Night Terrors? - Katy,TX

Hi B., My son began having what we think are night terrors when he was 5 1/2 months old. Freaked me out something awful! He would be crying in bed and his whole body would be stiff. We wouldn't be able to wake him up. We would pick him up and he would stay stiff and continue to cry with his eyes closed. It would take about 5 minutes to wake him up. He has had them about 1 to 2 times a month since then until he was about 20 months old. He is now 28 months old and rarely has one because we have figured out that they only occur if he is mentally and physically exausted. There have been 3 occasions in the past few months in which he has skipped a nap during the day and when he does this he will wake up about an hour into his sleep all sweaty and crying. We have to turn on all the lights and remove him from his room, hold him, and talk to him to get him to wake up. The only solution we have for this is for him to not get to the state of exhaustion before going to bed at night.

We also had them. My daughter would only quiet down when her father held her firmly against his chest and slightly rocked her. She wouldn't let me near her. She outgrew them and sleeps 10-12 hrs now, when I can get her in bed! She's 14.

My son experienced something similar when he was a baby. I am not sure if it is night terrors or not, but he would be screaming in his sleep and I could not wake him. I could only hold him and sometime he would open his eyes but not be aware that he was awake, and still screaming. Only thing that really worked was to to cuddle him and talk to him softly...

Did you change his food at night before bed? I had a problem with one of my girls when giving her dinner baby foods at night. They would give her a lot of gas. The we would be up with belly aches. Maybe try giving the cereal and just a fruit or veggie? Good Luck!