Night-time Terrors

[roxie]

My six yr old son has what I call night-time terrors. He falls asleep with no problems but a few hours later wakes up wimpering, then crying/shouting out and screaming with shear fright. I can't make sense of all that he says and he almost seems like he's hallucinating. His eyes are wide open but sometimes he doesn't seem to recognise me. When I'm able to get him back into bed and hold him close for long enough whispering comforting things to him, then he falls back into a deep sleep. This doesn't happen every night and only started this year, but it seems to be getting more and more regular.
Does anyone else have this problem, and if so any advice? Thanks.

OOOPS!!Sorry - new to this!

My dd1 had this for a while when she was 3 (now almost 5) we used homeopathic remedies that worked v. well. For her it's Calc. Carb or Sulphur.But everyone responds to different things so it's worth, IMO, finding your own Homeopath.

One other thing that sprung to mind is, is he worried/upset by anything? Or reading scary books/T.V./video games? Or over tired when going to bed. My dds often have worse nights if they're too tired i.e. they crash out so fast that later when they go into lighter sleep, they stir and freak out as if they don't know where they are.I go in "sshhh' them to sleep. But it can often happen 2/3 times in a night. A few early nights usually sorts it,as they have time to settle down into sleep (20mins or so),rather than flaking out in 5mins. HTH.

Our 3ds have all suffered from night terrors from about 2-4 years of age. I think it is an active imaginaton ,which can be made worse, if they are overtired. Our best solution, having tried all ways, is to take the child downstairs, wake them up and put the lights on. Cuddle them and ,my dh always shows them the moon, if it is out! This seems to work a treat and takes them out of the scary dream. Now resettle into bed and all should be well.

My ds had these when he was 3 every night for several months, and had a couple again when he started school. It seemed to bother us more than him - he didn't remember them in the morning, and didn't wake up during them - we didn't try to wake him up either.

Anyway, a friend suggested making his bedding/nightware lighter and cooler ... I was very sceptical of that suggestion, but we tried it, and it worked for us - literally overnight.

Ferber (the sleep expert who wrote How To Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems) says these aren't dreams at all (if they don't wake and seem still asleep) but a kind of transition between different sleep states. He says not to wake or interfere really, and not to mention it next day. He says it isn't a symptom of stress or worries, and isn't psychologically damaging! he does suggest that if the child regularly has night terrors at the same time, waking the child just before briefly, which alters the sleep cycles. I think mainly it's a phase!

Thanks for all the advice. He has had some trauma recently. We had to remove him from school and settle him elsewhere. I know that he is settling down again, maybe it's post-traumatic, because of all the other stuff. He was being bullied by a 10 yr old and school were looking after the other party. Usual thing!
Maybe it is just a phase - I'll see how things go.

message withdrawn

robinw
thanks for the message. sorry to hear about your mum - mine passed on 10 years ago...

message withdrawn