night terror?

[ttistin]

I am pretty sure that is what my ds has. He was getting them often before {2 or so times a month} then he went a few months without getting one. Last night he had one that lasted 20-30 minutes. It was his worse one. We could not get him to wake up. He was yelling so loud his throat is still hurting him today.

I dont know how to wake him up or to try to keep them from happened, if possiable. This one was so scary to dh and me, and each one he has seems to get longer.

He goes to the dr in a couple of weeks, I am going to talk to his dr about this.

[Kelsey1224]

My son suffered from night terrors horribly!!! And it was every night!!! He suffered from them for quite a few years and it was impossible to wake him when they were occurring. His eyes were open and he would respond to questions...but he was never really awake.

The doctors were no help as all they would say was that he would outgrow it.

We solved them one day by following a suggestion of a friend. Our son seemed to have this problem approximately the same time every night...just after we went to bed and the house got really quiet. Her suggestion was to wake him up right before we went to bed and take him to the bathroom. He never got fully awake when we did this...but we apparently were breaking his 'sleep cycle' just enough so he wouldn't suffer a night terror.

IT WORKED!!

[buttrfli]

We solved them one day by following a suggestion of a friend. Our son seemed to have this problem approximately the same time every night...just after we went to bed and the house got really quiet. Her suggestion was to wake him up right before we went to bed and take him to the bathroom. He never got fully awake when we did this...but we apparently were breaking his 'sleep cycle' just enough so he wouldn't suffer a night terror.

IT WORKED!!

We must have the same friends, because thats what mine told me to do! Our oldest DD (now 24) still has them, but when she was at home, we would wake her up and make her brush her teeth and the NT's stopped. She only has them about 2 or 3x's a year now, but they were pretty bad when she was younger.

[Freebeemom]

Small world! this is what I did as well...sometimes my ds still has them, but they are nowhere nearly as bad as they used to be!

[Trishntx]

My son finally grew out of them, and I admit they are some of the scariest things to witness. You feel so helpless.
Now that my son is older, he still has a strange sleep cycle and talks in his sleep.

[taz69]

my son also had them - they tried melatonin - a natural thing, which helped some - then a friend gave us a Dream catcher - Indian weave with feathers and stuff - he didn't know all the "religion/etc" behind it - but knew it was to "catch" bad dreams - NO bad dreams since. My daughter also had the same problem - they had her make a jar "you could buy one - decorate it with favorite characters" to put by her bed at night to "catch" the bad dreams. They say they grow out of it - but I know as mother of 2 - you hate to have them scared at night. Give these a try ( the "catcher jar worked amazingly well) Good luck!

[gonnascream]

I had these real bad from about age 9 to 22.Sometimes I still have them. Delevoped insomnia, went for days on end without sleep, and still do (im going through one of my stints) I dunno, I guess mine was trama related, I had a very farked up thing happen in front of me, and then you twist it around with stress, parents divorcing, deaths, car wrecks, and they never subside.

Do whatever you can to make then go away now cause once they hit the teenage years, it really causes havoc. (you'd be amazed at all the things insomnia can cause you to have)

[msmom79]

my youngest son also had these night terrors.i know what you mean when you say you feel helpless cause you dont know what to do to make things better.we did the same thing as the others have suggested to you,right before we went to bed,we would get our youngest up and take him to the bathroom,then give him warm milk and put him back to bed,this did help to break that deep sleep cycle,but he was at least getting a good nites rest. cant hurt to try these suggestions best of luck to you and your child and a big {{{{hug to}}}} ann

[DivineMsDi]

My son (seems like mainly a boy thing?) had these as a very young child (under 2 years old). He would "wake up" screaming but not really be awake. Just crying and crying through his sleep and it was terrorizing (for us!). I wish you good luck.

[ttistin]

I think I am going to try the dream catcher thing, I would wake him up but he is a bear when woken up. His thing is that he wont wake up {even just to go into the bathroom} or he will wake totally up and wont go back to sleep for a while {an hour or so}

Than you for all the advise, If the dreamcatcher dosent work I will wake him up, even if it means he stays up for a while. It is nice to know there are others out there that know what I am talking about :) thanks

[krinkle19]

my now 5 year old girl had these terribly from 2-4. When I would tuck her in and ask her to close her eyes she'd say she couldn't because the bad dreams would come. On a lark, I was in Bath and Body Works, looking for jasmine, as it is supposed to make your sleep more productive as far as ability to learn when you wake. Anyway, they had this pillow mist in jasmine and vanilla. I brought it home, told Casey that if I sprayed it on her pillow, no bad dreams could seep in................not one terror since.

[ttistin]

my now 5 year old girl had these terribly from 2-4. When I would tuck her in and ask her to close her eyes she'd say she couldn't because the bad dreams would come. On a lark, I was in Bath and Body Works, looking for jasmine, as it is supposed to make your sleep more productive as far as ability to learn when you wake. Anyway, they had this pillow mist in jasmine and vanilla. I brought it home, told Casey that if I sprayed it on her pillow, no bad dreams could seep in................not one terror since.


He doesnt remember in the morning about his bad dreams, he has them and falls back to sleep. In the morning when I ask him about it he doesnt remember them at all.

I do like this idea though, for all 3 of them. It would help them sleep at least. Tori is always getting up during the night, maybe this would help her sleep a little better.

[NiteQueen]

My son has had night terrors since he was around 1. and i took him to the doctor and confirmed that they were night terrors and she told me not to wake him up what happens is one half of thier brain is awake while the other half is still sleeping and it is easier to put the one awake back to sleep then to wake the other side up. so she told me to just comfort him and hush him back to sleep and he has never remembered any of the times when he woke up and it was a nightly thing until he was about 10 and now he is 13 and the only time that he has them is when he gets too hot when he is sleeping or if he has gotten in trouble during the day........good luck to u all that are going thru this now i remember every night just waiting for him to wake up...it is one of the scariest things a parent can go thru.......
God Bless U All