Toddler not sleeping at all - possible night terros

[Leabee1234]

Hi I have posted about this before and have spoke to my health visitor i cant get any more support or possible melatonin for him until hes formally diagnosed aith autism. He is possibly being diagnosed this year. He is on lower scale and is not non verbal but cannot communicate his needs.
Basically rhe main thing is in struggling with him not sleeping. He goes to bed ar 7pm every night and goes to sleep straight away however between 12 and 4am he wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs shaking hitting me and wont calm down sometimes he will wake and not sleep the entire night. But he wakes every night like this. I am thinking may it possibly be night terrors? I always give him a bottle now when he wakes to trh and settle.him as he screams so loud. I have also let him have bottle cuddle then try cry it out a few times as I am not getting any sleep especially as a solo parent and the sleep deprivation is really affecting me and making me feel unwell. I was thinking would a night light help? As he sleeps in the dark and maybe if he is scared?? The way he screams i think it may be night terrors but it can lead to him being awake all night. I also hate letting him cry it out as the neighbours have complained about it before. And its exhausting. But a few times crying it out for 5 minutes or so works . I just want to know if anyone has any tips to help him sleep through the night. He turns 3 in August. With no support I am a t breaking point with a complete lack of sleep I also work. And ive had to take time off due to it.

Does he snap out of the night terror? We used to throw all the lights on to shock ours out of it and make them fully wake up for a bit, then put them back to sleep like it was bedtime.

Do you co-sleep? If not, have you tried to see if it worked better? That was always the easiest route back to sleep. Even if on a mattress on the floor in your room.

So sorry to hear you are going through this. Similarly to previous poster I used to take my little one out of her room in to a brightly lit spare room to shock her out of the night terror then try bedtime again. I’ve also found co-sleeping helped hugely. I did bed time as normal then after the first sign of (what I assume) night terror I would bring them in bed with me. Is there anyone you can get help from taking over for a night or two? I really know now why sleep
deprivation is used as a torture method. Sending love

Thank you if I try to co sleep he will not settle. He only really settles in his cot if he comes in my bed he turns hyper as its a new environment.

Thank you I have asked my mom to have him a night this weekend so I can rest but I dont usually have much support . It is difficult

Have you tried magnesium if waiting for melatonin?

Yes I have been giving him 5mg a night for a few weeks unfortunately hasnt made a difference yet

It doesn't sound like my ds's experience of night terrors but he was a bit older. Like pp the best solution I found was getting him out of bed into bright lights, we used to go downstairs and watch cartoons for 15 mins. If i tried to gently calm him down in bed he stayed in the same state.

Giving a bottle during the night is making a rod for your own back. If you have to, stick with a bottle of water. At 2 nearly 3 he’s having his 3 meals with snacks plus milk in the day, so there’s no need for anymore in the night. He’s waking, then knows he’ll get a bottle.

Spend a night with the crying and a bottle of water. I even used a pushchair rocking back and forward for at least 2 hours but didn’t give in to milk. After one night of misery, my son never woke up during the night again or if he did he went back to sleep as he knew he wasn’t going to get anything.

Just an idea…

I would also go to bed yourself at 7 if that's when he is sleeping. At least you will get a few hours in before he wakes.

My son used to do this. He really struggled with being woken up, and it would send him into a melt-down. Turned out that the problem was him still being in a cot - he was moving in his sleep, hitting the sides, and it was waking him up. We moved him into a bed and it stopped immediately (which was crazy, as it was regularly happening several times a night). Might not be the same thing, but could be worth a try?

Have you considered pinworms? My daughter’s only symptoms were nighttime screaming, I also thought they were night terrors.

Can you try a weighted blanket?

If it is night terrors then get him out of his room and properly awake as quickly but gently as you can-you need to dissipate all the panicky vibrations. Then once he’s awake and calm turn the lights down and cuddle him back to sleepyness before you take him back to his room. It’s a real pain but they grow out of it.