13 month old with night terrors - advice please

[Whizzysmum]

HELP !

My 13 DD has just started experiencing what I can only assume are night terrors. They seem to occur at 11:30 on the dot following a 7 - 7:30 bedtime.

I think I have worked out the possible causes but need to work out how to deal with the terrors themselves. They say not to wake or pick up but I can't leave DD crying for 40 minutes !!

Any suggestions from people that have been there gratefully received.

Awful, I know, I had my boy screaming, crying 'Mummy Mummy, I want Mummy', eyes open and I'm right there and he couldn't see me.

After a ton of different strategies I just had to accept it and I would just sit with him trying to gently soothe him, stroke his hair (although sometimes he would just shove me away) and reassure him that I was there and he was ok. Eventually it would pass and he would magically settle back to sleep.

It wasn't every night and forever, though. Sometimes it would be for a week, sometimes 2, and sometimes just single nights. Even now age 5 it seems to take him a long time to come out of sleep and realise where he is.

If you need some facts and reassurance, read Richard Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. It doesn't tell you how to stop it, but it will make you feel better about whether this experience is harming him (it isn't) and give you some facts. I'm not sure if it's still in print but there are loads of second-hand copies on Amazon. Helped calm my tattered psyche, I can tell you!

Good luck and hang in there...

Thanks ... she's currently chattering herself to sleep and I'm hoping we don't have a a repeat of the last few nights.

She's off for a sleepover at Nana's tomorrow so I had to pop in and brief her this morning on what to do !