Help with Night Terrors

A friend of mine told me that her son had them more often when he was too hot so she did not use heavy blankets or socks on him.

My daughter went through the same thing. They are untreatable but my doctor did say that they are usually caused by some emotional distress or them being upset about something. It can also be caused by some medicanes. My daughter took Singular and an asthma medicane and we took her off those and she hasnt had them since. Good Luck

Hi L., We have a 6 year old who does the same thing at night and we moved to a new house in May on the weekend of 23 & 24 and he doesn't wake up now as we haven't got TV at the moment and a lot of the kids programs on TV are about monsters and such with a lot of fighting of the good against the evil person and he hasn't had them since we moved and we believe its because of the TV programs that are for kids and some of the programs shouldn't be shown to little ones and I'm not sure what your kids watch on TV, but it may pay you to see what they watch even if you have to watch it with them to make sure it isn't too violent or have evil monsters in the show they are watching. We take it for granted that if its for kids we don't have to see or take notice of what they watch as we believe that its ok for them to watch. I'm not saying that they shouldn't watch TV, but be aware of what they watch and it could help in this area as its helped us. Ed

Our daughter used to do this as well. We found that turning the TV off at least an hour or more before bed really helped. We also prayed over her as she was having them and the length seemed to shorten.

When my daughter started that about that age, I got some air freshener. I made her get into the bed and turned off the lights. Then, I would spray the nightmare spray (air freshener) in her room and told her that it keeps the nightmares away. She's 5 and still asks for it sometimes. It seemed to help. Good luck!

Night terrors are awful. What worked for us is we would not allow him to eat anything A. hour before bedtime. He could drink but not eat. He had A. hour wind down time before bed. This worked for us to get him past his terrors. Another parent advised to wake the child up 2 hours into his sleep then allowing them to go back to sleep, this is to break his sleep cycle. And remove anything newly introduced to his room when the night terrors started. I know it sounds weird but night terror doesn't make sense either. A mom swears that she bought a coo-coo clock for her son and it triggered his night terrors. She got rid of it and the terrors stopped. Good Luck.

My now 8 year old daughter experienced similar terrors. She would sometimes kick and hit during her fits and would often sleep walk. She went through this for about 6 months to a year, at which time our 2nd daughter had been born. It was tough since the entire household (and neighbors) get woken up by the event. Unfortunately, the only thing we could do was to cuddle her as best we could, attempt to wake her and reassure her once she woke. Her doctor's stated that there isn't a treatment for it and that she would grow out of it. While I know it is tough to be going through it right now this is something that will pass, in time. Try and search for night terrors on the net to see if there are any helpful articles about it. At the time we were going through it there were some.

I am sorry I can't be more helpful.

My cousin's daughter has/had night terrors as well. I am unsure when they started but she now takes Zoloft. It may just be a really low dose. Have you thought too about the food he eats at dinner, snacks before bed, change in environment? Good luck! :-)

My oldest had them every night from the time she was 9 months old until she was about 3 1/2. We discovered that it was worse if she was overly tired when she went to bed, but also if we didn't touch her or talk to her during them they didn't last as long. I know it's hard because you want to console them, but I read that the stimulation makes it worse. Her were lasting about 45 mins. When we stopped trying to hold her and talk to her they only lasted about 10 mins. Also, when she was 2 her doctor put her on a medicine that he said was similar to an antihistamine. She took it at night before she went to sleep for 30 days. It stopped for a while and then came back so we did the medicine again for 30 days and it stopped for good. Her pediatrician is Dr. Morchower in Richardson. He is worth the drive. He's been in practice for over 40 years. Good Luck!

Is he on any allergy prescriptions? Some of them cause things like this...

My son had them too starting about age 3. They are really scary for the parents the first few times because you have no idea what is going on! I remember that fear. Again, the Dr. said there is nothing you can do and he will grow out of them. My son only had them a year or two. Now he just walks in his sleep. He has never done anything dangerous in his sleep and is very pleasant actually. It is funny. Anyway...night terrors....don't try to wake him up or get angry with him or cause stress in any way. Simply hold him if he will allow it and talk softly and calmly until they subside. They never lasted more than 4 or 5 minutes for my son once I started talking softly to him, holding him if I could or just softly stroking his head/face if not. He won't remember it in the morning. They do subside and don't seem to do any harm as long as they are not so bad that he is causing injury to himself.

Good luck! They will get better.

My oldest went through this and then my second one went through this. The doctor says it usually ends when they turn 8yrs old. I know you probably didnt want to hear that. My son had his until he was 8yrs old. We were told to wake him up about 30minutes before the night terror would start. You have to take note of what time every night it takes place. It is usually an hour to two hours after they have been asleep. You go in and wake them up, ask them a question to see if they are really awake. Then put them back to sleep. When they are having the night terrors, dont try to talk to them because it makes them more scared. Just hold them tight and rock them. Sometimes my sons would fight me and not want me to hold them, but I held their arms down and rocked them, and they calmed down. My 2 yr old daughter has started also, and I have done the same thing with her, and its not as bad as the boys were. I was also told its hereditary.....Good Luck! Keep us posted if this works for ya.

We experienced this when our son was about 18 months old. Our pediatrician told us to simply make sure they don't hurt themselves, which wasn't always easy. We read online that taking socks off sometimes helps? We also would wash his face with a washcloth and just try to hold and console him. We walked outside with him and even turned on music or the tv to distract him. He eventually stopped, though I don't know that it was because of anything we did. Our thoughts are with you!

My now 6 year old has had them since he was a baby. Not very many now though. Never been on any medicine for anything and no major household changes.

We used to just get him and try to comfort him as much as possible. We also used get a cool towel and wipe his face. Try to wake him up if you can even though it is often hard to do. They never remember the next day.

I know it's frustrating but I can say that our son's have tapered off and he hardly ever has them now. Maybe once or twice every other month. He used to have them almost 3-4 times a week.

Our son had these also. Our pedi said that it was a phase he would go through and then they would end. Sure enough, after awhile they ended. WIth our son, he didn't respond to us during the night terrors so we just made sure he was safe (as he sometimes he would get out of bed).

Good luck.

I am guessing they are in the same room? My daughter had night terrors nightly for 9 months at the same age. They stopped when we moved her in with her sister. She has Sensory Integration Issues (read the book Out of Sync Child to learn more). We were told that this is typical with SI kids. At first we were told it is also a symptom of ADHD. I wish I had better advice, but putting my girls together nearly stopped them. She is now nearly 6 and still has them occassionally-- we find that she is most likely to have them if she has had lots of sugar that day-- birthday party days, etc.
I feel for your family!
A.

I didn't read the other advice, but we thought my son had them when he was younger. When I brought it up to the pediatrician, he suggested taking note of whether the night terrors occur at the same time every night. If so, set an alarm for yourself and wake him up a few minutes before his regularly scheduled "terror," stay up for a minute or two, then put him back to sleep. We never did need to try it with our son, because he stopped shortly after that, but it's worth a try!
Good luck!

I have been there, luckily I had a friend who had a daughter with them and I know what it was. He would scare me to death when he would start screaming in the middle of the night. All I can say is he is now 12 and has not had one in probably 5 years. My friend's daughter also out grew them. If they occur very often you might want to talk to your doctor but I try to give my children and myself as little medication as possible and they were not happening on a regular basis so I was not willing to medicate him. If it seems to be interfering with his life or the family's life I would consult your doctor.

My daughter has them as well, off and son since she was 3. They can sometimes be caused when your child is overtired. Did he recently give up his nap? You could try putting him to bed earlier or giving him a nap in the day if he doesn't have one already. All I've learned to do is wait it out and sit with her. Sometimes I'll take her to the bathroom and once she goes she wakes up. My daughter's started right after she started going to preschool and didn't have a long enough nap due to being at school. She's now almost 6 and she's had them off and on ever since. She just had one last night! Anyway, she is a twin also and her twin brother never gets them. Don't know why. Good luck and hang in there!