Is there anything that can be done for nightmares/night terrors?

[BlueberryPancake]

I have a gorgeous DS1, 2.5 yo, who until now was sleeping very well. His cot is in our bedroom because of some DIY in his bedroom which is taking forever. The last few nights, he started to wake up at night, screaming and crying, he is clearly upset. Last night he did talk about a big bad wolf, and about monsters. Up until last night, we have managed to not take him out of his cot, and reassure him until he'd fall asleep but last night, he was shaking like a leaf and was very distressed, and we've had to put him in bed with us. All the noise woke up his little brother but DS1 didn't want to let us go to him - not that he was jealous, but he didn't want us to leave him. We woke up three times in total.

There hasn't been any obvious changes in our family recently, and he is not a shy toddler. He has some fears, doesn't like the Numberjacks on telly or men with beards, but otherwhise he is OK.

Is there anything we can do to stop this, or help him sleep through again? We've never hada problem with putting him to bed, he never cries when we leave him in his cot. Any advice welcome!

How you handle it depends if it's nightmares (a dream and he has woken and is scared and may remember it the next day) or night terrors (something nobody is quite sure how to explain, but they are actually still asleep or wake up scared but don't know why and won't remember a thing in the morning!)

Nightmares - cuddle, reassure
Night terror - don't try to wake him, or get his attention, just guide him back to bed and stay there until he calms down. He won't remember anything in the morning.

It may be th diy, it may just be his age, hard to tell. I'd advise you get (if you don't already have) a really good routine going - bath, supper, story, cuddle, bed - for example, and stick to that every night. If he's a bit anxious, he'll feel more secure with a predictable routine.
try getting him to sleep a bit earlier, as being overtired can trigger it.

I was also reading that disturbing their sleep can help. so when you go to bed, half rousing him (not wake him up!) to kiss him and say goodnight and rearrange his bedding, apparently helps. I can't remember why!

i would just try my best to comfort him, and reassure him that everything is going to be ok and that there is nothing to be scared of, hopefully then he will realise that nothing is going to hurt him, maybe put a nice night-light on for him and some soothing music so its on in the background when he is sleeping, hope this advice helps!

hi my little boy was having some really bad dreams screaming and getting very upset saying that there was some body in his room this went on for 2 weeks every night. then someone told me to get a dream catcher i bought one thought i would give it a go nothing to lose to my suprise my little boy has slept soundly every night since u never no this might help your little boy hope it does jill

my ds1 was doing this, lasted about 2 weeks and finished as quickly as it started. I just reassured him, lots of cuddles etc etc. we werent sure if it was nightmares or the terrors

whats a dreamcather?

i watched a programme on night-terrors and some of them were as regular as clock-work, same time every night or parents just used to spot the signs: REM, twitchiness etc indicating disturbed sleep. If that's the case you can wake them fully before the night terror takes hold, give them a drink, have a quick chat, and then let them go back to sleep.

hi mummy2t the one i got is round and has feathers on it and hangs in my sons bedroom window i was told that they help take away all the bad dreams this one i bought came from america if you go one google and put in dream ctchers it will tell you in more dtail how they work i just no its worked in my sons case

My 3 year old goes through phases of having nightmares. I always rush in, cuddle and am usually out of there straight away unless he needs a wee.

General themes are monsters, wolves, dinosaurs. and spiders. He tends to get them more when he's had a busy week or day. Last night he had a couple of mini ones that woke me but not him because he'd been to a very exciting birthday party.

Occasionally he asks me before he goes to bed if the monsters/dinosaurs/wolves will come and I tell him that they are getting tucked up too by their mummies so they won't come. Seems to satisfy him.

I think nightmares are just a normal part of a developing brain.

Occasionally he'll get a particularly nasty one - big screams and shaking. For those, I take him to the loo for a drink and a wee to make sure he is properly awake, otherwise he tends to drift back into the dream.

No experience of proper night terrors though. I've also seen stuff on tv about those where you try and break the cycle (if you can predict it) where you wake them so they are wide awke just before they have one.