Night terrors

[Twinkle92]

Hi all,

My DD turns 2 at the end of this month. For the past 3 weeks maybe, she’s been waking up several times a week in what I can only describe as tantrum behaviour. She wakes up crying/screaming and either stays laid down, sits up or stands up in her cot. We go to get her and she ramps up the screaming, when we try to comfort her she lashes out and her cry gets worse. The screaming is so loud. We had no idea what was happening so googled it and it’s bringing up night terrors. It says they look awake as their eyes are open but they are actually still asleep and don’t recognise you which is why they lash out. She goes on like this for atleast 15 minutes some nights and we just sit with her until it passes, the whole time she’s crying/screaming and leaning out to hit at us. All of a sudden it stops and she is calm, sometimes chatting away sweetly and then will let us comfort her and put her back to bed where she usually then sleeps through. Just wondered if anyone has been through this and has advise? I’ve read to leave them as trying to comfort can be like trying to wake which makes it worse and takes longer to pass but I feel awful leaving her sat/stood crying when I’m not 100% sure it’s this. We also do calm bedtime routine, no tele, read some books etc but doesn’t make a difference.

Yep, my son went through a stage like this. Night terrors don't relate to day to day stress.

I used to give him a drink from a straw cup and guide him to bed. Some nights it worked some it didn't. On odd occasions it was like he didn't recognise me so it was more distressing me staying. Again, sometimes I'd say softly it's ok it's mummy, other times he just needed to be alone. If he needed to be alone, if put an audio story on just so his brain could tune into that. When his distress reduced then I'd go back in and guide to bed or settle him down.

They're horrible to see

Thank you for your reply @Mumofboys16 .
Yes it’s definitely like she doesn’t recognise us and she just hits out at us, same as if we try to pass her something like a book, screams and hits it.
It’s awful isn’t it? I’m glad I know what it is as I was really worrying there was something else going on.

It's so awful for us, for them it's like nothing happened in the night! It doesn't last long.

Is she over tired? Our daughter used to have these, especially after a busy day. She appeared awake but in reality was still asleep.
One tip is to check what time of night they happen if it is usually a similar time of the night, wake her up about half an hour before gently, encourage her to turn over and go back to sleep. This usually disrupts the sleep cycle, preventing the night terror
It is unlikely to be linked to any anxiety or upset thoughts, more to do with being a bit tired, over busy in the day. They are quite common and she will outgrow them

My daughter used to have them when she had a cough. The cough disturbed her sleep but she couldn’t wake up.
My nephew would stop instantly if you carried him and sat him on the loo, but that’s probably not the problem for a two year old (but if she is trained already, you could try it).

Ahh this post was from September and she’s now stopped doing this. Thank you for your replies though!