My 3rd child has been the worst about sleeping through the night. She often wakes up crying and in a panic. Sometimes I hear her saying things like "No! No! I don't want to go to the Doctor!" and "I don't like that babydoll!" and "Mommy! I want my Mommy!" I will go to calm her down and most of the time she is fast asleep. She rarely gets to the point of waking up, but when she does, she wants comforted. The things she talks about in her sleep are very real fears for her and she just sounds so terrified that I rush to her room when I hear her. I hate that she is going through this. She doesn't seem to remember it in the morning when she hears us talking about it. It is not ever at the same times and it occassionally occurs at naptime too. We have a bed-time routine of bath with lavender wash, brushing teeth, reading book, saying prayers and tucking in. We have always had a night light in her room. I am worried about her and my husband and I are very ready to be able to sleep through the whole night. Is there anything I can do?
My son is the same age and has nightmares the past 3 months ever since his daddy deployed. But this reminds me more of my cousin. Growing up he would "re-live" his day in his sleep. If he had been playing with other children loudly he repeated everything he said in his sleep. He would not remember anything in the morning. Eventually he grew out of it. But I always remember him yelling in the middle of the night when we went to visit.
It sounds like your daughter is having night terrors. My daughter is 2 1/2 and went through the exact same thing. My doctor told me to just make sure that she didn't hurt herself because she would kick her legs and roll around alot. He told me that she would eventually outgrow it and she did after about 3 months. I know it is stressful waking up every night but I think you just have to wait it out.
Hi A.!
My thoughts are with you! It is hard to watch (or hear) your child go through things like that, when you can't really do anything about it. My two year old has had some "night terrors," and it was horrible. What I have done was pray over him, asking God to "watch over him as he sleeps; keep him safe, and help him to FEEL safe, even in his dreams." That has helped a lot. It is common for "night terrors" to start around two years. From what I have read, it occurs more often when the child is not getting enough sleep, and they subside as the child's sleep pattern becomes regular again. I have tried to keep my son on the same sleep schedule, and it helps. I also ask God for discernment, and for Him to show me if this is something I should be concerned about. I hope and pray that her nightmares go away soon!
Hi A., I went through the same thing with both of my kids. I went to the doctor when the 1st one was waking up in the middle of the night screaming. He called it nighttares. He told me it effected alot of kids around age 2 but they would eventually grow out of it. My 2nd child started having them around age 2 as well. He told me there isn't much you can do for them, most of the time they don't even know they're having one, and don't remember you coming in to comfort them. My kids are 11 and 6 now, we made it through. Hang in there, it can get frustrating but it will pass.
These are called night terrors. My daughter had them at about this age. She would scream, hit at me, speak incoherently and always half asleep. They do go away but while they are occurring it is awful and as you said unpredictable. Just hold her, speak soothingly, be as calm as possible, and make her feel safe. This too shall pass but it will not seem like it when you are going through it. I could never find a pattern to these episodes either. The best of luck to you.
P. Ryan
My son did the same thing. He wouldn't really talk in his sleep so I didn't know exactly what he was dreaming about, but he would wake up screaming and in a panic. I think the only thing that you can do for her is just be there when she does wake up and it will eventually pass. I hear you about being able to sleep through the night. I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old ( they are getting ready to turn 3 and 5 in a couple of weeks) and I just in the past 6 months got to sleep through the night. I tried everything I could think of and then I finally got a dream catcher. It is supposed to filter the dreams and only let the good ones go through. It really worked. I explained to him what it was supposed to do and he was really happy to have it. I don't know if it was just the thought of what it did or what but I still have it up. If he would start having bad dreams again, I would tell him it was probably full and we would take it outside and shake the bad dreams out. It is worth a try. They sell kits that you can make your own. I don't know how hard they are to make, but that might be something you could do together and just explain while you are doing it that dreams are normal and they are just your mind working out issues from the day. Maybe is she knows more about dreams they won't scare her as much. I explained all of this to my son because I thought about it and decided if you weren't used to it that it could be a bit scary even if the content weren't really scary.
Good luck
It sounds like she might be having night terrors. I do not know a lot about them, but from what I have heard-this sounds exactly like it. You could do a search on the internet and read some of the articles. Good Luck! :)
My daughter went through the same thing. She would have a horrible dream and wake up screaming with all her might and scare me half to death. We have no clue why it started, but she was about 2 1/2. She never remembered any of them, except one, which must have been so vivid and real to her that she couldn't forget it. And to this day she will tell you there was an "owl" in her bedroom and that it reached out and grabbed her leg when she was running away to come get us. She doesn't like to not have curtains...cause she can look out at night and "Owl's" can look in. She seems to have a slight fear of "owl's". I'm not sure what to do with that but she is 8 1/2 now and she still swears there was an "owl" in her room, she no long has the night terrors, but once in awhile she does have a really bad dream that sends her flying down the stairs or we hear her cry out.
My son never went through this. He is currently 5. But he does do a whole lot of talking/yelling in his sleep!
All I can say is if it's anything like what my daughter went through it will last a few months (that feel like a life time) and then be done. Comes and goes just as fast.
Hang in there!
~T~
My son had night terrors. It lasted about 3 months. When I asked the Doctor there was not much they could do. Mostly just wait it out. It did not last forever but did break my heart. The Doctor did tell me not to wake them up; just comfort and talk to them. Good Luck.
I've found this usually stops as suddenly as it started.
She is at the age nightmares are very likely. The only thing you can do is calm her down. If she continues saying "No! No! I don't want to go to the Doctor!" and "I don't like that babydoll!" and "Mommy! I want my Mommy!" I would take her to another Doc. Kids know if they like a person or not they can tell most of the time something just isn't right. Maybe changing her Doc will help her mind unless she just don't like Docs. at all. My 4 year old would scream in the middle of the night for months I thought it would never end but after changing the things she was screaming about everything was fine. I hope this helps.
Sounds like they might be night terrors. My 3 year year old has them from time to time. She doesn't remember them in the morning. I do for weeks because they freak me out. good luck!
