Night Terrors…Let Them Sleep
I have mentioned Night Terrors several times before because AJ had (and still has occasionally) horrible Night Terrors. They are fairly common in young children but many parents don’t know how to deal with them. I know I didn’t and they scared me half to death when he had his first few.
In yesterday’s Parent Hack’s post about Night Terror’s a parent suggests a Replacement Dream as a way to calm her child. Unfortunately, we have been told that this is not the way to deal with a night terror and all the research I have done suggests that this could be harmful.
AJ’s first night terror was after the first full day in his new home and it scared us to death. We could tell that he was not awake but he screamed for over 30 minutes. He continued to have them every single night for one full year and they lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to 50 minutes long. They gradually diminished after that to every other night or every three nights. At the present time (home three years) he has one about once every month but he is currently sleep walking.
- Sudden awakening from sleep
- persistent fear or terror that occurs at night
- screaming
- sweating
- confusion
- rapid heart rate
- inability to explain what happened
- usually no recall of “bad dreams” or nightmares
- may have a vague sense of frightening images.
Night Terrors will ONLY happen during stages 3 and 4 so they are most likely to happen during the first half of the night. However, if AJ woke up, as he often did, he would reenter the sleep stages and have another night terror later in the evening.
Prevention:
Minimize Stress and Stimulation, especially before bedtime. Getting MORE sleep can often help because being overtired can cause Night Terrors. Change, transitions, overstimulation, and things like television are triggers as well.
During a Night Terror:
Night terrors can be very upsetting for parents, who might feel helpless at not being able to comfort or soothe their child. The best way to handle a night terror is to wait it out patiently and make sure the child doesn’t get hurt by thrashing around. Kids usually will settle down and return to sleep on their own in a few minutes.
It’s best not to try to wake kids during a night terror. Attempts usually don’t work, and kids who do wake are likely to be disoriented and confused, and may take longer to settle down and go back to sleep.
eHow.com has 6 Steps on how to Treat a Night Terror…
Not one of the 6 steps say to talk to your child…hmmm. Night Terrors can be serious business. Toddlers and young children are hysterically crying, screaming, and being unresponsive. I wouldn’t want to talk to my child if I it is going to make the situation worse…
Tags: , 6 steps, children, crying, how to, night terrors, nightmares, parent hacks, prevention, REM, screaming, Sleep, symptoms, toddlers, treatRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Medical, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sensory Integration, Sleep
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