Does anyone have any suggestions on sleepwalking and night terrors in children and how to deal with this issue? In particular, has anyone found connections between these activities and certain preservatives, additives or foods? I strongly feel that there is a connection. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. My 7 year old daughter has struggled for years with these. Thank you!
Well, the night terrors have improved. The changes we have made include reducing sugar intake before bed. Even avoiding fruit. Complex carbs seem to help. Night time choices for snacks that have helped her sleep better have been pasta, oatmeal, toast. I did notice when I added cinn. sugar to her toast she had a night terror and slept walk. It does seem helpful to have her stop sugar intake earlier. I also started giving both children Little Critters Omega 3's with gummy vitamins. They love them. I am considering probiotics as I have colitis. Thank you to all for your feedback! I really appreciate it!
My daughter also had night terrors. We found that she would have them when she ate chocolate in the evening. We cut out chocolate after dinner and she has not had one since! Hope this helps!
H.
Thanks for asking this question! My son (22 months) has night terrors periodically and I was assuming it was mostly because his dad has them too... but lately I have been looking for a pattern. It does seem to happen more when his schedule/life is disturbed, like when he is sick or on antibiotics or spent all day with grandma who let him eat pounds of chocolate cake. It does seem if I give him something sugary before bed like chocolate milk he will have them in the middle of the night, when normally he sleeps 12 hours through with no waking or talking or sleep problems... I know with dad processed foods definitely play a part- the more he eats the more it happens. I will be on the look-out for patterns and I will be reading your responses, thanks!
The only advice I can give is to put hook locks on the outside doors at night. My little brother locked himself out of the house in the winter one time. In the morning he was curled up between the screen door and the main door shivering, trying to get warm. Yet he was still asleep, or had gone back to sleep. We were lucky, it could have been very bad. This isn't meant to scare you, just warn you. Good luck.
My daughter had them when she would miss naps or was overly tired. I think it has to do with your adrenaline surging (trying to keep you awake) and going to sleep with it like that. Make sure they are going to bed on time - getting 11 hours of sleep and winding down before bedtime. My daughter needed naps until she was 5 1/2 and if she didn't get one, she'd have a night terror. She's 8 now and hasn't had one for a long time.
My brother suffered from these for a long time (he did grow out of it by the time he hit his teen years) and my youngest daughter also suffers from night terrors. I have not found any food or preservative links, and I have looked for a connection. My daughter doesn't have them frequently, but what I have managed to wonder about is if hers is a stress reaction. Because of my daughters age I have just held her until it passes, attempting to wake her up. My mom always had my brother go to the bathroom, that would wake him up and snap him out of it. Good luck!!!
Hi K. - My 4 y/o has been having night terrors for a few years now and there has never been a connection made to food - they always seem to occur with being too tired. Any time her schedule is interupted, or she is lacking sleep, you can be assured that one will occur - and a couple of times, sleep walking occured with them (we've decided not to remove the gate at the top of the stairs). I talked to my doctor about it & one of the worst things a parent can do is try to wake them out of it (I discovered this the hard way) - it prolongs the terror. You're best to talk calmly to your child, assure her that everything will be fine, you love her, etc. and let her be. She will eventually lay back down, restful, and will not remember a thing in the morning (that's one of the differences between a night terror and a nightmare). All in all, when my daughter is kept on schedule, with enough sleep, the terrors are kept at bay. Fortunately, it's the parents that are left reeling from one of these - the children don't remember a thing! But very terrifying to see, for sure - good luck.
We thought my daughter was having night terrors (sleeping brain, waking body)....but it was actually ear aches...once we had tubes put in, they completely stopped (and we felt awful!!). Anyway... we did a lot of research and spoke a lot with our pediatrician. She was very young at the time...started about 10 mos...tubes in at 17 mos, so I don't think diet had anything to do with hers because she wasn't really eating/drinking anything beside whole, organic foods.
We did learn the following.... stress and changes in routine, excess tiredness all cause and/or contribute to night terrors. We were told that they are cyclical... they happen about the same time every night (which they did)... and that we could wake her about 20 minutes before... and break the cycle. I never tried that because she was hard to get back to sleep so either way I was up.
Good luck...
I did the same thing until my late teens. When I was older I found out I had sever mineral deficiency and dangerously low protien levels when that got straightened out I slept great.
The man who helped me is Dr. Randy Tent in Novi Mich. He is a naturolpath and chiropractor. It maybe worth the drive. Good luck.
My 5 yr old has had night terrors since the age of 2, and is now starting to sleep walk with them. We have not found that food has any link with the terrors. Normally they are caused from being really tired or overdoing it during the day. Making her go to the bathroom helps to wake her up and then she sleeps fine. Our doctors say that there is not much you can do, but if you do notice that they happen at the same time every night to set your alarm and wake her up 5 to 10 min before she normally has them, apparently it has something to do with the relm of sleep they are in. Good Luck.
I wonder the same thing - my 17 month old has been wakeing up at night again, over the past month or so, and having, what seems to us to be, night terrors. He will wake from a sound sleep, screaming like someone is in his bedroom pulling out his nails...it's that bad. Then, when we go in there, he doesn't want to be held, wants to be put down, then, paces around for a period of time, crying, until he finally calms down. He doesn't seem to want to be alone in his bed for the whole night anymore. I don't know what to do. He has a rather sensitive stomach and is on Lactaid, but, we do give him some cheese and yogurt to eat that is regular dairy. He is a VERY picky eater and only eats a select few items so far, so, I hate to take away the cheese and yogurt and it doesn't seem to bother his stomach, but, really, I wonder if it has something to do with his night issues and, sometimes, what seem like mood swings. I wonder if it's just him becoming a toddler, or, if there's more to it. Does any of this sound like your child?
My son had night terrors for years. I never found any connection with food or anything else. It happened when he was tired and when he was feeling great.
The good news is, the doctors told me they would end around 7 years old, and they actually did. He had one bad when he was 8 and has never had a night terror since. He's 11 now.
Good luck and hang in there! They should be over soon!
C.
