anyone have experience especially with night terrors? I have done some research and it seems that ds might have them. Some nights Josh does the "normal" wake up screaming and comes finds mom and dad. But nights (like last night) are different. Josh "wakes up" screaming bloody murder and is competely inconsolable. He doesn't come find us at all but we have to go to his bed. His eyes are open sometimes but it is like he is still sleeping and just completely inconsolable by dh or me and just screams for over an hour. it take a good hour before we can even get him to calm down and really wake up to be able to talk to us and him to really respond to us. Does anyone have advise or experience which anything like this?

I've not had personal experience here but have a nephew that went through having those as well as a good friend who's son had them too. :( very sad and scary. I'll be praying for poor little Josh! I can only sympathize at this point, sorry I have no advice.

Yeah, we went through this with Carissa. She started having episodes when she was around three. Now, I'm firmly against the idea that you shouldn't wake them up. For us, that was the only way to calm Carissa down. Of course, she thought she was already awake...

If you've ever been a sleep walker or talker, you may have a better understanding of what it's like for them. They're stuck between awake and asleep, but they think they're awake. You don't want to patronize or antagonize them because they're already freaked out and super sensitive.

With Carissa, I'd go into her room and turn her lamp up (we put a dimmer on her lamp). Then I'd sit with her, holding and rocking her very calmly. Anything she said, no matter how confused, I just agreed with her. I'd gently talk to her like she was awake, but not with too many words because that was even more frustrating for her.

It was after I stopped trying to control the situation that her episodes became really short. I'd turn the lamp up, sit with her, hold her and begin quietly and slowly talking to her until she became fully awake, and it's like her subconscious began to recognize the routine. The episodes became much fewer and further apart.

Carissa just turned 15 this week, and she's still a sleep walker/talker. Our routine is much like it was when she was little. She doesn't get all upset anymore, of course. I'll catch her walking out of her room and I'll walk over to her like there's nothing out of the ordinary happening. I take hold of her hand and agree with whatever she says as I lead her back to her room. When she struggles to to explain what's happening, I ask her if she'll tell me all about it over breakfast. That really works for her because she gets frustrated trying to find the words to describe the dream she was having that she's convinced is real.

Carissa still remembers her night terrors (we've never called them that with her. Don't want to scare her with the word 'terror'. Sounds out of control. ). She said she would wake up and everything around her would be spinning and moving back and forth really fast, and she couldn't stop it or focus on anything. She said she learned to get through it by listening to me talk and staring at her lamp, so the light and steady voice seemed to really be the ticket in our case.

Soo, a quick question... Are you tucking Josh in at night while he's still awake, or are you rocking him to sleep or putting him to bed after he falls asleep elsewhere? What's his tuck in, lights out routine like? Is he totally conscious for it, or does he wake up to find himself in bed?

Also, what's happening in the house after he dozes off? Is there a loud TV on that suddenly goes off later and the house gets quiet? A baby crying and commotion, then quiet?

Josh's subconscious will recognize these things are happening and may be alerting him to changes he feels (subconsciously) he needs to be awake for.

Carissa only had night terrors when she wasn't able to complete her full tuck-in routine, usually because she fell asleep early. She needed that closure. And now, she only sleep walks/talks when she falls asleep before I've properly tucked her in, or when she's overly excited about something. Routine is very important to her, and consistency. And she's someone who gets emotionally excited about things, like she could hardly sleep the night before her birthday this week. It's all part of a pattern for her.

Okay, enough rambling from sistah Joy.... for now. :razz:

[lovewuvu]

Joy [welcomewave]

Dainie has done this a few times. We can't touch her or talk to her as it makes her worse. Hubby has sung to her and that seems to help, something calm that they know. We've also prayed over her as she's done it.

For her it seems that she does it more when she is hitting a new development stage. I come from a family of sleep walkers (I never did it though) and my husband walked in his sleep so this is stuff we are expecting with the kids.

We've only had similar things happen a couple times... I slip a piece of chocolate into their mouths... then they're suddenly wide awake asking for more, LOL... it's really rare here though. neither dh or I sleepwalk, DH does talk in his sleep sometimes though....

My oldest has night terrors. We've finally figured out that it is directly connected to a lack of sleep. Either going to bed late for whatever reason, or the night after getting a poor sleep. We've not yet completely sorted the best way to deal with them. Usually we just sit with him and rub his back if he will let us. When he is talking in them, like JoyLynn, we just agree with whatever he says or say something like "lets do that in the morning, okay?" Some nights are worse than others....he can wake up to 3-4 times. Others it is just once and he settles easily. Thankfully they are getting less frequent in recent weeks. Hope that helps.

thank you all [loveyou] It is so difficult to even know if this is what it is....I can't even tell if he is awake or asleep usually. He will partly open his drowzy eyes look at me close them and keep crying. He has done this for the last 2 nights in a row. this is our 3rd series dealing with them since he started them about a year ago. they usually happen for a few nights in a row and then they will stop. He does have nightmares but these are COMPLETELY different than those which is why I figure they are terrors. I just now read these posts, but last night I did do what a lot of you suggested. Before we would just cuddle in bed and pray over him and sing to him, but nothing helped "stop" it. Last night though I did bring him out to the front room and talked to him about what we did that day and asked if he wanted juice or milk (which he couldn't answer but I was trying to get him to wake up) Finally he did wake up after a while and after I asked if he wanted to watch a movie. So last night's was a lot shorter about 30 min.

Joy asked: Soo, a quick question... Are you tucking Josh in at night while he's still awake, or are you rocking him to sleep or putting him to bed after he falls asleep elsewhere? What's his tuck in, lights out routine like? Is he totally conscious for it, or does he wake up to find himself in bed?

Also, what's happening in the house after he dozes off? Is there a loud TV on that suddenly goes off later and the house gets quiet? A baby crying and commotion, then quiet?

We do do a night time routine, however last night we didn't. Our routine is PJ's, teeth brush, book/cuddle time in bed, prayers, I sing Jesus loves me, kisses and lights out. Josh then plays/cries/reads for maybe another 30min and then falls asleep. Sarah does cry...but not like a colicky baby...and we do have TV on, but not loud. Josh a lot of the time sleeps with the light (full light) on but we turn it off once he is asleep...but we always do this so it isn't a sudden change. In fact, to my knowledge nothing has really changed. I wonder if it might be linked to development. I really have no clue. the only pattern I know is he usually happens for 2-3 nights in a row and then nothing for months. Also they usually happen before midnight....so we are always awake when they happen. dh and I both are not sleepwalker or talkers. maybe a word here or there but nothing that I would really consider a "talker" I used to have nightmares a lot as a kid...but nothing like this...I could always wake myself. Any other advice I would love.

Aww, poor little guy :(

Sorry, I have no advice, friend. Just letting you know I sympathize and will pray for his comfort and rest at night.

Didn't read all the other replies sorry, my firstborn suffered from night terrors at oh about 3 (it was some time ago he is almost 17 now)

We had no real routine with traveling and our work schedule sadly a full night time routine has never really existed to a "T". I mean we have always done bath, brush teeth some books or coloring but well nothing set to the exact time of a clock just an about time. An exact routine has never been feasible in our line of work.

I just remember feeling so scared at first when he experienced them. Than sometimes I would have trouble sleeping worrying if he was going to have a night terror that night how I would do the routine of bringing him around because my son's night terrors happened when we were all asleep and I just wanted to remember what worked when I was awaken by his screams/cries that yes were different.

For us it was calm and gentle carrying, as you stated taking him to the couch talking and what worked best was taking him to the mirror in the bathroom running some warm water wiping his face with a wash cloth saying "look Bobby its okay look mommy/daddy is right here see do you see us in the mirror with you?" Gently talking him awake. And eventually he would relax and go back to sleep.

For us it was just time. He eventually grew out of it, never pin pointed it to one thing or the other. Some here have had success with diet change, no dairy before bed etc. but nothing pin pointed it with us. And my first born was the only one that had them thankfully because hugs mom they are hard and disheartening at times.

If you don't get all the answers you were looking for or if something I wrote rings a bell just drop me a pm and I would be happy to answer anything you might want to know.

hugs and prayers

A had night terrors for awhile. Sounds exactly as you described it. We had to really be careful with what she watched especially before bed. Keeping bedtime routines simple and calming is great. It's like Joy said, they get stuck in that phase of being asleep and being awake and since that is the phase where they are processing the days events that is what makes night terrors occur. I agree with the advice given. Simply being there for them is the first thing. Also look into diet and daytime factors which could be contributing, like tv and movies. Simple things we wouldn't even think of like Disney movies are sometimes hard for little ones to truly fathom. Praying that his terrors get better.

anyone have experience especially with night terrors? I have done some research and it seems that ds might have them. Some nights Josh does the "normal" wake up screaming and comes finds mom and dad. But nights (like last night) are different. Josh "wakes up" screaming bloody murder and is competely inconsolable. He doesn't come find us at all but we have to go to his bed. His eyes are open sometimes but it is like he is still sleeping and just completely inconsolable by dh or me and just screams for over an hour. it take a good hour before we can even get him to calm down and really wake up to be able to talk to us and him to really respond to us. Does anyone have advise or experience which anything like this?

Hugs to you. I hope everyone was able to have a restful night's sleep last night.

We too have night terror sleepers. The intensity from child to child is different, but my oldest sufferers the most. She'll shout, scream, and thrash in her bed. My girls share a room so the other dd will some times wake up from her sissy's episode and stroke her arm, or say, 'there, there' to her (that's what I say). As others have posted, night terrors the frequency of night terrors has diminished as they've gotten older.

I wonder if it's TV related? Hhmm... I used to talk in my sleep as a child, but never had "night terrors" where I woke up screaming, and none of my kids do... we don't have Cable TV and regulate movies carefully so that they aren't exposed to scary images.

I dunno... I have friends who's children do this and the only difference between their children and mine are that theirs are TV watchers. that's all I've got, I wish I had more advice for ya. It looks like you've gotten a lot of good responses though~

I wonder if it's TV related? Hhmm... I used to talk in my sleep as a child, but never had "night terrors" where I woke up screaming, and none of my kids do... we don't have Cable TV and regulate movies carefully so that they aren't exposed to scary images.

I dunno... I have friends who's children do this and the only difference between their children and mine are that theirs are TV watchers. that's all I've got, I wish I had more advice for ya. It looks like you've gotten a lot of good responses though~

That's a good point Jen... we don't have a TV either and really, we've only had a few instances. BUT I can say when we were living at the in-laws, MIL let Katherine see some inappropriate things on the TV and she *did* have nightmares that night...

we regulate what J sees pretty well, but I will keep that in mind (actually already do) the only reason I don't think thats the cause is because we didn't introduce any new movies