3 year old with night terrors....?

Question

So after tests and sleeping at hospitals, my son was diagnosed with True Night Terrors. I have all the info and all that but I wanted to know if there was anyone out there that had a child with the same problem, and how you deal with it? It is really kinda scary to hear your child wake up with a loud scream and "possessed looking eyes"....anyone?

He doesn't watch anything scary, he doesn't even watch tv...and yeah sure, ill suffocate my child...I hope you never have children, what a rotten thing to say.

No...we eat pretty healthy and he only gets chocolate once in a great while...I wanted people to answer who have been through this...

Answer 1

My cousin and I talked about this during her last visit as her 3 year old also has terrible night terrors. The biggest thing you can do is just to go there and make sure that she doesn't hurt herself. My cousins daughter tries to get up and run when they get really intense so she just keeps the baby monitor in her room and measures when it's intense enough for her to go back there. She said that she has them less (meaning only 3 times a week rather than everynight) when she doesn't stay up late and isn't overtired from a hard day. She only goes back to protect her against herself because there is nothing you can do and I know that is heartbreaking. The big reassurance for you as a parent as that at least they will not remember any of it. My daughter who is 2 has had a night terror before also and I know exactly what you mean how it's like they're possessed. I tried to help her and all that happens is that I got hit and screamed at. She didn't open her eyes she just did it so I had to take a step back and gently tried to wake her...which of course doesn't really work. She eventually came out of it and wanted to cuddle so I just held her for a few minutes and then she went back to sleep. I know that when my cousin's daughter finally snaps out of it she always wants mommy so just be reassured that he loves you and that it will pass.

Answer 2

My son is now 11 and he had them. They were really bad from age 2 to 4, then he grew out of them. They were especially bad if he was running a fever, and even now he moans/groans/lashes out/kicks in his sleep if he's running a fever.

It was a very scary thing. Our son would kick and punch, which our doctor told us sometimes leads to the child getting spanked (or worse) by parents who think they're just having a tantrum and being mean. But they have no idea, so you should never punish him for it. Our son would struggle so much we couldn't hold him to comfort him, so we'd just try to lightly rub a leg/arm/back and quietly tell him it's OK or sing a lullabye. He always stayed in bed (I've heard of kids who climb and run around with terrors), so he'd eventually calm down and fall back asleep. He never seemed to remember anything about them once he was awake.

When you're in the thick of it, it seems like it goes on forever, but he'll grow out of it and in a few years you'll have to read something like this to remind yourself that you even had to deal with it. Just stay calm and good luck!

Answer 3

My son had them.

They began when he was near a year old or so, and they showed up right until he got to adolescence, when he outgrew them. When he was a baby he would wake up screaming-crying. As he got older the screaming-crying stopped and instead he was clearly terrified but not crying. The screaming part gradually diminished as he got older. By the time he was in elementary school he was more "spaced out, frenetic, and nervous" acting.

They tended to occur when I put him to sleep (or when he fell asleep) too early. He would sleep for about an hour and then it would happen. they would also occur if the day had been particularly frenetic (with lots of over-stimulating play, a lot of moving from one place to another, a lot of different environments and people, etc.). He was a very active little kid and was ok playing actively with his friends or alone, so it wasn't that he activity had to be limited. It was just those occasional over-stimulating days of a whole lot of different things, people, and acitivty.

The way I dealt with them when he was a baby and until he was, maybe, six was to keep him up until closer to nine o'clock. I think maybe his staying up a little later than kids usually do may have made him tired enough to get into whatever sleep stage he needed to avoid the terror stage. Around the time he began school he could then go to bed at a more appropriate time.

When he would have one I'd try to calm him and keep saying his name gently until he woke up. He'd be a little disoriented for a little while, but he would be out of it.

When he was seven he had one sleepwalking episode and came downstairs, opened the door, went out, and woke up by our mailbox. This was obviously entirely different from the night terrors (although some of the night terrors resulted in his getting up and walking through the house when he was older), and I don't know if it was associated with the night terrors; but I thought I'd mention it to you so you'll be aware of it.

I think the length of time for night terrors may have become shorter as he got older. When he was a baby and toddler they were at their worst. (He had been hospitalized as an infant, and I always wondered if it had something to do with that.)

It is scary every time it happens, and it is also heartbreaking to watch. Today my son is a grown man, and we occasionally bring up some of the funnier moments (there were some, believe it or not) associated with some of the times he would have a night terror when he got older and when they got more peculiar but less frightening.

Answer 4

I was pretty sure that was what my daughter was having at around that age. I had looked it up on WebMd. She didn't have the eye thing going on but I couldn't do anything while she was crying terribly. Couldn't hold her or anything. I just had to let her sleep through it..since they are not awake when this happens. I read that they probably don't even know what is going on. She outgrew it as well by the time she was 5.
I also had read that to make sure they aren't going to get hurt during it.

Answer 5

My oldest son had a few and all I did was pray over him. Prayer is very powerful especially when you use Jesus name. A book that has helped me through all the years is "Power of a Praying Parent" by Stormie Omartian. The most loving thing a parent can do is pray for their children.

Answer 6

Night terrors are a perfectly normal "phase" of toddlerhood. They don't really wake up which is WHY they have the "possessed looking eyes"...they are still asleep. I would simply go in make sure my daughter was alright, lie her back down in her bed after a hug.

Answer 7

Have you looked into his diet? I know that garlic and chocolate give me horrifying dreams at night. I also cannot eat right before bed. You should change his diet, give him some warm milk before bed and maybe put something like one of those little table waterfalls in his room so the sound will be soothing. I can imagine it is very scary. Have your house excorcised if that does not work LOL

Answer 8

My grandson has them. It started when he was 1 yr old and he is 2 1/2 now and he still has them. My daughter and I hold him until he stops crying. Some times is longer than others. We have not found anything to help we just hold him, rock him and do a lot of praying!!!!

Answer 9

I used to have nightmares maybe 3 times a week for years. Then I stopped watching horror films (Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Childsplay, etc.) Immediately the nightmares stopped. I've been nightmare free for years.

Answer 10

i just fed my son a bit of sleeping medison and he was fine but within 3 years he did oout grow it but as you siad it is very scary