NIGHT TERRORS? Anyone with experience.

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My DS is 5.6 years old. He is a bright and happy little boy by day but has begun having these night terrors a couple of times a week. He had his worse one last night and it brought me to tears/ He woke up crying for me, when i went in to him he begun screaming, thrashing about. All with his eyes open. It took nearly 30 minutes of him screaming and crying before he eventually calmed down. It was so upsetting seeing him screaming for me and screaming no but him not knowing i was there (or at least it didn't appear that he knew i was there holding him). Does anyopne have experience of these and how i can help him or even prevent them. is it something he may be eating? They are so scary and very distressing.

Thanks in advance

Hi,
I have a DD and a DH who suffer from these. (sometimes nights are not fun!!)
With both of them, it seems there is no particular pattern , although sometimes if DH has alot going on at work he will have an episode.
I just talk calmly to them, in a normal voice, sometimes ask whats happening, lots of stroking etc. Its horrible for the person watching it, but DH says, although its a bad dream, for him it isn't terrible IYKWIM

He has no reccollection this morning of it and was even asking wh he was in my bed. It was so frightening to watch. Should i be trying to wake him up, moving him or just cuddling him through it.

Same here. These happen to DS (now 6). In his case they ususally happen if he is disturbed, eg us looking in on him when we go to bed, so we try not to make too much noise once he is asleep.

He tells me he does not remember the dreams even though he is actually terrified at the time.

We just talk to him in a calm way and wait until he yawns (his signal to settle again).

We tried waking him up but it seemed to make it worse.

We just talk to him and cuddle him (if we can). We tell him he is at home safe with us.

the are terribly distressng aren't they? Just wish i could prevent them but it seems it's not his diet. Was thinking it was maybe something he'd watched but he doesn't watch anything other than football, Spongebob and fireman sam.

Is it just a phase or could these go on for years?

My ds had these at around the same age, over the course of 6-9 months.

They are distressing for the parents but the child is completely unaware and won't remember any of it.

The trigger for him seemed to be if he was extra tired, so we made a real effort to not let bedtimes slide.

Pleased to report he hasn't had one for at least a year.

It used to happen to DS3 betweeen the age of 3 and 4. Really scary for him and for us as at first we thought he had just lost it as he looked awake. GP told me to go along with what he was saying and be reassuring all the time without trying to wake him up or asking him to calm down. It made things better and it did eventually over a few month periode phase out.

I believe they are far more likely if children are very overtired, so as a first point try some very early bedtimes for several days.

It takes longer than you think to properly catch up on sleep.

We are trying this:
www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T071300.asp
There are some homeopathic remedies also, not sure if I believe in them but one dose of one stopped my brother from wetting the bed so maybe they do work

This actually may explain a lot. DS was up late on Friday and Saturady night (about 9pm) and then woe early (6:30/7am). He is normally asleep from 7:30pm-7am. If i actually think back to his last one, that too was when he had been over tired.

Thanks sedgie - i looked on the link and found it very helpful

DS1 used to have these. we just used to make sure he did not hurt himself, stroking and soothing. Never had any recollection of them in the morning and it was a passing phase. Not nice to witness but harmless to the child.

dd used to have these-im completly with you on finding it upsetting and scary!again dd knew nothing about it.we just used to sit with her till it was over.

I could have written this post exactly!!! I now don't find it as upsetting.

For DS it happens when he is 1) very tired 2) too hot - tends to bury himself in his duvet so I now just go in once asleep and pull it down 3) ???? dairy too close to bedtime.

Because he shares a room with his little brother I have to pick him up and move him out of the room.

During an NT his eyes are sometimes open, sometimes closed, he sniffs and rubs his nose, swallowing becomes loud and gulpy, screams, doesn't want to be touched. Has absolutely no idea he's had them. In fact his older sister was more distressed by it all when she shared a room with him whilst away (both nights he'd had dairy by the way and was pretty overtired). I just have to wait for him to come through it. Somestime I've tried putting the light on and that has worked other times it's made it worse.

The first few for me were very upsetting but it has got easier and it's always good to share experiences.

Big hugs x

the first time it happened i woke him up because i was so scared and it made it worse. Last night it lasted longer and was more frightening because he was was staring lankly atme and then screaming and clinging to me for dear life. I just fel so helpless but was kind of please that this morning he had no recollection of what had happened. I definately think it's over tiredness though. We have just starting allowing him to stay up at a weekend til 9pm - trouble is he still wakes in the morning at his usual time so he is losing 3 hours sleep over the course of 2 days.

dairy - interesting. Thanks poppet. He has had milk before bed since he was born (breast, bottle and then glass) He still loves a glass of milk warm or cold whilst he is having his story. Would that possibly have contributed to them even though he's been having milk all his little life.

DS had another last night but i felt much more prepared this time after some excellent advice so thankyou.

I was calmer and my poor DS's night terror lasted only 10mins this time.

I think he may be a bit run down too as his school rang during after school club saying they ere concerned about him and that he was unwell so i collected him early.