Night Terrros

Hi A.,
I agree with Kristin's take on the situation. Typically, kids experience this as they grow, but often times it is a direct result of being overtired or going to sleep too late at night....thoughts??

D.

High A.,

I'm sorry it's happening to your daughter. I haven't had any personal experiences with night terrors or nightmares but I remember reading about them in Pathways magazine (pathwaystofamilywellness.org) several months ago. It described a case of a young boy where a chiropractic adjustment to the neck relieved his night terrors. Also, if it is an emotional issue, you may want to find out more about Emotional Freedom Technique (www.emofree.com). It's easy to learn and it works even though it sounds too good to be true. Please let me know if you'd like some more info. Hope you find a solution that is best for your daughter soon.

J. K.

How old is she? Have there been any dramatic changes going on? Any illnesses or changes in school situations? Fears come from all sorts of things that also include insecurities and just day-to-day things that become uncomfortable to a child causing an anxiety that you would not even recognize. The manifestation can then result in nigh tares. Just giving her positive reinforcements during the day and keeping her active in things she likes to do and has complete mastery over will help. Just talking and soothing comfort during the day. Is there a night time routine you follow? I can just suggest lots of affection to help her get past those feelings or redirect them. Lots of times kids start to have feelings of loss of a parent or something they care about or even some type of harm that can be caused to them.

Hi A.,

Is your daughter having night terrors or nightmares? They are very different. They occur during different phases of sleep. Night terrors occur during the first four hours of sleep during the REM phase. Your daughter would still be asleep but seem as if she's awake. She'd not recognize you and it is best to leave her alone b/c she is actually sleeping and will not remember it in the morning. Night terrors usually last 10-30 min. Just stay nearby so you know she's not hurting herself. A nightmare occurs during the lighter phase of sleep (after the first four hours). She would remember having a bad dream. This is what it sounds like if she is not wanting to go back to sleep. Do what you can to soothe her and as other posts said examine what is happening in your life and see if it may be playing a role. Talk to her about it and reassure any insecurities she may be experiencing. Good luck!

My son experiened the same thing. The worst thing you can do is let them sleep with you. The thing that worked for me was to take my nightshirt and slip his pillow in it. It had my scent and was a comfot to him. Whenever there is a sleep issue it seems to work.

I have given this advice to a few mom's and it always works for any type of sleep issue. There is noting like Mom to make you feel better. I'm 45 and it still works for me!!!

A., My nephew went through these for several years. My sister ended up using a lavender spray on his bed and/or letting a candle burn in his room about an hour before it was time for him to go to bed and then she removed the candle and it ended up making him relax. It was aweful watching him go through this. There was several nights he had to spend the night with me and he would just wake up out of nowhere. Actually I dont even know if he was "awake" when he was having these. And when he was unable to go back to sleep, my sister would light the candle and sit in his room with him and rub his back until he could relax again to fall back to sleep. Lavendar is used in many things to help people relax. Good Luck

Hi Autum - I feel your pain!!! I am not an expert in the area - I don't know when in your sleep cycle nightmares or night terrors occur, but I do know that there is a VAST difference between the 2. My daughter, now 3, had night terrors about 2 times a week for what seemed like forever. She would "wake up" screaming and crying. Sometimes she would just sit on her bed other times she would wander around her room. The one thing that was the same was that she did not respond to me, it was like I wasn't even there. Sometimes she would actually wake up and wonder why she was out of bed, other times she would just crawl back under her blanket and go back to sleep. Regardless of how it ended the following was always the same - she didn't respond to others and in the morning she had no recollection of the event. Now, these are far less frequent lately, maybe once a month and I cannot for the life of me fighure out what the trigger was/is. My M. said that I had night terrors every night of my life from the age of 1 until I was 5!!! I count my blessings that this didn't happen here.

As far as nightmares go, she has had a few pretty scary ones lately. The most recent being about bees that apparently her grandpa brought over. It was almost as if she was having hallucinations -she really believed that the bees were there and could talk to me about them and ask me to help her. These she remembers in the morning. I always try to avoid the subject the next day and she always bring it up. The morning after the bees she said to me, "M., why did GG bring the bees to the house yesterday?".

I wish I could help you figure out how to soothe your daughter through what sound like nightmares, but I don't have any answers. Just cuddle her tight and make sure that she knows you are there to protect her no matter what. I know that it isn't easy...good luck!

I just wrote Dr. Lauri Quin Lowenberg, the national dream doctor, about this a few nights ago. She said that there are a few options.

She said night terrors are not nightmares because they don't happen during REM sleep (REM is the part of sleep where we dream), and are caused by a rough transition between the 5 sleep stages. She said usually with a night terror there IS no dream which is why the kids can't tell you what's so terrifying afterwords.

She said that a wave machine may help to stabelize (sp?) the brain waves- like it's calming and stuff and may counteract against the difficult sleep transitions.

She also said walking in and saying something really off the walls like "look at the pink elephant in the window" may snap the kid out of it, or a little cold water.

But sometimes just leaving the kid to get through it is less traumatizing than waking her up.

She also said that it's hard to snap a kid out of a night terror cuz it happens during the deepest sleep. Howeve,r she said most kids grow out of it.

Good luck!!!

The first thing that you need to do is figure out if it is a night terror or a nightmare. I have only had experience with the night terrors. If it is a ngiht terror, your daughter isn't even awake when it's happening. And when she looks at you, does it seem like she's staring right thru you? And things that normally calm her down do not work. The only thing to do is sit next to her and wait it out. Just keep saying in a calm tone "Mommy's here. It's okay." Until she stops crying / screaming. My son starting having night terrors about 9 months ago. At first they were every night. Now it's maybe once every two weeks. It's harder on the parent to see it then it is for the child to go thru it - the child doesn't even remember it. Hope this has helped a little.

Hi A.,

How old is your little girl? My daughter is almost 2 and has these every once in a while. Sometimes she wakes up and doesn't even realize we're there, while kicking a screaming. She will go through a week or 2 of having these and then be fine. Once she wakes up,I have found that putting her in her bed and then laying on the floor next to her crib works well. She knows that I'm there and is able to fall back asleep. I sometimes bring her into our bed when they're really bad. Though I don't like to make a habit of this, because she likes to lay horizontal on our bed and ends up kicking me :) Also watch what she eats before bed time. I have heard that certain dyes in food or sugar can cause night terrors. I hope this helps. Good luck!

-T.