Does anyone have experience with night terrors in a toddler? Owen has had a fever the last two days and had two really bad episodes yesterday - screaming/shrieking for minutes on end and completely inconsolable. It's the worst feeling ever not being able to do anything to help. Any advice?
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@Mrs. Chalk: as my doctor told us, just make sure he doesn't hurt himself! she told us just to stay by him so he doesn't fling himself off the bed or into anything. it's HORRIBLE to watch, but amazing how they seriously have no recollection of it in the morning!
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@Mrs. Chalk: I just came across your question and thought I would share my experience with night terrors. DD had really bad night terrors starting around 2 yr. They seemed to be worse if she had a bad nap that day or if she was late getting to bed. It was as you described.. shrieking for up to 30 minutes non-stop. She never hurt herself, but it was so scary. I heard various suggestions about how to handle them. Some people say to just leave them alone and let it pass. My cousin's child had them every night for a period of time and she told us to talk sternly to her and tell her to stop. We tried this and it didn't help at all. If we tried to hold her, she would just thrash. The worst is that she had them on the airplane as well when we traveled internationally. And while we were overseas, it happened every night for a week while she was adjusting to the time difference. That's why I felt that in our case, it had a lot to do with how tired she was and what kind of sleep she was getting. One day they just stopped and never really was a problem for us since. I think total time elapsed for these night terrors was a few months. I am just dreading going through these with DS, but we'll see if it happens. I hope things improve for you and your DS, and hang in there! It gets better.
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Wagon Jr. had mild night terrors for a long time ,and if he hasn't had a nap he has them every. single. time.
My pediatrician recommended trying to wake them up at 9pm (or just before 3 hours after they've fallen asleep) to break the cycle because they happen when they're in REM sleep, I think. He said wake them up, bring them to the potty, give them a drink of water, talk to them, cuddle, and put them back to bed. I wouldn't try it because WJ's night terrors only last a minute or so and he's able to fall back asleep on his own, but if they were that terrifying I'd probably try anything!!
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@Mrs. Cowgirl: @T-Mom: @mrs. wagon: I am so sorry that anyone else had to watch their little ones go through this, but I am also really glad that I'm not alone here. It is truly AWFUL. Luckily (?), they have only happened so far when he is both overtired and has a fever. Knock on wood, fingers crossed, anything else I can possibly do, but hopefully they will stay that way. I couldn't even fall asleep the next night because I was so freaked out that he would have another one.
I called our pediatrician, and he gave us similar advice to what Mrs. Wagon said - wake him up about 30 minutes after he falls asleep to try and interrupt the sleep cycle. We tried that, but it meant we just spent another hour getting him to go back to sleep (although he didn't have any episodes that night, I have no idea if that is because we woke him up or because he was getting better.)
Either way, I spent most of the time he was screaming trying to comfort him while also trying really really hard not to lose it and start crying. This was only marginally successful. We found that turning the light on helped a little bit in terms of calming him down.
I hope none of us have to go through this again.
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@Mrs. Chalk: it is truly awful to not be able to calm or comfort your own child
heartbreaking to the max. Like CIO but a million times worse!! Because you don't even choose to do it!!
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My son's get them also when he's sick. He also gets them randomly depending on how much sleep he's been getting days leading up to it. He's now 3.5 and doesn't get them as often or as violent anymore. We just let it ride out as it is only for a couple minutes until we can we him up or he'll just go back to sleep on his own. Sometimes, I'll let him in our bed for the rest of the night which also seems to help. It's terrifying!
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@Mrs. Chalk: @Mrs. Cowgirl: @T-Mom: @mrs. wagon: @BoogieBea: I'm bumping this thread to see if there is any new knowledge. Last night, DD woke up, screaming and anytime we held her, it kept escalating. She would thrash and flail, she didn't seem to really be connecting with us. This went on for almost an hour and then it stopped suddenly. It was absolutely heartbreaking.
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@BabyBoecksMom: I'm so sorry to hear! I don't have anything new to share. Just waiting to see if DS is going to experience this as well. Hopefully this won't be a normal occurrence for your LO. If it does become that, maybe try and see if there is any correlation between what happened that day (sick, bad napping, etc) to see if you can preempt it.
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Ugh, so sorry. My sister had these growing up, though she was probably older (maybe 3-4?)...hers were like...the "interactive" kind where she would be awake, crying, freaking out, and telling my parents, "Please get that man out of the corner, he won't stop looking at me..." I walked in on one once...not cool. Like other's said, there's zero recollection in the morning, and there doesn't seem to be a lot that you can do...
Hoping you were/are able to get through 'em!
ETA: I can't spell.
My pediatrician recommended trying to wake them up at 9pm (or just before 3 hours after they've fallen asleep) to break the cycle because they happen when they're in REM sleep, I think. He said wake them up, bring them to the potty, give them a drink of water, talk to them, cuddle, and put them back to bed. I wouldn't try it because WJ's night terrors only last a minute or so and he's able to fall back asleep on his own, but if they were that terrifying I'd probably try anything!!
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