Night Wakenings

Hello L., If you find reading supportive, I recommend, "The No Cry Sleep Solution," by Elizabeth Pantley. She has a book specifically for toddlers and preschoolers and all of their age specific needs. This book covers all types of solutions so everyone can sleep peacefully at night. Happy zzzzs to you all. ~T.

Hi L.,

I had a daughter that did this. We went to the doctor, he said it was night terrors. It was hard they do grow out of it though. You may want to call the doctor and see what they say to do for night terrors. It has been 5 yrs. since I had to deal with it and I can't remember what they told me, but I followed what they said and it was fine. Also I read a book to my kids at night,it does help one of the favorites is "How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?" Written by: Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. Then at night I kiss them and say good night little dinosaur. They love it. I hope it will get better soon. Nothing is worse than being a tired Mommy. I hope the best for you and your little boy.

I noticed you mentioned he is still in a crib. I would suggest since he is almost 3, getting him a toddler bed or a "Big Boy" bed. This might create some excitement about staying in his own bed. Also, if he is having night tremors, there is a homeopathic remedy made by Hyland's (also make teething tablets) that is sold at Wal-mart/Target that is supposed to help with night tremors...It might help him get back into a normal sleeping pattern...Good Luck.

L.,

has he told you what scares him? my twins got scared when a friend let them watch jumanji. they woke up terrorized by "the animals." we assured them that a cowboy was going to come during the day and take all the animals back to a forest far, far way. they told their teacher what was happening that day (she was understandably confused). when we got home, i reassured them the cowboy had been there, even added that daddy flew in his jet to pick the cowboy up. we shined a flashlight all around the room as reassurance. finally, we had a bottle of "go away" spray (an old trigger-pulled water sprayer full of water and we pretended to add magic spices) and told the boys the spray would sit right outside of their door. if they called to us during the night, we could magically spray away anything scarey. this worked for us. they asked to see the go away spray for a couple of nights, then, nothing. no more problems. maybe we're just lucky, but it worked for us (the boys were the same age as your son at the time). hope that helps....

This may or may not help--does he take any children's vitamins? My daughter would take them at night and often woke up with bad dreams. My husband told me it was because of the iron in the vitamins. Once I stopped giving them to he at night, the bad dreams have stopped.

You might want to check his tonsils to see if they are blocking his airway. My child did that as well. His tonsils we big and almost touching so he was having trouble getting air at night. The doctor removed his tonsils and we haven't had trouble since. That may not be your child's problem but it wouldn't hurt to look in his mouth to see how big his tonsils are.

I don't know that I agree with the above poster. Have you considered inviting him to sleep with you when he wakes up afraid? I tend to think that letting him know that he can come to you when he's scared will lessen his fear faster than having him go back to sleep in his own bed if he's already afraid to. I don't think it's coddling him to cuddle him and let him sleep with you when he's afraid. When he's ready, he'll transition back to his own bed or start sleeping through the night. I think we can make kids fear sleep by being to hard on them. He's pretty young still...

Dear L. S,

If you are a believer in Jesus, I have wisdom and counsel for you that will shape your childs life forever. Feel free to contact me if you want to talk about night terrors from a spiritual and Biblical perspective. I've lived through them myself, and was tortured from infancy to adulthood when God powerfully interviened on my behalf.

Please contact me by my private email address if you are interested.
email: ____@____.com
Love,
K.

try some soothing music that is on a rap around so it plays all night. That helped with my children sleeping in there own beds. Every night that you give up and let him sleep in your room/bed or what ever will prolong the out come. Keep having him stay in his room. I would not even take him out of that room unless it is to use the bathroom.

It is a phase and he is probably having nightmares or even night terrors. This is hard on everyone but encouraging him to go back to sleep in his own bed is good. Comfort him but do not coddle him and just reassure him with hugs and kisses. Night terrors differ from nightmares as they are like the child is still asleep and sobbing uncontrollably and you cannot really even comfort the child for a while. Make sure he is not watching anything scary before bed, try and see if you can find out what is scaring him and read him happy stories before bed. My ex mother in law sent my son a dream catcher and when he put it over his bed he never had another bad dream (yet). He went through this about at the same age, would whimper in his sleep then start to cry. I got him settled back in bed and gave him a special animal to keep him safe and then the dream catcher was the real turning point for him. If you can find out what he is afraid of that will help in making him feel better, if not maybe find a special friend to keep him safe and feel secure.. Good luck, it is a phase and will pass, maybe not soon enough but it will.

My daugher had "night terror" episodes when she was younger. She would start screaming all of a sudden, uncontrollably and would not respond when we picked her up. Her body would stiffen up and she wouldn't wake up. We had to wait the episode out and eventually she would wake up. If that is what is happening, research it on the internet. Kids can experience this from seeing scary movies, seeing an animal turn into a human (in movies) or other strange things. She eventually grew out of it, but it wasn't fun going through it for any of us. Good luck!

I too believe that it is important for a child to sleep in his own bed, but this is an ideal and not a hard and fast rule for me. My kids have done so much better getting over night time fears if they come into our bedroom for the night. The biggest problem with them climbing into our bed is that neither my husband or I sleep well with them there!!

OUR SOLUTION: keep a pillow and blanket or sleeping bag under or near your bed at night. Have your child help pick out what will be used and place it where it will be kept temporarily. Tell your child if he is frightened he may come sleep in your room on the floor.

I would also suggest moving him to a Toddler Bed unless the crib makes him feel more secure at night.

I agree with both Pattie and Deb. How many of us would climb into our parents bed for the remainder of the night when we had a bad dream. There is just something about mommy and daddy that scare of the remainder of the monsters and make it all okay. But still his bed is just that his bed and where he should spend the majority of his sleeping.

Hi L. - when one of my twins was 3 yrs old he had a nightmare during a nap. It affected him so bad that he didn't sleep through the nite for 6 weeks. The look on his little face (freightened) just broke my heart. Hubby & I took turns sitting at the end of his bed or in a chair until he fell asleep again (sometimes more than once a nite). We did all the assuring before he went to bed - sprayed monster spray, etc. We just had to comfort him & assure him we were close by & nothing was going to get him. Just ride it out, although exhausting!! It just wasn't our choice to be tough & make him go through this scared or feeling alone. Good luck, M.