Night Terrors!

Well Colby has night terrors. Anyone ever dealt with this? Any advice on how to help them through it? How long did it last for you? I need sleep!Any advice or words of encouragement would be great. I feel so helpless when he is still asleep and screaming at the top of his lungs and fighting me. I just don't know what to do. Thanks in advance!


Amber

 

Well Colby has night terrors. Anyone ever dealt with this? Any advice on how to help them through it? How long did it last for you? I need sleep!Any advice or words of encouragement would be great. I feel so helpless when he is still asleep and screaming at the top of his lungs and fighting me. I just don't know what to do. Thanks in advance!


Amber

 

I have night terrors. I'm sorry to say that there isn't much you can do to keep him from having them, but there is a good chance he'll outgrow them. Really the only thing you can do is try to gently wake him (like going into a brightly lit room or calling his name). From experience I can say that night terrors are harder on the spouse/parent than the dreamer.

 

It takes a lot to wake him up in them. We try shaking (not hard) and calling his name, standing him up, even opening his eyes for him. He doesn't wake up. We tried Benedryl last night (pedi told us to) and it helped a little. He sleeps with us and I get no sleep because he is a very restless sleeper anyway. I just want it to end for his sake and mine! It doesn't wake dh up only me. Men! I hate that he gets good sleep everynight and I am up all night but that is a completely different complaint that I won't bother anyone else with! Thanks!

 

How many times a night does he have them? We just had our first one last night (Sarah) and I did some reading, and got the impression that they are usually only once per night (though no one was very clear about that).

The only suggestions I saw for how to prevent them were to make sure he is not overtired (i.e., earlier bedtime, longer naps, or let him sleep later in the morning -- if you have any control over any of that), and try to make bedtime as un-stimulating as possible. No TV, no extra noise, maybe a long bath (if he likes that) or some extra time just cuddling and reading books, or whatever he finds soothing.

I also read someplace that they may be triggered (at least sometimes) by something external waking the baby up slightly -- like a noise outside, or someone dropping something in the house. So I wonder if maybe he would sleep more soundly on his own? (Unless you've already tried that....)

The other suggestion I saw, for night terrors that tend to happen at the same time every night, is to wake him up before the time they usually happen. Then just put him back to sleep. That sort of interrupts the sleep cycle and may prevent the terror. It does mean you have to wake a sleeping baby, though.

Don't know if any of this helps -- I feel for you!

 

He goes to sleep at 7:30 and with me not getting them home from daycare till almost 6pm I can't get everything done and get them to bed any earlier. He won't take longer naps day care has tried. He refuses to sleep anywhere but with me. After he wakes up the first time if I lay him in his crib again he wakes up crying. Now I have him spoiled with that and I don't think he is really comfortable in bed w/ us but will not sleep w/o us. That is why I am so tired. He is very restless. But the night terrors are only 1 time at night. But they are anywhere from 2am to 4am. So I don't know when they are going to happen that specific night to know when to wake him up. i will try it though. i have tried about everything else! Thanks

 

I thought Skylar was having Night Terrors and I asked my peditrician about them and she said that there was no way she was having terrors that young. So I told her maybe she should come stay with them for a couple of nights and see. I mean she would be asleep for 45 minutes and just wake up screaming and shaking. Mind you her eyes weren't even open. So when I told my doctor she thought I was crazy. I just tried different things and I finally found a way that she doesn't wake up. I put a small tv in her room and she sleeps through the night now.

 

My son Landon has had night terrors since he was about one. I am a School Counselor and my sister is a Psychologist, and I know that some drs. say that it is too early but I disagree. Landon would be asleep for 2 hours then wake screaming. He tends to have them in spurts. He will go for months without any, and then have them every night for like a week. I have also noticed that he has them more often in unfamiliar surroundings (ie. beach, visiting friends). He also has asthma and eczema (spelling) and ironically it seems that he has a bad breakout also during this time.
When he has them he often says he is hungry, and if I give him a little snack he wakes up enough to calm down and go back to sleep.

Good luck!!!

 

glennboys,

Thank you! I haven't tried feeding him because he normally goes right back to sleep when he calms down. But maybe I should. His pedi said right away that it was night terrors. So I don't have to worry about arguing with her about it. He also sleeps really restless but I think that is because he sleeps with me. I can't really change that now because my dh and I and the boys are going home to TN for about 2 months then moving to Okinawa Japan. If I make him sleep in his own bed now before we leave he will be right back with us in a month. I am terrified of all the changes coming up!Anyway thanks for all the advice and words of encouragement everyone!

Amber