Night Terrors - Overland Park,KS

This is normal. My son did it too around that age, up to age 4. Get the book, Sleeping Through The Night by Dr. Jodi Mindell. It explains a lot and will help you determine if it is a nightmare or night terror, and what to do. It will pass eventually.
Good luck!

Hi T.!

My little man still occasionally experiences the same issues. He will cry out or actually begin crying in his sleep. He even talks in his sleep. It was bad for about a month but he's been doing very well lately. I spoke with his pediatrician and she stated this is normal for that age. Some experience this, some do not. It is something that they will outgrow. Just part of this stage in his life unfortunately and there isn't much to do but calm them as much as you can.

Best of luck,
Tisha!

My son had his first episode when he was not even 2. He would cry desperately, eyes closed, rub his feet against each other until they's become red, kicking...I was frightned and called the doc at 2m! he told me what it was, that he as ASLEEP, to not wake him up and just to my best to remain calm and hold him without making him feel trapped. It lasted about 40 minutes...ugh! He had other episodes up until he was 3, then nothing. All the doctors and websites reassured me that it's related to the development of their nervous system and that they will outgrow it. It's like sleepwalkers, they don't remember when they wake up! So don't worry and hang in there should it happen again, my boy is healthy, smart and normal in every way, yours is too!

Those are night terrors and completely normal for kids his age. The only thing a parent can do is talk softly to them and do stuff like stroke their hair if you must touch them at all. The best advice I was given is to just reassure them in a soft, calm voice that everything is OK. Thankfully they do outgrow them. It isn't really traumatic to them because they don't remember them but as parents we just want to do something. I know it's really hard to see your child like that but please don't try to wake him up or anything. If he seems to be better alone then it may be best to stay at the doorway. I don't know that there is a real reason for them. My pediatrician said that it's about this age that they start understanding more of the dangers. Night terrors aren't caused by movies or trauma. They just seem to be a very normal part of toddler development.

The one main thing I noticed with my daughter's night terrors was that they were much more likely to occur when she was overly tired (i.e., missed naps, long active day, etc.). Take note next time it occurs. It came to the point where I could almost predict when she was going to have them. I was right about 95% of the time.

My son used to have those. He has since almost grown out of them. I think they started when he was around 2 and started getting better around 4. He would be inconsolable, would look through me, didn't want to be touched, etc. It was almost like I would add to his terror when I tried to help and pick him up. While he was going through the terror, he was still asleep (eyes open, walking around, crying) and I became part of the nightmare by trying to get him to interact with me. Sometimes they would last 15 minutes, but sometimes they would be horrible and last for more than 30 minutes. The main thing I was told to do was to make sure that he didn't hurt himself while he was having the terror. (Watch for things he can run into, trip over, etc) Just watch over him to protect him and don't try to force him to wake up. As painful as they are/were to watch, once they were over, my son would sleep soundly and not remember them in the morning.

My son, who is 3, has night terrors. I do believe his are stress related, due to his Daddy going to Iraq for the second time in his short life. He will scream and say NO the whole time and all I can do is hug him until it ends. There is nothing you can do but sit and make sure they don't harm themselves. I am sorry you have to go through this. It is tough. I also had night terrors as a child and I can remember every detail of what I was screaming about. Usually it involved my Mom leaving me... which in reality she never did.

My son used to have this problem too. They say its actually better not to try to "wake them" altho I know they look like they're awake already. Just tell him things are fine, he's ok, he's safe, etc. and put him back to bed gently and lay with him until he falls back asleep.

On another level, since this just started, has anything traumatic happened to him? I know this would be hard to get out of a 2 1/2 year old... but that's the second thing that occurred to me. Is he acting normal otherwise? (whatever normal means, of course).

My kids do that sometimes and we were told to NOT wake them. Just sooth them until they stop. We were told there was nothing we could do to stop it, that it had to run its course and that they would grow out of it.

One thing that we used to calm (or redirect) my daughter when her toddler crying seeming so loud and endless :-)... we pulled out a book with large pictures of different types of dogs. As best as I can recall, it always worked. She would be so interested in the faces and turning the pages, that she stopped crying and soon went back to sleep cuddled up with her favorite stuffed animal. After making sure that she had no fever, cold or clothing/bed related discomfort, we did not spend much time trying to figure out what she might remember the next day. Hope this story is helpful...

My son is 5 years old and started having night terrors and sleep walking about 7 months ago. The first time it happened my husband was deployed. My son started screaming "get off me" "don't touch me". This was about 2 in the morning. I was so scared; I really thought that someone was trying to take him. I think that you have received some great advice so far. I asked our doctor about it and he said that it could be caused by lack of sleep (being overly tired), stress, separation anxiety (my husband was deployed). And that it is normal and he will grow out of it. My son has about 3-4 of these night terror a month. He never remembers anything. It is one of the hardest things to watch my child go through this. Just try to be there any way that you can.

Both of my kids went through this, and yes, it did seem to happen more often when they were over tired. They both eventually grew out of it. What usually worked best was to just tell them who I was and that they were safe. With both of my kids it was impossible to get close to hold them, so I just continued talking to them in a calm, reassuring voice and would tell them to put their head on the pillow and go back to sleep. Once they would lie down, I could rub their back and just make sure they stayed settled. This usually worked pretty well.

I had night terrors when I was a kid. Mine were so vivid though I still remember them, and I am 30. I still have vivid nightmares sometimes. Most these answers here are correct, there's not much you can do about them, and he will outgrow them. Just take a lesson from my mom, if he is swinging in his sleep get out of the way. My mom was afraid I would hurt myself one time and tried to hold me, and got a black eye for the trouble. I don't remember any of it.

My son used to have this problem. I could only try to hold him and hope that my presence would somehow reassure him. I couldn't wake him out of his nightmare, he didn't even know I was there, it was horrible watching him go through that. His preschool teacher gave me a handout of information on night terrors like keeping a routine at bedtime, etc. but I can't remember what it said now. You can look online for help on preventing them.

my youngest daughter, who is now 17, did this for several months when she was 8-9 yrs old. A friend of mine suggested a snack of fresh fruit before bed. We did it with a lot of talk and encouragement about sleeping through the night without sleep walking and screaming. I don't know if the fruit or the positive talks before bed helped. But apparently together they were the answer for her. It is very disturbing to not be able to comfort your little one and with us, she was in danger because she even went outside more than once. I will pray for this to resolve itself quickly.

My son used to get night terrors. When talking to a friend about it one day she asked if he was taking any medication. I told her he took Zyrtec for allergies. She told me to look up Zyrtec and night terrors on line because there seemed to be a connection. I stopped giving him Zyrtec and the night terrors stopped. It could be a coincidence...but if your child is taking medication see if the side effect could be night terrors. Hang in there!

Although I have no personal experience with this I do here it is pretty common among young children. It is a sleep disorder from what I hear and they are actually asleep when they wake screaming. Kind of like sleep walking, you are discouraged from actually waking them, even if it looks like theyre awake already. Sometimes it can be caused by a traumatic event that occurred, other times it seems that there is no cause. A friend of mine had a little girl whom I babysat when she was young who had this problem. You can imagine how scared I was when she woke up screaming. I went in and tried to comfort her and as quickly as she had started screaming she stopped and appeared to be asleep and calm again. My friend has told me that her kiddo did grow out of it. I hope this gets better. I can imagine how helpless you must feel. I would try to hug him until he calms, that is if you can. Good luck. I hope this passes soon for you and your family!

Our daughter has had night terrors since being an infant. There's really nothing much you can do as they will simply outgrow them in time. Night terrors don't leave a memory for the child and really don't pose a threat to their safety.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has the following information:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/presch...