Is DS having night terrors?

[GaryWilmottsTeeth]

Posting for traffic....

DS is 2.8 and has always been a fairly decent sleeper. Over the last few weeks though, he has been waking screaming and inconsolable in the night. When I go to him, he doesn't want to be picked up/comforted, he thrashes around in his cot, kicking his duvet away etc. He is usually just sitting there sobbing and howling. These episodes usually last about 10 minutes before he calms down enough for me to try to soothe him. Its horrible to watch. He seems to be mostly awake, but not fully. He doesn't make too much sense with what he is says.

For info... he goes down at 7-7.30pm and goes straight to sleep, he still has a good nap (1-2 hours) after lunch and he's in a cot rather than a bed because he's always been happy there and has never tried to escape!! These episodes seem to happen at roughly 3 hour intervals - 10pm, 1 am and 4am ish. The first 2 are the worst. They happen about 3 or 4 nights a week.

Any help would be much appreciated as I also have a 4yo who thinks a lie-in is 6am, a DH who works away a lot and I'm pregnant with DC3!!!

Sounds similar to my 20 month old but normally she only has them once every few months. I just leave her until she stops and then comfort

Its dangerous to try and wake them during, my dh suffers terribly and I just go with it

You could gently wake before they normally occur, thus changing the sleep pattern

Yes, does sound like DD when she had them, she grew out of them pretty quick.

POSs a stupid question given his age, but does he wear a nappy to bed? DD was prob dry at night by that age but would still wear a nappy, but a few months after I took the nappies the night terrors increased, but she'd calm right down if I took her to toilet and put her on then walked away- she'd usually also do a massive wee. It's hard tho as she also had night terrors between 1 and 2.5 when wearing a nappy. Just saying because it was my mum who pointed out that she might just need the loo and it def improved things quickly

My lo had night terrors for years. She start screaming around 10pm, lavender bubble bath helped but not all the time. She grew out of them around 5/6. She had the odd one as a baby then started again as a toddler.

Yes, he still wears a nappy —haven’t even attempted potty training yet— but until now it’s never bothered him to be soggy or have a very full nappy.

Thanks for the advice, I guess it’s just a question of waiting it out.

My dd night terrors turned into her wanting a wee when she became dry at night. She soon became able to wake herself up enough to go for a wee and now she doesn't wake at all

Make a note of the time that your DS usually wakes. The following night 10 minutes before the nightmare is due to start gently talk to him and rouse him while you turn him over in the bed and stay with him until you see if it was effective. Keep doing it for a couple of nights until the pattern breaks. At worst you may have to totally wake him to break the pattern.

I find with dc that night terrors go on all night unless you wait for them to properly wake up from the first one. So I just hold them sitting upright until they wake up and then make sure they is talking sense before putting them back to bed.

When I took my dd to the sleep clinic at children's centre they gave me advice on foods to give before bed. Can't remember what they were now

Just an idea but is he watching a particular TV programme. We had the same problem and although it was a toddlers show & age appropriate etc we sussed out that there was a particular character causing the upset....as soon as we stopped him watching it all went back to normal.