Night Terrors - Chicago,IL

i seriously doubt it was the movie. night terrors and nightmares are NOT the same thing.
i'm betting it's more connected to the hubby's absence, and the ongoing stress in the household. not saying that to beat you up, hon. stress isn't something we can always control.
i think the absolute most important and helpful thing you can do is to get yourself into a zen state of mind, and live there. your entire family will benefit from it.
my kids never had night terrors, but they did have nightmares from time to time. we handled it the usual way, lots of listening, lots of snuggling, occasionally letting them sleep with us (which causes problems for some kids, fortunately not ours), and temporarily monitoring what they read and watched very closely.
good luck!
khairete
S.

Sounds like nightmares, not night terrors. My oldest daughter had terrors a few times, and I can tell you they truly are terrifying, that's when your kid is crying, screaming and shaking uncontrollably. Their eyes are blank and even when you are looking at them and talking to them it's like they aren't even there, it's REALLY scary :-(
So the nightmares could be caused by any number of things, certainly a scary movie, stress, something they saw or encountered that you don't even know about.
Not much to do but keep comforting them, and certainly if you notice they are triggered by certain things (movies or whatever else) then try to limit that exposure.
ETA: I was scared of shadows at night as a kid too, I think that's pretty common, it's just your imagination running high at night, probably caused by some kind of anxiety or stress.

What you are describing is not technically "night terrors." Night terrors are when they wake up in the middle of the night screaming, but they just have a blank look on their face.

Your daughter is afraid to go to sleep because of things she "sees." What you need to do is help her to feel safe. You said that the night light hasn't helped, so now you have to come up with some different ideas. Monster spray is a great idea. We've used that from time to time. White noise, soft music, you singing while she drifts off to sleep. Those are all possibilities to consider. Maybe you sit in a chair near her bed while she falls asleep.

Right now, your goal is to help her feel safe so that she can fall asleep.

Personally, I would probably just let her sleep with me. But we let our boys sleep with us at that age (not every night but definitely when they were scared).

Night Terrors is not because of the choice of movies you watch.
All 3 of my kids have gone through times of night terrors, sleep walking and sleep talking. I, myself talk in my sleep and used to walk in my sleep but outgrew that part.
This is a lot of good information on Night Terrors by Dr. Sears:
http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/sleep-pr...
We made a "Fairies No Bad Dreams" spray using essential oils and water, you can also use cooking vanilla. The kids would spray a couple sprays into their rooms and say "Fairies, Fairies No Bad Dreams". It's a lot like that "Monster Spray" ideas, we just happen to like fairies. It gives them control of something they don't quite get right now.
I always find that the night terrors are worse when they are going through growth spurts, there is a lot of stress (and no, not from watching a movie), if they are extremely overly tired or if they've been or are sick. Your husband traveling can be directly related. Kids don't understand why Dad's got to go and are worried about when he's going to come back.
Only thing you can do it wait it out. My oldest rarely, if ever has issues. He's 14 now. They do outgrow it.

There's a difference in night terrors and nightmares, fearfulness and sleep walking. Look up night terrors so that you understand the difference.

I wouldn't put on any more Harry Potter. You call the shots here - hubby is gone and doesn't have to deal with this. They're better when Daddy comes home because he's the "strong man" who will save them from the scary stuff.

I've heard people talk about their kids being afraid of monsters, and having a spray bottle with "monster juice" to spray around the room to keep away the monsters. Maybe you could do something like that for the shadows...

If I were you, I'd talk to your ped about the disorientation and sleepwalking.

Hello
I had LOTS of night terrors when I was a child, I should add that I was usually under a lot of stress in that my mother drank heavily and at age 10, I was a placed in foster care...Although the foster home was poorly operated and the people were unkind, I don't think all stress brings on night terrors, in my case, at that time, it was my mom's drinking that totally triggered them because when I would visit her, I would have them again ... There was a stretch in my teens when they didn't occur and then beginning in my 20s up to my late 30s I had night terrors, mind you, they weren't as extreme as when younger but it's not uncommon for me to awakened startled like I had seen (and often am sure) a spirit..
now at 51, the terrors are not so much terrors but have mellowed into my accepting that "something" or some type of energy seems to really affect me when I am sleeping...
this may sound crazy to some............but... I finally smudged my house was sage and said a prayer and whether it's all psycological or not, I feel like the "energy" that was running wild at night has finally died down.

I DO think stress can bring on night terrors, but it could be stress that we as parents can't see or feel.. a child could have a bad day in school or see something that scares them. at the time, they may not even know it bothers them, but their subconscious mind knows it.. you never know what will trigger a terror ... this might sound nuts but before your kids go to bed, dim the lights 1/2 before.. to give them a sense of calm.. quiet the house.. maybe put on some gentle music .. read some nice stories.. whatever it takes to give them a sense of calm BEFORE bed.. sometimes we just flip off the tv and bam.... our minds can't relax right away... so do it before bed..
this way, your kids can fall off to sleep already calm and feeling secure..

I wish you the best

The good news is - most people who have night terrors grow out of them.
I knew one guy who didn't (he was 19).
We were all camping out with friends and were warned not to panic if we heard screaming during the night.
When they are having a terror they are not fully awake - there's no reasoning with them.
Also - if you ask them next morning if they remember anything from the night before - they won't have any memory of it.
It's more a stage of development of their sleep cycle rather than being scared of a movie they saw.
It can last several years (like sleep walking).
If there's a set pattern (they have a terror around the same time every night) - you can try waking them BEFORE that time and then they go back to sleep and be fine the rest of the night.
It sometimes helps to prevent a terror from coming on.

I'm a sleep talker (called somniloquy) - I never out grew it.
When I was in chorus in high school my Mom would sometimes hear me singing in my sleep.
Over the years my husband has had some pretty amusing conversations with me while I was asleep - he'd tell me about them in the morning otherwise I'd have no memory of them at all.

My kids have never had night terrors, and they watched much scarier stuff than Harry Potter (I am a huge horror fan). (I actually don't remember anything scary in the first Harry Potter.) They did have normal childhood fears once in a while that kept them awake. I used Eyewitness Kids videos and books from the library to educate my kids on the things that scared them (monsters, insects, storms etc). I always find that once you understand something it is no longer as scary. It is also likely your kids could be reacting to daddy being away?

I suggest that what you described are not night terrors especially for the 7 yo. If the 2 yo screamed for 2 hours and could not be comforted, that might be night terrors. But if he was interacting with you, that is also not night terrors. I suggest you are describing two children frightened by the film or something else.

Being concerned about shadows is very common and usually not related to anything else. Why, even I very much an adult occasionally get a bit frightened of Shadows when I wake up after a bad dream. Small children have good imaginations. They are not experienced with life. That is why even what seems innocent can cause fear later.

Well, my preteens can't watch Harry Potter before bed. And they read all the books.

And yes, I would say those are too old for your kids if you notice a direct correlation between them being freaked out at night just from having watched these.

My kids started reading the books (I read them) when they were young, but we held off on the movies as I knew seeing them made it all the more realistic.

I saw Jaws as a preteen and couldn't swim for the longest time. So I definitely think there's a link between imagination and movies .. well past seeing them.

I've had both. I've had my kids afraid to go to sleep after watching something scary, and I've had them wake in the night from it too.

We also had nightmares around age 3-4.

We had the comforter on floor/come in/feel safe in mom and dad's room for those. I left a night light on in hall way so they could see their way here.

If they were upset (you could hear a little cry out), I would call out to them - come on down .... that's all we ever needed to do. Mine never had trouble with needing to sleep with us, they knew it was floor or nothing (and we didn't make it THAT comfortable they wanted to sleep there all the time). Closeness with mom and dad was enough. I'd cuddle them if ever if was terrible (not often).

That was definitely a phase the kids outgrew.

Good luck :)