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Sleep Paralysis 2yo

3 replies

CaMina · 07/03/2019 23:10

I was wondering if anyone else had been in a similar situation before.

Now, this is the first time this has happened to my son but I've just been left a bit worried is all.

Yesterday my partner, 2 (nearly 3) year old and I drove to the vets to collect our cat. My son fell asleep in the car so I opted to stay and let him sleep (he had only just gone to sleep) while my partner went and dealt with everything else. Shortly after he came back, my son woke up. Took him about 20 minutes.

We quite often have it where my son's a bit dazed and still half asleep, so when I called him and was saying, "oh look, your kitty is back!" and he didn't respond immediately (other then staring into space) I just assumed it was his normal self.

He then mumbled something incoherent, so I turned to check on him again and noticed he was looking around but not moving. So I called him again. He looked directly at me and started making panic noises.

I immediately got out the car to check on him - I realised straight away what was going on. He couldn't move. He couldn't grasp my hand, move his feet, I tried to prop him up with my hand behind his head and he made some panicked noises so I stopped, scared I was hurting him.

He even tried crying, but it wasn't his normal crying. He couldn't even move his mouth. It was really eerie and 🙈 I was really trying not to panic and make it worse.

Eventually he was able to move his fingertips and I saw his foot move a bit, once he could clench his hand I took him out and cuddled him, and after about 5 - 19 mins since it started, he was able to move again. He was still a bit wobbly (I tried to get him to have a little walk with me) but otherwise he was OK.

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So, yeah, I was wondering if anyone else had dealt with this? What are the best ways to deal with it if it happens again? I've heard of it happening to older kids (my partner has suffered from it occasionally as an adult, and I have experienced it as a child) but not someone as young as 2/3.

I'm just scared of it happening again as he sleeps in his own room and wouldn't be able to call to me for help. His dad thinks it happened because, that specific day, my son had chosen to wake up at 3am and hadn't napped (it was about 4pm when we got the cat). It makes sense, but I'm still worried.

Thank you for any advice you can give.

OP posts:
CaMina · 07/03/2019 23:11

*5 - 10 minutes, not 19, sorry

OP posts:
ArkAtEe · 11/03/2019 23:02

Oh sleep paralysis can be so scary! To get through mine I try to relax and fall back to sleep, then I can wake up normally. I need to wake up fully though or I slip back into it. The more I fight it, the longer it lasts. I've never seen anyone experience it or had anyone witness mine so never heard it described like this! Hope someone has some more helpful advice for you Flowers

CaMina · 12/03/2019 18:41

Yeah, I've never really watched someone having it. My partner has had it but I've either been asleep or not there and vice versa, plus we are adults so we know what's going on. He's not had an issue since so I'm hoping it was just sleep deprevation, it's not easy to explain to a 2yo to relax 🙈 Which is probably why it lasted so long, I'm sure when I get it it's always been short (minutes wise). If it happens again ill give him a few minutes to see if he falls asleep, but when it happened this time his eyes kept moving, looking around, and because he was clearly trying to talk it wasn't like He was just being weird and sleeping with his eyes open. Thank you for your advice xx

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