Ds began having them about 3 months ago and has had about 7. Is anyone familiar with them? It is absolutly awful for dh and I to see him have one although I have read that unlike nightmares, the kids don't have any recollection of them. He does go right back to sleep when it's over. I read that they are caused by being overtired, overstimulation or change in sleep routines. Sometimes I can clearly see why he has had one (eg a family party, traveling to an unfamiliar place) but last night he had one and nothing like this had occured. He is on a really good sleeping schedule and he goes to be by 6:30 and sleeps right through to 6:00ish. Anyone else have kids with them? Suggestions? Thanks!!!

Our oldest Emma talks in her sleep but that's about as close to this as I can get. She only seems to do it when she's over tired or the like. She has sometimes cried and whimpered in her sleep too, but the only one that has done it so far. I sure hope he'll ease up for you, that's gotta be kind of scary for you.

Our Eldest dealt with this around age 6ish ??
And it IS a horrific time. Goodness!

It was creepy. We were nearly convinced the child was possessed. No joke!! It was THAT creepy.

We then got to thinking it likely was a bit of a spiritual thing. He had a spiritual struggle going on within..he was making some realizations about who God was and all that. So, we really do think there was a spiritual aspect to it.

But anyway...

Tips:

Do NOT restrain.
Do NOT question about it in the morning.
Just keep them safe.
Assure them you are there.
Go ahead and try to get them to talk. To tell you what's going on. So you can further assure them that everything is ok.
Just most importantly, keep them SAFE!

They may want to sit with you. They may want 'held'...but keep it brief..as soon as they twitch to pull away, LET GO. Night terrors are often about being constrained/confined and anything remotely resembling that will freak them out further. And remember, it's nothing personal.

My DD who is 4 has them, several times a week. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any support to you! It's definitely a scary thing. We talked with her pediatrician and also with a child psychiatrist- they both said that kids typically outgrow them by age 6 or 7, and that there's not really any medication or anything that's been shown to help.

We've definitely found that extra Bible stories, hymns/worship songs, & prayer helps!

My 2 1/2 dd has them also! At first they really freaked me out. Our pediatrician gave me lots of info and they are mainly caused by being overtired. My dd has never liked to sleep, so being overtired is easy for her.

Do NOT restrain.
Do NOT question about it in the morning.
Just keep them safe.
Assure them you are there.
Go ahead and try to get them to talk. To tell you what's going on. So you can further assure them that everything is ok.
Just most importantly, keep them SAFE!


Good advice!

Also, it really is nothing personal, it is from being overtired and overstimulated.
I will tell you, it can lead to sleepwalking, my dd does that too now. And the doc said that didn't surprise him, that many children with night terrors end up being sleepwalkers.
Hang in there!! I'll be praying!!

Thanks so much! It is horrifying, especially because he is so young! Only 10 mos! Last time we left him in the crib and just patted his back and talked to him and I sang Jesus loves me to him. They always pass but in the moment I can't help but tear up!

Yeah, it doesn't necessarily get any 'easier' on mom and dad either, just so ya know : wink :
But, just hang in there. Comfort him the best you can without 'intruding'
Gosh, I imagine that IS pretty darn scary to see that in a 10 month old.

We had night terrors starting at about 12 months with our little one. It was shocking the first time because we picked him up and he went bazerko, givign both my dh and I bruises due to his flailing. Over tiredness and missed naps were the biggest culprit. However here is one thing that really made a big difference for us.

If we had to keep our son up late past his average 7:00 pm bedtime, which happened at least once a week because of church, we gave him no milk and no food after when he normally had his last feeding at 6:30. Which was hard becasue he liked to guzzle milk on the way home from church. This sounds weird but my childrens director suggested it she said something about eating after they normally do upsetting the sleep rythms. After we instituted this rule we had no night terrors except for the time he was at grandmas overnight and she let him skip him a nap, but then she had to deal with the night terror and she hasn't let him skip a nap since. wink wink

He is 2 1/2 now and hasn't had a terror for a year.

I hope he doesn'thave any more.

ah yes, I forgot about the food tie ins
we noticed a connection with my son's night terrors to dairy (ice cream to be exact)
Not to say that every single time he had ice cream he had a night terror.
Just that if he had a snack too late and even more likely if that snack was ice cream, he would have a night terror.

But he didn't have the snacks nor night terrors THAT often. We're talking...once a month or every other month. Rarely did he have 2 a month.

So, it was hard to make *solid* connections. But I *do* remember we noticed that. He never slept as well if he had ice cream as a 'too late' snack. We picked up on that while staying at MIL's for a while where they had ice cream every.single.night for a snack. We fell into that habit then noticed ds' issues if he had it too late.

So then once we were in our own place, we could see those thing recurring when we brought the ice cream back into play.

Anywho, I'm sure I rambled WAY too much there.
But, yeah, that *would* be something else to look into/remember.