Has Your Kid Ever Had a Night Terror That Scared You?

My pediatrician recommended that if they get to the point where they're around the same time every night, to go in there about 15 minutes BEFORE the terror usually happens and gently wake them up and put them back to sleep. This is supposed to break the cycle. Good luck!

My 4 year old son has them too and they really are scary! But I have also read not to wake them up, and it's almost impossible to anyway. I just sit with him until it's over. I've had the same experience that being over-tired sets them off, so we try to keep a very regular bedtime. Good luck. I'm guessing this too shall pass!

My son would have these on occasion, but he would be screaming and crying. They are terrifying. I read that you're not supposed to wake them up, but that was the only way that we could stop them. We would just hold him and gently say, "Wake up. It's ok. Wake up." And then we'd wait until he calmed down and stay until he was back asleep. The whole process only takes a few minutes.

I read that one of the reasons they get these night terrors is because they haven't had enough rest during the day. They are so overstimulated and overtired, this is the way their little bodies deal with it. Maybe try to give your daughter a little rest time earlier in the day to try to forestall these?

My daughter had them for about 2 to 3 years from about 3 to 6 years old and they scared me too! Her eyes would be open and she would stare at me like a zombie...I was terrified. I would just set with her till it was over and she never remembered them. Its a phase and will be over soon.

My daughter had night terrors for a while. There were worse when she was tried. I would just watch her and make sure she was ok and didn't get out of bed and hurt herself. She would put her head back down and go back to sleep and never remember what happened. She should out grow them soon. Just make sure she is not over tired that seems to make them worse.

Our son had them too when he was about 4 or 5. We found it mostly happend when he was sick and his fever broke, but not always. He would wake up fitfull, and start calling for mommy, and Id be right there saying "Mommy is here" holding his hand, rubbing his arm, or back, and he acted as if I was invisable. He would scream for me, and I could yell back and it wouldnt phase him! We had one night that was particularly interesting when he did some sleep walking and went to the light switch in his room. He stood there fingering the switch as if he had never seen it before, and then started flipping it up and down, which of course made the light go on and off and then with this strange jerky sort of movement he turned his head and stared at the light on the ceiling and then screamed as if he was seeing the most hideous monster ever imagined! We had to physically pick him up and get him back to bed fighting and screaming the whole time, and then suddenly, he stopped,,, took a deep breath and looked at us and smiled, said "hi mommy", and closed his eyes and went back to sleep! We stood there with our eyes big as saucers and our mouths hanging open.. WTHeck was that? lol I didnt sleep rest of that night! And one night he screamed for me a few times and I was standing right next to his bed. He looked right thru me, got up and walked outside. We followed him and he went around the driveway, opened the gate, and went to the garbage cans and started tapping on the lids saying who knows what,,, and then went back in the house and back to his bed. Weird. Thats when we bought a flip lock and had it installed up high on the front door where he couldnt reach. But yep night terrors are weird scary and frustrating but mostly harmless. You can tell the Dr just so they know its happening and see if they have any new advice. I think its a lot harder for the parents than it is for the kids.

My son had them for years. He would walk around, scream and cry. A night terror has something to do with the subconscious mind waking while the conscious mind stays asleep. That's why you cannot wake up a child having a night terror. You just have to roll with it. My son would sometimes calm down if I could get him in front of Elmo (ugh for me). Other times he would lie on the second stair down. Funny what calms them. He had them 3 times a week for 3 years and each lasted 45 minutes, almost to the second. When we had his adenoids removed and got tubes in his ears the terrors miraculously vanished. He hasn't had one in close to 7 years now.

My 5 year old autistic son has night terrors. Sadly, there isn't anything we can do about it in our case. I don't believe there is anything you can do about it other than help to make your child comfortable in their room and within their surroundings. We as parents cannot control what goes on in their little brains and the best you can do is try to teach your child the difference between reality and dreams.

My 7 year old son has them in phases (and has since he was about 4 years old). I've noticed a correlation with when he has a cold or can't breathe well for for some other reason (it particularly seems to happen during asthma season - he was diagnosed with asthma last year). He'll often have them for 3-4 nights in a row, and hten a few weeks before the next one. The only thing that helps is that my husband and I try to whisper reassuringly to him, and if we can get him to lay back down on his side (gently, we don't force it), he will usually curl up and go back to sleep. Episodes range anywhere from 10 minutes to about 30. They're incredibly unnerving for the adults, but my son (now that he's older) thinks it's hilarious that he does that in his sleep - he gets a kick out of it and swears he remembers nothing. Good luck!!

My daughter had these when she was younger, and yes it does freak you out (but she never remembered them).

We found that we could "wake" her by either getting her to sit on the potty or giving her a drink of water (if she accepted it, we didn't force it). This seemed to break the cycle for us. When she was done, she'd go back to bed like nothing had disturbed the night, calm as can be.

Though I like the suggestion to wake her before it happens IF you're able to. Ours always happened after we'd all gone to bed, and it wasn't nightly, so wasn't an option for us.

I had night terrors when I was a kid. They can be very scary. I woke up screaming one night and didn't stop for several minutes. My mom finally did get me awake. There really isn't much you can do about it, they do eventually grow out of them. I think I was around four when I started having them and stopped around seven.

It's hard, but hang in there.

Talk to the pediatrician about it, but it's probably a phase.

My middle child went through this really bad.

Like sleepwalkers, don't wake your daughter if she's having a night terror! She'll freak out more; THAT'S scary.

Has she had any change in diet or schedule? My daughters main trigger is if she doesn't get enough sleep, like if she stays up 30 minutes past her bedtime (only happens at home though, not at sleepovers; she's 6 now).

My daughter started with night terrors, which went on from about 18 months to 3 years old, then it calmed down, then she started with sleepwalking around 4. Now that she's 6, sleep terrors and sleepwalking rarely happen, but it ALWAYS startles me, LOL!

My daughters 'grounding' is she holds up one hand and taps her thumb to her middle finger. It's so weird... but I've learned that that's how to tell if she's having a night terror or sleepwalking.

My son had these - would sit up in bed, jerk around a bit. He was diagnosed with benign rolandic epilepsy. Just so you know, it can be a sign of something else. We only realized that he had epilepsy when he had a seizure during the day - something that doesn't happen with this kind of epilepsy much.
I hope they offered you an EEG, and not just fobbed you off.

My son is 5 and has had them since just before he turned 2. Scares the heck out of me sometimes, but they usually happen about 1 - 1.5 hours after he falls asleep, so I'm prepared. Usually, I just go in and lay him back down. If it's a particularly bad one, he'll keep crying, but I don't think any of them have lasted longer than 10 minutes, then he's back to sleep.