My son has these horrible bouts where he is crying but won't tell us what is going on. He is awake but obviously having some sort of night terror. I am not sure what we can do at this point. Does anyone have any experience/advice for this?
is he getting enough sleep? My 7 yr old gets them when he is over tired. he runs around in circles, cries and yells. neat. We get him into or bed. and hug him until he relaxes and goes to sleep.
Hi N.,
Night Terrors are way worse for the parents than for the one who is having them. He doesn't even know.
Just think of it like he can't shut his brain off. He doesn't have any other way to express it, so it's yelling and thrashing.
DO NOT WAKE HIM UP.
I wouldn't even comfort him, as you risk the chance of accidentally waking him up. This goes against ALL your parenting instincts. But know that it is the right thing to do. Just make sure he won't hurt himself. Not sure what age he is, but my daughter had night terrors before she was out of her crib and she bumped her head a couple times so I put the bumper-liner back on so there was a cushion (she was like 1 1/2 years old at the time).
As soon as his ability to process and 'shut off' catches up with his brain they will go away.
One thing people have suggested is a longer 'winding down' period before bed. We didn't do this, but others will say it is helpful as it gives the child more time to 'disengage' from what's going on around them. Seems to make sense, but like I said we didn't do this.
Good Luck and hang in there - it's frustrating, I know!
Here's a post I had put up previously on this question:
Run his feet under cool water. It totally worked for my son, helped him fully wake up (from my research night terrors occur when the kids get stuck, not fully awake and not fully asleep). We went through the same thing and running his feet under cool water helped ease him out of the screaming and get him back to sleep, but what kept the night terrors away was leaving his feet un-socked during the night. As soon as we started doing that (no more socks or footed pj's) he stopped having the night terrors. Go figure.
Our daughter has had them on and off for about a month now. Her pediatrician said that the best thing we can do is go in and comfort her till the screaming stops, and then lay her back down to sleep. He said that waking her up completely will make it worse. It has been hard to do as it will take awhile to calm her down, but when we lay her back down after she has calmed she goes right back to sleep.
Keep his pediatrician informed. It will get better... Just takes time.
My son has them and has had them since he was a little over a year old. He's now almost 7 years old. I notice he has them when he's had a very busy day and he gets overtired. I just go in and calm talk to him and maybe rub his back and soothe him until he wakes up. His worst night terror lasted 1/2 hour and I just sat with him the whole time. When he wakes up he doesn't remember anything and I just cuddle with him. He actually hasn't had one for a long time.
Look online and Google Search "Night Terrors."
It is different from "Night Mares."
It is developmental based.
How old is your son?
He is probably not telling you what is going on, because he does not know himself. Or, per communication, he does not know how to express it.
My son had night terrors. He would look like he was awake, but he wasn't, and he didn't want us to hold him. So I would just put my hand on his back until it was over. His usually lasted a couple minutes, then he would lay back down, and be fine for the rest of the night. The kids don't know why they are crying, so they can't tell you. Thankfully, he doesn't get them anymore. Good luck, hopefully he gets over them soon.
My kids used to get them, what we did was pray with them when they were happening or when we put them in bed. The nights we pray they don't happen, the times we pray while they are happening, they stop immediately (like mid scream stopped and she just was asleep like nothing happened). We are a very religious family though so that could be it.
My son has them. They started at age 3 and he is now 6. Like other said, they tended to happen on nights when he was getting enough sleep. He would also have them on nights when he was worried about something...when Daddy was out of town, when Mommy was in the hospital, etc. The best thing is just to comfort them as best you can and wait it out and put them back to sleep. Some kids dont' want to be held, the only way my son would calm down was if my hubby laid down with our son on top of him and bear hugged him tight until it was over. Then we would put my son back in bed and the next morning my son would have no recollection of it.
I'd say it was worse duirng ages 3-4 because he still wasn't able to truly express himself. Now he maybe has one once a year.
