Talk to me about night terrors and other nocturnal activities- sleep walking, talking etc.

[Indith]

Ds is 2 and has terrors. Sometimes they are bog standard sit up, scream, 5-10 mins go quiet again ones. Fine. But I think we are getting other stuff mixed in now, does anyone have any experience of dealing with something similar?

Eg last night, ds started crying around 10pm. It seemed as though he was awake so dh picked him up to cuddle. This started a good half hour or so of uncontrolled hysterical; sobbing and screaming (which makes me think it is terror related and perhaps he was not awake). He eventually calmed down watching tv and snuggling with dh. I gave him medised as he has a cold and was getting upset at not being able to breate while sucking his thumb. He was interacting. He started pointing places and wanting to go there. He got carried round all the rooms in the house always pointing to them then pointing his way out as though he had to check everything out. If you tried to put him to bed when he pointed to his room he cried. After a while of this he pointed to his bed and went to sleep.

He has been doing similar a lot recently, waking at odd hours and being up for a couple of hours, pointing at things but not wanting them etc. My mum was telling me about the son of a friend who sleepwalks and has semi rational conversations, asks for books etc all in his sleep and I'm wondering if ds is actually asleep all along.

Anyone with nocturnal adventurists out there to shed some light? How do you handle it? Do you stick them back in their beds? Do you just do what they seem to want until they crash again and go back into a calm sleep? Also have 3 week old dd and I'm struggling to say the least with hours of screaming from ds and her feeding frenzies. By 4am this morning I had had just over 2 hours of sleep in 3 different stints. I could really use some help!

[DaftMule]

Does DS go to bed fine and happy or is there an issue there?

[Indith]

Goes to bed like an angel, either chats to teddies or falls asleep right away. Apart from the occasional terror phase he was a wonderful sleeper, 7 til 7.30/8 or later without fail!

[HSMM]

My DD had night terrors when she was little. She still sleep walks (age 9) and has occasional nightmares. On the whole though, she is fine. We can have a conversation with her in the hallway at 2am and she knows nothing about it in the morning. It does get easier as they get older, but is a bit of a worry when they stay away from home.

[Hulababy]

My 6y D has night terrors, and has done on and off since she was about 2y. When they occur she will have her eyes open, but completely in another place, ill look right through you as if you're not there, talk abotu thins she can see, etc. As she is calming a bit, but not lucid yet she will talk to us but not in a way you could really understand. When she does come round from them she is totally unaware of what has happened and is unable to say what has upset her (to be honest she often just looked dazed and confused as to why she is suddenly awake in another room!) and will tend to go straight back to sleep.

Whhen they occur we find the easiest way to bring her out of them is to lift her into another room - to remove the environment she is "seeing" as much as possible. This generally does help and she will come out of them, so to speak, within a few minutes. She tends to go straight back to bed after them.

We find DD tends to have night terrors more frequently when she is excited or anxious about something. So in the run up to Christmas, holidays and her bithday she has them more often.

[Indith]

Lifting ds to another room just makes him kick off big style, he flings himself around, kicks and hits.

HSMM when did she start sleep walking? Do you just put her back to bed?

ds can be up for a good 2 hours once he starts and frequently has more than one episode a night.

I think part of it is how the hell are you sure if they are awake or not when they are this little and unable to communicate? (ds's vocab doesn't really extend beyond wheeled vehicles) With all this pointing to things and crying I just don't know if he is asleep or awake and playing silly buggers.

[Indith]

Anybody else?

[DaftMule]

Very difficult to tell what is going on, especially when you are half asleep yourself! We are going through bad sleeping with out DD ourselves atm (did very long winded post about it on here today!). Since moving her to her own bed this Christmas, we frequently wake to hear her shuffling on the landing not really knowing what she is doing or why she is there judging by the incoherent ramblings we get from her. Trying to physically move her often ends in her flinging herself and having a major tantrum. Sorting it out can be a 10 minute or a 2 hour job...

Can't offer anything other than a supportive "know what you are going through".

My parents said that I suffered from nightmares from about 2 onwards. I can remember having them constantly when I was 6 or 8 myself. Hope to god my DD hasn't inherited it from me!

[mrstimlovejoy]

my dd had them from 2 - 3,they would last up to an hour most nights.she is now 4 and recently has been having them again.screams for me or dh but then tells us to go away,rolls around the floor,stamps her feet.we tend to leave her but stay in the room or outside her door until she calms down.i find it upsetting for dd and us.

[Indith]

Sounds like fun

Ds had a very rare refusal to go to bed night, is currently screaming in his cot as we've given up. He also has a fever. Could be a fun night!

[NotBigJustBolshy]

My father suffered from night terrors, so did I (and I was a sleep walker) and my dd also started very early with night terrors. She is now 10 and still gets them when she is very worried or wound up about something (not saying that this is the cause in a 2 year old) and we have a stairgate at the top of the stairs which we only use at night to prevent her from sleepwalking down the stairs. Am v. used to the nocturnal shenanigans - never know what to expect. A few months back I was woken up by her trying to climb into a chest of drawers in her room!

[NotBigJustBolshy]

Ah, I've read the OP properly now and I see you have a new baby. The sleep disturbance in your ds could be a reaction to the new baby. I can sympathise with your exhaustion as when my dd was at her worst (with up to 7 episodes per night) I was still bfing her little brother. If a child is having a real "night terror" as opposed to a nightmare, it is best not to wake them, but just guide them back to bed. I would speak to her quietly and offer a drink of water (she took this in her sleep) and tell her to dream of nice things (worth a try). Hope your ds feels better from his fever soon and everything settles down!

[Indith]

Thanks,

I know that his siater will have triggered things, things started in a bad way this time about a month before she was born when dh was working away a lot too, all contributes I know.

Ds screamed himself to sleep in the end then was up around 3 for an hour of screaming. He has done a poo so no choice really but to pick him up for changing. Cue major tantrum screaming. Eventually stopped and dh read himm a story and he went to bed no probs.

The hardest thing is not being sure what is terror/asleep stuff and what is awake and playing silly buggers. A straight forward terror I can spot and deal with easily, the fussing and asking for things etc I just can't tell, sometimes seems like he is awake but the major screamingg and lack of rationality in his demands makes it seem like something terror/sleepwalking related.

HV coming tom for both dd and ds's 2 year check. She is pretty good so hopefully we'll have a good chat. If it seems that he is asleep we can work on knocking him out of the cycle and if not we can decide on an action plan and stick to it (I feel CC coming on ). Poor boy is so tired today, refused point blank to nap too.

I hate it. All the literature I can find on terrors just talks about the straight forward sit up, scream for 10 mins, sleep type and says how you only tend to get one a night etc but it is so not true! Good to know there arte others outr there who have had several a night. I've had nights from ds which have gone sleep 1 hour, scream 1 hour all bloody night.

[NotBigJustBolshy]

Hi there - glad to hear you have a useful HV. Maybe she can give you some good pointers. My dd developed a sleep one hour/scream one hour all night pattern at the age of 2 following a viral infection. I co-slept with her for a while to see if this helped, but it seemed to make it worse, TBH. It was also very difficult to tell if the episodes were terrors or she was awake - for the same reasons that you mention. She also suddenly started refusing to go to bed at all. After 6 months (during which time I was just starting up as a freelancer and was therefore working mad hours anyway) I was virtually insane with exhaustion. GP prescribed phenergan in huge doses, but it didn't work and we were referred to a paediatrician - who said we should just try CC . It worked. We then had no further probs until she started the full-on, genuine article, no-messing night terrors at 6. If in doubt, get your ds checked out by the GP before going for CC.

[Indith]

Sorry, been a bit busy!

Ds slept all night last night! Things seem to be a little calmer. Terrors settling back to the short, simple crying in cot for a few mins variety. When he was had a longer one and woken up he has calmed relatively quickly and settled back to bed easily with a story in his room. We've changed bed time slightly to have his stories in his room after milk and tooth brushing so he goes to bed all snuggly rather than after being pinned down to have teeth scrubbed.

HV couldn't tell me much more than we already knew and of course she can't answer the question of whether he is playing up or showing sleep walking type behaviour but nice to chat about it and have some reassurance about how we are dealing with it.

Anyway fingers crossed for the next few nights, dh working away Wed and I do not need ds screaming for hours on top of dd feeding!