Night Terrors? - Lafayette,LA

Try this. Read him the happiest story you can find before bed. My daughter once had the same problem so we started reading her happy stories before bed. Something sweet that they can dream about.

Have you introduced any new foods since he started having the nightmares? This may be crazy, but some foods can cause dreams(nightmares), possibly. I know pickles can, but it may be worth looking into.

A.,
I am a 48 year old grandmother raising my 16 month old granddaughter, Lexie. She too had what the doctor called night terrors. My husband and I would be woken up from a sound sleep ( when she would sleep) with the most horrible screams you could imagine. It seems that she was always tired, thus bringing on these terrors. We discovered that she had developed a severe case of sleep apnea due to enlarged tonsils and adenoids. She would move all over the crib, wake constantly, and scream in her sleep. All of this was due to not getting enough air and she would stop breathing. We had her tonsils and adenoids out at 15 months, every early for this, but it has seemed to be the solution to our problem. She now sleeps through the night without the horrible nightmares. The doctor told us before we discovered what our problem was, that she would out grow the night terrors. We were told not to try to pick her up or to wake her up, that it would only make it worst for her. That was true in our case. We would just have to wait until it was over and she never seemed to remember that it had happened. Hope this has helped.

Hey A.,

I have read the other responses and they sound like they all have great experience regarding true night terrors.
I just wanted to point out that it could be other things as well...like ear infection, gas pain, cutting teeth and acid reflux to name a few.

You might want to journal his daily diet, bowel movements, drooling, hands in mouth, etc to get an idea of what might be bothering him. It is possible that he has a mild case of acid reflux and it is aggravated by something that has been in his diet that day. Sleeping means that your little one is now in a flat horizontal position and allowing the acid that refluxes to come up higher. The burning sensation is extremely painful and will cause your little one to cry out. If your baby has a mild case then dinner time needs to be 45 mins prior to bed and avoiding acidic foods likes baby fruits, fruit juice...etc.

Hopefully this is not the case but just keep in mind it could be more than night terrors. I was suprised to see that the stand off and not interfere approach worked for terrors... i am sure those people know what they are talking about, i just wanted to say that for reflux i used the opposite approach or picking up my little one as gently as possible to not fully arouse her and holding her against me and whispering mommy's got you, it's okay, go back to sleep... anyway this worked wonders on my end but again we had reflux.

Gas pains... if it is this your little one may be gassy immediately when crying out or most likely first thing in the morning... these are painful too.

I hope it gets better soon and nothing more than normal gas or teeth... but speak to your doctor as again it may be terrors or reflux.

Best Wishes,
-MB

A.,
I feel your pain. My five year old daughter has night terror. She hasn't been diagnosed by a doctor, but meets all the symptoms listed on WedMd. Her main triggers are when she falls asleep on the couch and I wake her up to go potty before putting her in bed, or anytime her sleep is interrupted. And when she's had a bad day and gotten in trouble a lot!!!! She does sleep with me still and I find this does lower the chance of one. Sometimes they last just a minute or two and are weeks apart, but they can last longer. It breaks my heart when she has one because even in sleep, she doesn't recognize me and won't let me hold her. In her case, we try to keep to a routine where we get our shower around 8 or so, brush teeth, brush and braid hair, and lay down for bed. This works well because I know she's used the potty and I'm not having to wake her up. Also limiting tv time closer to bedtime seems to have helped. Check out what the web has to offer on how to deal with them, and talk to your doctor because he is so young.

A.

My daughter also has night terrors once in a while.
There is nothing you can do and it is actually for frightening to you than the baby.

check out www.askdrsears.com for more information on night terrors. I felt better once I read about it.

Blessings to you & your family.

B.

I had night terrors as a child. My mom said that the doctor told her that there was nothing to do about it, and that it was best just to let it go. I didn't ever remember the dreams after I woke up, and don't remember anything about it now. If it is night terrors, it's a phase and will go away.

Sometimes babies just have these -- it's hard not to feel like you should do something or as if something is happening to scare the baby, but you just have to ride it out. That being said, I would still talk to his doctor and see if he has any suggestions. From what I know, there is nothing you can do, but as a mom, it makes you feel better about doing nothing when the doctor tells you to!

Good luck.

We had this happen with our 6yo DD. Hers started when she was really small and freaked me out! But lots of kids have them. Here is what I know and what worked for us (this'll be long, so I apologize in advance)!

Weird but *very important* truth (that I learned from a good friend): Your instinctual ways of comforting your child DON'T WORK during night terrors. It sucks because you feel like you're being "mean", but what works best is for you NOT to pick him up and try to console him like you would if he were upset during the day. It's like, the stimulation he gets when you pick up, touch, pat/rub, etc. antagonizes the situation. Even talking to them can wind things up more! I PROMISE THIS. The 1st time I tried this w/my DD a typical 45-90 minute terror went to 10-15 minutes. REALLY!

Since he's just 7 months, just make sure he doesn't fall out of the crib/bed or hit his head on the rails, etc. As he gets older, he may get out of bed and walk around, but your primary thing is to make sure he stays safe at whatever age.

One good thing is that he IS NOT AWAKE and likely won't remember anything in the morning! You and DH will be nervous wrecks and your precious cherub will be like, "Lah-dee-dah!" ;P

Think about your and hubby's families. Many times this runs along with sleepwalking and you'll be able to think of people y'all know who had those kind of episodes. My SIL sleepwalked, and my cousin had night terrors, so when I realized that it was like, "Aha!" Nothing you can DO about it, but I found it interesting in the midst of the craziness.

I've read that if you go in after they're asleep and interrupt the sleep pattern in a minor way (just kisses and "I love you" but not enough to fully rouse him) that it changes things just enough to not have a n.t. This didn't work for us, but you may want to try it! ;> Like 1-1 1/2 hrs after he falls asleep.

Make sure DH knows what's going on and what to do as well, in case he's the one who has to deal with it. I did this for months, maybe a couple of years, without fully explaining it to my DH; then the first time he saw it he flipped and was doing all the "wrong" stuff that I'd figured out wasn't working a long time before! (Whoops!)

As you go along, you'll get used to it and will find little things that work for y'all. For instance, my DD occasionally has minor ones still, but if I'm up I can speak softly to her and hold out my hand, and she will climb into my lap and gradually settle down. When she stops fidgeting/making noises, I put her back into her bed and she's fine.

Please feel free to message me anytime if you just want to vent or talk! :) I wish you the best of luck in handling this!

I don't know how you feel about Christian info, but I will take a shot. My oldest daughter and a good friend of mine's grandson went through a period of waking up and screaming as if in pain or having a very bad nightmare. My pastor told me to read Proverbs 3:24 over my daughter before she goes to sleep at night. I did this for a short while and even read the 2 or 3 verses before and after that verse to get the full effects and after awhile, my daughter was fine. She slept the entire night w/o waking up screaming. I shared that information with my friend regarding her grandson and it works.

before he goes to bed, do you watch scarey movies?
does anyone agrue loudly around him? does he go to day care? cause kids can be pushy at daycare and schools. also talk to the baby dr.

Try playing some soothing music very low as he sleeps. God Bless!

It does sound like Night terrors to me. I have a friend with a daughter who did the same thing. She could never get her to wake up and sometimes her daughter would curl away from her. You might talk to your doctor.

I agree that 7 months old seems very young for night terrors. My son had them at 2ish until about 6. but not so often. It was triggered by a BIG day - birthday party, etc. - or staying up late and being exhausted. sometimes a movie that was too scary would trigger it.

Either way, the reason I personally didn't wake him up to soothe him was because it made him WAY more agitated to touch him. When he had a regular bad dream, he would wake up on his own and WANT to be comforted. But the night terrors were very different. And he didn't really need comforting or to be waked up because he never remembered them the next morning!! (he usually remembered the nightmare the next day)

Good luck!

Hi A.;
I am, by no means, an expert on your problem;....but it did get me to thinking......could it be that your son may become a 'sleep-walker- later in life? I know that may sound strange, but you say he is normally a light sleeper and rarely wakes when he's having theses night terrors, when sleep-walkers are harder to waken. I would diffinitly ask my Pediatrician if there could possibly be a link...or maybe a study going on somewhere.

God please & good luck!
J.

I'm going thru the same thing with my almost 8 month old for 3 weeks now. I took him to the doctor 3 weeks ago when this first started and he had a double ear infection he started some antibotics went back sleeping thru the night, last week he started waking up agian during the night crying so I took him back to the doctor and the ear infection was still there so they changed his antibotics. He started sleeping thru the night again and over the weekend started the same thing, we had a doctors appt already scheduled for yesterday to follow up with his ears and his ears are fine now but he is cutting a new tooth. The doctor told me this is normal for them to wake up crying because there gums hurt while laying down and she told me to give him Motrin, teething tablets and baby orjael. Your baby might be teething also!

Good Luck!!

K.

Yep. Night terrors. You're not supposed to try to wake them, actually (I have read this, but I don't know the reasoning behind it).

They say that babies who sleep in rooms separate from their parents tend to have night terrors, and babies who sleep with their parents tend not to. Try bringing your baby into your bed, at least for a while, or at least bring his crib into your room. He'll feel safe with you.

Don't worry that this means he'll never be able to sleep in his own bed, in his own room. Babies all start in diapers, and they don't grow up that way, either.

Read the Sears Nighttime Parenting Book and No-Cry Sleep Solution for more information on night terrors, sleep sharing, and a great deal more about all of the usual sleep issues.

Good luck!
L.

My son did the same thing. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I noticed that his would happen when he was extremely exhausted. Normally he was a light sleeper but when he started screaming like that there was nothing I could do to calm him. I would just hold him and rock him and try to sooth him. The good news is he grew out of it.
Best of luck to you, I know how stressful it is.
A. K

Well, I don't know what it is, but my son did the same thing around his age!! It was so weird, because I' go to his crib ready to feed/change/whatever, and he would be asleep!! I would just stand by till he calmed down to make sure everything was okay, then i'd go back to bed. He was always fine! Now, my son didn't do it very often, and it sounds like your little man does. I've heard to never wake anyone when they are having a night terror/ sleepwalking, but I don't know the reasoning behind it. Your pediatrician can probably give you suggestions/answers that are somewhat more satisfactory than my answer :) good luck!!!

My son who is now almost 8 had night terrors and they started at 6 months of age. I kow some say that is too early but I did find a website one time that stated they could start that early. I didn't know at the time that that was what was happening but it lasted until we had his tonsils and adenoids taken out at 3 he had sleep apnea also. I do think there are triggers and sweets was one for my son. we would go to a bday party and his great aunts would feed him a little cake and he would wake up that night. Being to tired is another. There is not a lot you can do but find the trigger and try to avoid it. anyway just research and talk to your dr. about it. Good luck I know how hard it can be.

It sounds a lot like night terrors, however I think he's pretty young for those! My son has always woken up with an arm or a leg asleep. We thought those were night terrors for a while too because he wouldn't fully wake up. It wasn't until he was a little older (age 2) that he could tell us that his arm felt funny and we figured it out. When in doubt, talk to your pediatrician!!!