2.8 year old CONSTANT night wakings

[Helenb88]

Currently at my WITS END

For the last 10 weeks or so my daughter had not slept through the night once. Every single night without fail she wakes up, sometimes just needing a cuddle other times I’m convinced it’s a night terror. Nothing we do calms her down if we touch her or hold her she becomes more aggressive and angry. She always wants us in the room to fall asleep at bedtime and this has never happened before. We have got her back into a nap routine after months of not napping, she has 1.5 hours a day always awake by 2.30. We have such a good bedtime routine , bath , lots of storys and quiet time before all of that, no tv etc. I just feel broken by it, she’s such a brilliant kid during the day time but nighttime has become horrendous with her, I have a 18m old and 4.5 year old as well and it’s taking a toll on everyone …. The screaming at night is just insane I’ve never heard anything like it. She becomes so angry and smashes around her cot , it’s like a tantrum and I feel she is trying to control us!

You must be exhausted after weeks of this.

If she’s having night terrors she’s absolutely not trying to control you. She’s not even fully conscious - that’s why she can’t be comforted.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/night-terrors/

How to help someone having night terrors

During a night terror, you should:

• stay calm and wait for the person to calm down
• do not talk to them or try to stop them moving about, unless there's a risk they could hurt themselves or someone else
• do not try to wake them – they may not recognise you and may get more upset if you try to comfort them

If they're having a night terror at the same time every night, try waking them up 15 minutes before the night terror every night for a week. This can sometimes stop the night terrors happening.