Night terrors, bad dreams or something else. How do you tell?

Dd2 has never been the best of sleepers (in fact neither are). We did the tresillian thing when she was a baby and I HATED it and vowed I wouldn't let her go to sleep like that.

Her sleep is getting worse though. Last night she went down at 7.15pm and went to sleep at about 8pm. She woke t 12.30pm and was so unsettled. I don't think she was awake. She wriggled, moved, was talking but I couldn't make out what she was saying and would lay there with her eyes open. This went on until 4am. I spent the majority of the night laying with her to try and settled her - albeit with no sleep. It was until about 4.30 she went back to sleep. She then was awake at 7.
This is becoming more and more frequent. I'm exhausted with being awake all night then working but it has to be done. She's tired because she's not getting enough proper sleep.
At why point do you do something else? What can you do?

Both girls have a bedtime routine, they have a nightlight, I use rose oil. I don't want to resort to phenergan again. I need other suggestions.

It does sound like it could be night terrors. My DS1 had about a month at around 2.5 years where he had a few. He would wake up screaming, and appeared to be awake but was inconsolable. It was almost like a full blown tantrum which you couldn't intervene with. I found that if I tried to comfort him it just made it worse and made it last longer. So in the end we would just sit with him, and make sure he didn't hurt himself. Sometimes that meant putting him on the floor because he was thrashing around so much, other times it was just sitting at the end of his bed.

At the time I did a lot of research into them, which is worth doing to help you understand how to get through them. We were lucky though, they passed after a few weeks. We didn't get them every night, just every few nights and they would pretty much happen at exactly the same time. Sorry, I'm not too much help, but there is a lot of info out there if you google. I hope it passes quickly for you, it is heartbreaking watching your little one seem so distraught.

Not sure, but DD is doing similar. She turns 2 in December.
She goes to sleep at 7pm, wakes around midnight and has a massive screaming fit. I don't think she's awake at all. It's horrible.
Then she wakes at 6am, instead of 7.30, and she's just horrible all morning til after her sleep.

She's so tired.

Perhaps you should get an appointment with a pediatrician. Lots of things could be making her behave like that. Ears, tonsils and adenoids etc as well as night terrors. Does she know your there when she does this? It's hard to know if it's night terrors without actually seeing her do it. My dd has had ENT issues and night terrors but they sound a bit different to what you are experiencing ( they vary though) Hers are wild. She looks possessed and doesn't realise where she is or who's with her, she'll scratch her self, slam her self into things and attack anything or anyone near her. If its night terrors the best thing to do is not wake her from it, let her go and just be there to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. She won't remember any of it when she wakes up the next day and waking her while she's doing it can be really disorientating and scary. I think you should get some professional advice <3

Ok, so after reading a couple things online now i'm home, i don't think its terrors. She doesn't appear to be awake (Maybe towards the end, i'm not sure entirely), and she doesn't "Thrash" around like other describe. Maybe it is just bad dreams. I'll ask the dr when i'm there next about it. She has never been a good sleeper even as a baby so i have never really thought too much about it. More so because it's becoming more frequent and for such long periods at a time.

I'm actually now wondering if this is an attachment thing... Can't get to dr until later this week.

She has been super super clingy this last couple of days. To the point she is attached to by side at every minute.

This may be way out there? Could it be linked to her doll getting lost? She took that doll everywhere and now she's lost, is she clingy because she is worried I'll go too???? Hmmmm :think:

She is sooooooo clingy and whingy. I'm lost, I'm tired because she's waking for 3+ hours each night and just wants to be cuddled. I don't want to make her distressed.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for me? Seriously, I need any suggestions to try to get through the week until we go to the dr...

Im really not sure, is it worth taking her to the shop and getting her another doll to "keep her company while she is awake". Sorry this is happening I hope the doc cane find a solution

BrightSparkles - I know your OP was last eyar but I am wondering how you and your DD are now?

My DS has similar night 'wakings' that aren't wakings (eyes closed, thrashing, crying) and I can tell the difference between his 'wakings' and night terrors too :/