Night Terrors - 2 and half year old - Can anyone help?

[finnandmax]

My toddler is waking 4/5 times a night, the early part of the night he seems to have a night terror and later he has nightmares - he screams for us and will only settle once we put him back to bed.
We're exhausted as we also have a 4 month old!!
We've tried everything - night light, wind down time, no t.v., calm stories etc etc.
Help!!

[alexw]

You are not alone! No advice, sorry, but we're going through same thing, but early morning instead of early eve. Hope someone comes up with some good advice soon.

[LucyJu]

DD1 used to have these ... I certainly hope she has grown out of them now. Only 2 tips I can think of are;

Try not to let him get over-tired, as night terrors seem to occur more when a child goes to bed feeling really exhausted

Go with it. In other words, don't try to argue your son out of the dream "there's no monster", accept that it seems completely real to him in his state and say something more like "it's ok... it's going now" (IYSWIM). This appproach helped dd settle down from night terrors much more quickly

[sarahmikeandharry]

we have the same problem also in early housr of morning, nothing calms DS, your not alone and i am told it will pass, Sorry thats all the help i can give!!!

[finnandmax]

thanks for your help, will let you know if I hear anything that helps. One thing somebody told me was to try uncovering their feet from the bedclothes but it hasn't worked for us I'm afraid!

[moosh]

Not much help but I promise he will grow out of it. Ds1 was 2 when it started with him, he wasn't aware that we were even in the room. He would scream and scream and kick out at us untill he calmed down and went back to sleep, he never woke up and in the morning would have no recollection of it. I agree with LucyJu, they would be worse when he had had a busy day and was over tired. They actually went on till he was about 4 yrs, he is now 7 and has not had any for boput 3 yrs.
They will stop, you just have to ride them out I'm afraid. Big sympathies especially with a new born in the house.

[quokka]

went through the same thing with ds1 (2.5yrs) recently and have been using a sleep blend that my friend who is an aromotherapist did for him. Has been a great success and he loves his belly being rubbed. Has become a bedtime routine for the past 4 months and his sleep has improved enormously!