Hi. My daughter's 4 in October and we've had two scary episodes recently, both when she has woken from a nap in the car. She has gone completely and utterly wild, to the point where the first time it happened she hurt herself kicking a wall and the second time she ran off down the road and I had to catch her. For about half an hour after waking she is hysterical, BUT she has had night terrors in the past and during these daytime episodes she doesn't seem as "out of it" - you can communicate with her although it makes no difference. Luckily my husband has been around both times it's happened as she has had to be physically restrained, it's the only thing that eventually calms her down.
Yesterday afternoon when it happened she had probably been asleep for half an hour, and woke naturally in the car when we got home.
My theory is that she is waking not sure where she is (like when you doze on the sofa and wake up thinking what the hell is going on, where am I, what time is it?!), and is scared, but also not fully awake. Something like a daytime night terror I suppose.
Just wondering whether anyone else has experience of this they can share and tactics for coping with it? I've spoken to my HV who was quite helpful but she suggested keeping her restrained in her seat when we get home until she is calm - I just couldn't do that (esp. in full view of neighbours!!).
It's so scary and upsetting to see her so hysterical - it had me wondering whether there is something going on at nursery or someone is being awful to her that I don't know about.
Thanks for reading!