night terrors at 2yr old?

Question

im sure my son is suffering night terrors he wakes at ten ten thirty every night thing is we cuddle him help him back to sleep but he will wake five mins later and scream the house down ive got five children and none of the other kids suffered this how can i help him with this problem what can i do im trying so hard im desperate now

Answer 1

First off--if they occur EVERY night, they may not be night terrors. Especially if they work like clock work, they may be more of a cycle he's gotten into.

He cries at 10:00.
Mom comes in at 10:03.
Mom cuddles and rocks until 10:30.
Mom leaves.
He cries 5 minutes later.
Repeat.

Try letting him cry for 15-20 minutes. If you can't do that, go in after 10 minutes and rub his back. Don't pick him up, just rub his back or read him a story.

Also look at his schedule--is he getting enough running time? Is he getting enough quiet time? Is he getting enough time with you?

Before jumping to the conclusion that it's night terrors, look at his schedule first.

Answer 2

We've had the same problem. I agree with the answers about making sure your son isn't overtired (try putting him to bed earlier or lengthening his nap), and the answers about waking him a little before he usually has the night terror. If that fails and he has one anyway, we've found that the night terror episode is shorter if we keep everything very quiet and dark. Since I can't stand feeling helpless, I'll often very quietly sing a song or recite "goodnight moon", but honestly I'm not sure if it makes a difference other than making me feel like I'm doing something. For awhile we were trying to move him into a different room, get him a drink, etc., but that's just hopeless since he's not even really awake and doesn't process what's going on -- and it just delays him calming back down and falling into more restful sleep.

Do remember that though it's terribly stressful for you, he won't remember a night terror in the morning. It's different from a bad dream; it's not during REM sleep and he really won't remember it in the morning. Also, don't be alarmed by the post about abuse. Plenty of kids have night terrors without having had anything traumatic happen. He'll grow out of them eventually.

Answer 3

This is so hard, and I totally understand where you are coming from. My daughter had something similar but not on that scale; however a neighbor's child used to set off their burgular alarm with her high pitched screams from night terrors!!

I hope these tips will help you:

Make sure he does not eat dinner too close to bedtime. Let him have at least two hours between food and sleep.

Make sure he's got a very regular bedtime every night, and stick to that very carefully no matter what. Do not let him get over-tired for any reason!

Warm milk at night will help him sleep deeper because of the tryptophan in it when you warm it up. You can warm it and give it to him in a cup or bottle - make it chocolate or some other flavor if it helps him drink it down! It takes about 30 minutes to get into the system and help out. I know all the lectures about the teeth, but at this point that's the least of your issues.

Benadrill used to make my daughter sleep really hard and in your case, I'd give him one small dose of it and just try it and see if it will make him sleep or not. Some kids are more hyper on it, but most will sleep and sleep hard.

Best of luck to you! Let me know how your doing! Hang in there, it will get better, I promise it will, and some day, it will be only a memory.

Answer 4

I see how this can be extremely hard for you, and your partner.
But here are some of my suggestions.
Try to get him a night light.
Things in the dark seem much scarier than in daylight to anybody.
If he has any older siblings tell them, to not tell him anything scary. Younger kids beleive things they hear.
Try to remove clocks at night. They kept me up all night as a child.
As I said, kids believe in everything they hear. Give your son a small teddy or something comforting. Tell him, the item is a protector and keeps him safe all the time.
Have a nature CD? Studies show, rain is the most relaxing sound, and will get the child to sleep better.

Answer 5

Our youngest daughter had night terrors beginning just before she turned 2 and lasted until she was 6. Screaming is just one of the things common to night terrors. Children who suffer from night terrors will often appear awake, but will not respond to you when you speak to them. Sometimes they look around in panic at something unseen to you. Some children will try to get out of bed. There is nothing you can really do for a child suffering a night terror. For our daughter, she would have her episodes in the middle of the night. Blood curdling screams followed by loud crying would jolt us all from a sound sleep. After many episodes of trying to talk to her and calm her, we eventually learned to go to her bed, sit beside her, hold her if she would let us, speak calmly and quietly to her, telling her it was OK, mom and dad were there now. It would take between 5-30 minutes until she calmed enough for us to help her lay back down. Then we'd stay with her, rub her hair and her back until her breathing returned to normal. As she got older and more verbal, we'd ask her about her "bad dream", but she never remembered being up in the night. She also had nightmares which were considerably different. With nightmares she would wake with the same blood curdling scream, but when we went to her, she would grab us, cry in a different way, talk about her fears, and be able to remember the next morning that she had a bad dream. She is the youngest of our 4 kids and was born when her siblings were 18, 15, and 12 (long story - conceived unexpectedly when I had been taking birth control pills for 11 years!). None of our older kids had night terrors and the instances of nightmares were infrequent for them. We spoke several times with her doctor, especially at times when the night terror episodes seemed to increase. Apparently most kids outgrow them by about age 6 and our daughter did. Whether is was what was need to make them stop or she just naturally stopped, when we moved her to another bedroom she never had another night terror again. She is 10 now and is prone to nightmares, still, but generally foregoes the screaming and just shows up in our room and comes into our bed.

Answer 6

The way that we finally broke my daughter's night terrors is to wake her prior to the time she normally woke screaming. We woke her about half an hour before she was normally waking (as you said, your son typically wakes around the same time each night). We got her up, got her a drink of water, walked her around a little, then put her back in bed. The reason it works is that it breaks the sleep cycle. They are in the deepest realm of sleep when they have night terrors, and breaking the sleep cycle keeps the night terrors from happening. Good luck, I know it is nerve-wracking when they are having night terrors.

Answer 7

I don't think drugging your child with sleeping tablets is the way to overcome this and deep down you know this - you're obviously desperate and willing to try anything to sort this out. He clearly has something worrying him and needs to sort it out. Talk to him, try to get to the bottom of what it is that is really the problem and try to ease his fears by eliminating all the things he is worried about. Are you anxious around him? Sometimes it can be a self perpetuating circle which is that you expect it to happen so you're nervous and this rubs off on him. Do you have a good bedtime routine to settle him? A nice warm bath, a drink of milk and then bedtime in a dark room with a nice gentle story. You could put on some nice music (a music box with a timer to go off after 5 mins is good). When he wakes up, give him a cuddle but don't let him get out of bed, put him back in bed and reassure him and don't make a fuss.

Answer 8

Since night terrors are often triggered in children who are overtired, sticking to a good bedtime routine and making sure your child is getting enough rest can help to prevent them.

For children who get frequent night terrors, it might help to wake your child up before the time that he usually has a night terror. This is thought to interrupt or alter the sleep cycle and prevent night terrors from occuring.

Children who have night terrors are usually described as 'bolting upright' with their eyes wide open, with a look of fear and panic, and letting out a 'blood curdling scream'.

These kids will usually also be sweating, breathing fast and have a rapid heart rate (autonomic signs). And although it will seem like they are awake, during a night terror, children will appear confused, will not be consolable and won't recognize you.

Typical night terrors last about 5 to 30 minutes and afterwards, children usually return to a regular sleep.

The good news is that most children outgrow night terrors as they get older.

T.

Answer 9

My youngest son suffered night terrors when he was 3. He would wake up screaming like crazy, and would not respond to me or my husband, almost like he couldn't hear us. He would scream about 5-15 minutes and then just STOP, and go right back to sleep again. He did not remember doing it either. He outgrew it that year and has not done it ever since. I hope your son gets over it fast. I heard that they do outgow it. Good luck and remember to have patience, it won't last forever.

Answer 10

My son had horrible night terrors and still does occasionally. He's five now, so there not as frequent...

What I figured out was that my son had the worst most frequent terrors when he was overtired. Making sure he doesn't stay up too late and become overtired will help a little.