night terrors in 4yr old

[WeekendsAreTooShort]

my 4 yr DS is having awful night terrors. I have done some reading about them since they started and they seem to be common in boys this age and linked to family history of sleep walking and sleeptalking. I did sleep talk and sometimes still do,. They are most likely to happen when he has been excited through the day..parties etc. We are trying to get home early, bedtime story 6.45pm and bed at 7. he sleeps for 12 hours now. no sleep in day as would not sleep at night otherwise.

we have started waking him about 1-2 hours after he falls asleep as it suggests and this is helping. when they happen they are just so awful and we can't comfort him or anything. HE SCREAMS at my DH to stay away from him and if we talk to him he just screams louder. he loves his daddy so much as it is hearbreaking. i think we are doing what we can but just wanted to know if anyone had experience of these and what you did, how long they lasted etc etc.

I am on tenterhooks waiting for one at the mo....fingers crossed!

My dd had them for about a year from the age of 3.5. At one stage she was having them a couple of times a week. It was terrifying, we felt so worried and helpless. As others have said, she would just scream at us, wouldn't respond to cuddles or any sort of calming talk, wouldn't wake up (in fact attempts to wake her would usually just serve to make matters worse). In the morning she wouldn't remember anything. She even had one on a long haul flight to visit relatives in the U.s - which lasted for 20 mins. She was screaming , blood-curdling screams, saying "no mummy, no daddy, no!!! Go away!!!" etc Everyone was staring and tutting at us, but my overwhelming feelings were of fear & concern for her. That was actually only the second time it had happened - we had assumed the first one was a one-off... If I had known it might happen again I would never have taken her on a plane! She is now 5 and very occasionally has a mild night terror, but basically seems to have grown out of them :)

I had night terrors as a child - from about 3/4 - and still have them occasionally. It may be awful to watch, but it really didn't do me any harm. I found that I was more likely to have them if I was very tired.

My dd also shouts "NO Daddy ,Mummy"etc,just as the others do.Starnge isn't it? Makes me very stressed that someone will hear her and think DH is a cruel monster,although we have explained to our lovely next door neighbour and she was very nice about it.

the wake up at 9pm seems to have done the trick tonight. all is fine so far!
the shouting no mummy/no daddy is just heartbreaking I know.
I don't know how you coped on a plane with one! nightmare....

I am trying to work out if what my DD had last night was a night terror or a very sad episode. She woke 3-4 times - 9.30, 12.30, 3.20 and 5.45 (for good). The first time in particular was scary. It was not so much that she was scared, as angry. She was yelling at me to go away, said she didn't like me, I was horrible, and on at least two of the wake-ups, she was hitting and kicking me. On the one at 3ish she got a pillow and appeared to try to smother me! She also appears to try to 'boss me about' - telling me rudely what to do and where to go.

One of the times, after having been really abusive to me, she went quiet for a while and then talked to me in a normal voice, asked me to rub her tummy and give her a cuddle, and went back to sleep.

The difficult thing is knowing whether or not she is awake or asleep, and at what point she is awake.

She was in my bed last night, at her insistence. It was the first time ever she has started off the night in my bed, although she does come in during the night sometimes.

More context: She started school 7 weeks ago and has now done 3 weeks of full time school. She was fine until week 6, but then showed lots of signs of tiredness and tantrums.

Can night terrors exhibit angry emotions rather than scared ones? And - sorry for the self-indulgence - but I don't know if this means that deep down she really hates me and this is her 'true' emotions showing, or whether it is really meaningless (how can it be?!).

Please help if you can!