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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

3yr old wakes up from daytime naps hysterical

11 replies

Rollergirl1 · 30/04/2009 22:36

My 3yr old DD rarely has naps during the day now but on the odd occassion that she does, or falls asleep on the sofa or in the car or in the buggy, she without fail wakes up hysterical. I would even say that it verges on a panic attack, in that she sometimes sounds like she's gasping for breath. She is distraught and it takes a good 30 mins of cajoling and hugging and constant attention to bring her round. Trouble is that i also have an 11 month old DS and sometimes i just can't spend that amount of time trying to pacify her. If she has had a sleep in her bed and wakes up, she refuses to come downstairs and if i suggest to her that she sits on her bed and comes down once she has calmed down then she is inconsolable. If she wakes up from a sleep whilst we are in the car and we are not very close to our destination then the rest of the journey is just hell because she screams and works herself up into such a state that she is almost sick. This in turn upsets DS and then he starts screaming. I know it doesn't help the situation but i find it about then that i tend to lose my rag with her.

Has anyone else experienced this?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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giraffesCantRunA10k · 30/04/2009 22:38

Would you say she is worse when out and falls asleep? Or same as when she has a nap in bed? How is she in the mornings?

ib · 30/04/2009 22:42

We've had this with ds - in his case, he seems to wake up with a massive sugar low and stuffing a few raisins into him helps a lot.

It has to be done quickly, though, as once he is in full flow he refuses to eat anything.

imoverhere · 30/04/2009 22:47

I was about to say what ib said. My DD doesn't nap (3yo) but she can get real sugar lows and be really really stroppy sometimes. Milk often helps, mainly cause I can get it down her quickly (like ib says, timing is everything) Or a banana or biscuit, anything to get her blood sugar back up. Might be worth a try for you.

Original poster

Rollergirl1 · 30/04/2009 22:48

She reacts exactly the same wherever she is when she wakes if she has fallen asleep during the day. During the night she is great, even getting up by herself to go to the toilet without drama. And she is fine when she first wakes in the morning too, coming into our bedroom and telling us that she had a good night sleep. It is literally just when she sleeps during the day.

I have tried talking to her about it, asking why she gets so upset, asking if she has bad dreams or if she wakes up a bit confused about where she is but she just says "i woke up and i was crying".

It's not like it happens every day. Is just really weird, and she just seems so upset.

OP posts:

Original poster

Rollergirl1 · 30/04/2009 22:53

ib/imoverhere: Wow, that would never have even crossed my mind. How do you know when they have low blood sugar? That's actually something that i suffer from so it's very possible that it could be that. Thanks!

OP posts:

imoverhere · 30/04/2009 22:55

I'd give the snack a go, milk or whatever. It may do the trick. I am surprised at how awful my DD can be when she is hungry / low blood sugar level and equally surprised at what a difference just a bit of food can make.

chegirl · 30/04/2009 22:59

My DS1 was like this! I thought it was just him. He would very rarely sleep in the day. He stopped napping at about 7mths.

When he did he would wake up and scream for about an hour and then cry for another two. It was horrible.

I dont know why he did it. He was hyperactive so didnt do it very often (as he didnt sleep in the day very often). It would have driven me demented if he did.

I am sorry I cannot offer advice but I can offer my sincere empathy and hope she grows out of it soon.

ib · 30/04/2009 23:00

Mostly we know because he gets so stroppy!

screamingabdab · 01/05/2009 18:54

My DS 2 was like this.

It used to be really hard, because he'd wake from the nap, then I'd straightaway have to go and collect DS1 from school, with DS2 in full flow and inconsolable.

He just grew out of it.

One thing does occur to me now, which is it might be some kind of sleep disturbance like Night Terrors. DS1 had these at night and occasionally when woken from a nap.

It's the thing you say about her being hysterical which makes me think of it - does she seem frightened and quite unresponsive to you when it's going on? I will try and find a link to Night terrors.

screamingabdab · 01/05/2009 19:00

pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep/a/night_terrors.htm

Here is a link

screamingabdab · 01/05/2009 19:12

Meant to say, If it is night terrors (or even if you don't think it is), you could try waking her up early - I know it seems wrong, but this is the advice for night terrors, which occur around an hour after the child has fallen asleep.

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