night terrors...how do you handle?

I am just wondering how you handle night terrors or waking from a dream? Unfortunately Lily inherited my bad dreams and talking in her sleep so she is waking up about 2 to 4 times a night this week. Sometimes it is funny like last night when she kept yelling "Nooo I don't want to play now" and Max was sound asleep in his crib across the room. Most times she is crying hysterically, so DH goes in rubs her back, tells her "shhh...it's ok, it was only a dream, go back to sleep". Of course my mom is saying we should let her cry it out because that is what my ped told her over 35 years ago :wacko: . It is so hard not to comfort her and it does help her go back to sleep, but it wakes DH up a few times during the night. He would rather check on them to make sure they haven't gotten sick or something too.

 

Jack's started when he was around 1.5-2 and he still has them. Sometimes he has them a couple times a week to once a month. When he has his, you can't do anything to console him. He is glazy eyed and really has no idea what is going on or even where he is at. Sometimes it takes up to 20 minutes for him to snap out of it. It can get scary. Our pedi said not to try to restrain him or wake him up because it could make it worse. I do sit next to him in bed and try to rub his back and repeat over and over, mommy is right here, everything is okay.

 

Kiefer used to get them a lot when he was about 7 months all the way to about 1-1/2 maybe 2 years. He hasn't had them since...so far. I was also told to let him cry it out then. They don't know they are having any sort of night terror and won't remember a thing when they wake up. If they wake up because of being woken up, that can scare them more. If they wake up on their own, they tend to handle it better. It was also told to me it's good to be there for them, however, in case they wake up. It's also suggested to turn up the lights a little if they are on a dimmer so if they do wake up, nothing is too weird or dark for them, but not enough to wake them. Turn back down the lights once the terror stops. If they do wake up on their own and see a familiar face in their familiar, that can help. If you wake them up while having a night terror, they may not recognize you or the room around them, and you become part of the nightmare vision they are having. Things don't look right when they wake up. They could be having lucid dreaming and that can be very scary for a child. It's the same thing as walking in their sleep. You are not supposed to wake a sleepwalker cause it can seriously freak them out. It's better to just stay near by and make sure they are not hurting themselves.

Did I listen? I didn't purposely wake him, but I did pick Kiefer up during his night terrors and rock him very gently while shushing him softly. It was so hard when his screaming turned to twitching and shaking along with horrific cries. He'd wake up some times and cry more, but he'd calm down and go back to sleep very soon after that. Often he'd just cry and go back to sleep and never woke up while in my arms. I'd just put him back down in his crib and walk out. The next morning, it was like nothing ever happened. Cameron has had a few night terrors, but they weren't as traumatic as Kiefer's was. Often he'd just have a nightmare, he'd be awake when I walk in, and he'd be looking for some comfort. When it's a night terror, he won't acknowledge me even though his eyes are open (Kiefer was sometimes like that during his night terrors, so I was used to that). Then, when the night terror was over, Cameron would literally plop back on his pillow and would be fast asleep looking so peaceful as if nothing happened. Of course, Cameron's night terrors started at an older age (1-1/2 to 2-1/2 years old) than Kiefer's did. Kiefer was young for night terrors, so it was much harder to resist comforting him because he was still such a little baby.

 

Oh my, I would have totally freaked out over twitching and shaking as if this isn't bad enough. Plus you had both of them go through this at different times too. Right now she is mostly waking up crying hysterically and then she gets on her hands and knees rocking herself front to back which she has been doing since she could crawl to calm herself. I see it as her way of self soothing.

I was/am a sleepwalker too and I think that is why my mom is being so verbal about leaving her alone. As an adult I tend to talk or walk in my sleep when I am very stressed in life. The only time I hurt myself was shortly after we married I woke up jumping out of bed screaming and DH was trying to tell me it was just a dream, but I was dreaming someone was attacking me so I tried to run away from him since I was still dreaming and fell in the hallway. We ended up in the ER at 2am with a severely sprained wrist, elbow and shoulder that required a sling along with funny looks from the staff because I don't think they believed my story and thought I was covering up abuse. The worst was about a year after that I awoke to DH's muffled screams and I was kneeling over him in bed choking him with the sheet. Once again I was dreaming someone was attacking me and I was wrestling with them to break free to save myself. That scared the H*** out of both of us and thankfully we both woke up quickly with no damage done. DH likes to joke about the time I tried to choke him in my sleep and that I must have been after the life insurance, which we didn't have then :blink: .