to make pain seem so much greater than it is during the day.

Hi, J..
My 26 months old daughters had that couple times which started a couple months ago. Sometimes there is nothing I can do to help her when she gets up so upset within couple hours after she falls asleep. People try to blame me for what I feed her and such when I try to talk to my friends about it, they made me feel so guilty and horrible, but I read that this is something that some kids go through and it's normal, even though it's so hard to watch and think it traumatize them. But I've learned that it's ok and I just wish that none of our kids have to go through with it, you know? :o)
Well, I'm glad that you posted this, and I'm sure this helped others moms to and we don't feel like our kids are the only ones.

Hi J.,
My daughter went through something similar and the pediatrician told me they were night terrors. My nephew is also going through them. They are scary because of the way that the child wakes up, or appears to sometimes. It is important to comfort your child and reassure them that it was just a dream and nothing to be afraid of. There were times when I had to take my daughter and sit with her for awhile or even let her in our bed. She has now outgrown them and rarely wakes at night. Good luck and hang in there.

A.

Definately sounds like night terrors. Two of my three boys have gone through them (one more severely than the other). Let me just tell you that my husband and I could almost predict the nights they would happen. There are certain triggers (at least for my son). The two things that could happen in the day to set him into a night terror that night were; 1) something would really scare him during the day - in our case, usually his older brother, and 2) he didn't get a nap and was exhausted by bedtime.

My son who had them the worst outgrew them at about 3 years old. My two year old only gets them rarely, and we haven't figured out his triggers yet since they are so uncommon.

I hope this helps, I know how hard they are to watch your kids go through. Good luck!

My son is about the same age right now and has been doing the same thing. Some nights just going in and talking to him calms him down enough to help him go back to sleep, but more often than I like, he ends up in bed with my husband and I. Sleeping with us, he calms right down and usually stays asleep till morning. Like everyone says I guess this is just a phase and eventually we'll all be able to sleep through the night. My 5 year old daughter is a champion sleeper now, but I remember going through this with her too.
J.

It sounds like night terrors. My friend went through this with her daughter. There wasn't much she could do. Please give your doctor a call to let them know what is going on. They will be able to help you monitor it to see if something in particular is bringing them on. Mostly what my friend did was to try to comfort her but mainly make sure her daughter didn't do anything to harm herself in the process. Her daughter never actually woke up with them. She would have her eyes open and seem to be looking at you but wasn't really awake. You can check parenting books and with the doctor on other things to do. Mainly her doctors wanted her to try to control her daughters sleep schedule as best she could. Make sure she was getting her nap at the same time and getting her to bed at the same time each day. The terrors lessoned when she was on a regular eating and sleeping schedule. There are other stressors which contribute to the terrors as well. It really was something her doctors wanted to have monitored, though, to make sure they didn't get worse and see if they could find a cause.

Good luck.

I fell for you J.!! SOunds like night terrors!! Not much you can do but let them ride it out. I was told to make sure they don't hurt themselves- but not to try and wake them- My sons had them - they're 21 and 23 yrs old.. they survived and I did too-but its terrable to go thru it!!If he lets you hold him till its over that'll help- but this too shall pass!! Honest!!Hang in there!!!Hugs for you too!!

Jan,
I had this same problem with my little boy. He would wake up screaming, scared to death. His little eyes would be wide open like he was seeing something terrifying. I started praying with him every night. Since he was in Sunday School every week he knew who Jesus is so this was not something totally new to him. I would ask Jesus to watch over him, keep him safe, and also to keep bad dreams from bothering him. I would pray that any evil things, evil spirits, etc. be kept far away from our home and our whole neighborhood. Guess what -- the bad dreams stopped. Also, occasionally I would have dreams about a man who was NOT my husband, and I'd be depressed the whole next day, because I couldn't be with that man. It was devastating and could have led to the ruin of my marriage. I tried my prayer for myself, and the erotic dreams about the other man completely stopped. Prayer is a powerful thing and mothers should depend on it more for help with everyday problems. Hope this helps you!

Sounds like night terrors. My daughter had these when she was little and they were very scary. Her doctor said that she would grow out of them and she did. I was told just to try to hold her if she would let me and make sure that she was safe and couldn't hurt herself in any way. Good luck, I know it is scary but it gets better.

My children have on occassion woke in a panic fear, but it was never a pattern.
I don't know about night terrors. A dream catcher in the room would not hurt. Having your home blessed and smudging the home might help eliminate many of the replies to this post with a reduction of negative energies around.
Agreeing with another poster, prayer helps. Little people and animals are more sensitive to the surroundings and grow less sensitive as they get older.

I hope the night happenings subside.

Hi J.! First off I think the best comfort I can offer you is to let you know that you are on the right track by singing to your son and doing what you can to comfort him. When my daughter was a baby and did that very same thing, the first time was around 10 months old.....the pediatrician explained that at certain ages Separation Anxiety is stronger and that my daughter simply wanted a little more comfort and reassurance from us that everything was ok. He said 10 mons., 14-16 mons., and 20-22 mons., were some times to be aware of...I hope this gives you a good starting point, anyway. Perhaps reading about toddlers and SA will give you some ideas too. Good Luck and hang in there it should pass soon.
W.
p.s. The Night terror reponses are excellent suggestions too.

My son, who is now 23, went through the same thing at that age. The doctor called it "night terrors" and it usually occurred after he had a busy day. He would wake up screaming, staring straight ahead with a frightened look on his face. He was still dreaming. What worked for me was to sit calmly with him for a minute, talking to him gently and then I would offer to take him to the kitchen for graham crackers and milk. We would sit quietly at the kitchen table for 5-10 minutes while he nibbled at the crackers and sipped the milk. It seemed to do the trick because when I would ask if he was ready to go back to bed, he would nod his head yes and then would go back and that would be the end of it. The key is to talk calmly, reassuring him, and help him to gently awaken from the dream. He grew out of it after a few months. I believe the physical activity of getting out of bed helped to slowly awaken him and the milk helped to relax him to go back to sleep when he went back to bed. Hope this helps!

Hi J., Sounds a lot like night terrors, like everyone else has said. My mom said I had them until I was 4. She never said when they started but she makes it seem like forever! I'm sure it felt that way. She said the doctors didn't know what to do and later she read that if you wake your child slightly before the terror begins it won't happen. For me, I would fall asleep and 30 mins later, on the nose, I would wake up screaming.
Good luck!
K.
ps. I don't remember them at all!

Maybe read up on "night terrors" (or ask your ped) and see if what you find sounds like what you are seeing with your child. They are surprisingly common. My oldest went through two periods (about a month or two each) when she woke (seemed awake, but wasn't) and nothing I could do comforted her. She'd go back to sleep after a bit (maybe 10-15 mins) If it is night terrors, I was actually told that it's best not to try to wake them (although it breaks your heart to hear them cry and you want to help- it just doesn't and will end on it's own). Good luck!