Anyone had experience with Night Terrors??

Hi all,

For three nights Ryley would wake at around 11pm screaming and thrashing about for no apparent reason. We called Health Direct and they told us it was just an ear infection.

So i took him to the doc coz i KNEW it wasnt an ear infection and it turns out that he is having night terrors. It is basically when the child goes into a trance like state for 45-60 mins and they are 'living' a nightmare. Ryley would 'wake up' but not actually see me and he'd throw stuff at us etc.

We were told that we shoudl wake him at just before 11 so that we can break his sleep cycle so he doesnt experience the terror and it worked- i woke him up (i played singing santa to him! poor little munchkin) and then when he DID go back to sleep he was fine!!

Has anyone had experience with these before? It is terrible as a Mum to watch your little boy screaming in terror and thrashing about all over the bed.

Nicola has them on and off, typically on a day where she hasn't had her midday nap and/or she's had an active day (like daycare). I wouldn't suggest waking him up, that is breaking his sleeping pattern and he may start waking up in the middle of the night without a terror IYKWIM. We just play it by ear. It is just their little brains going through development etc. So when she has them, instead of comforting her in her bed I pick her up, hug her and walk around her room, comforting her - trying to ease her out of the trance. I always say that it's just a dream and continually reiteterate that mum and dad love her, that she is safe in her lovely beautiful bedroom and bed.

Maddy had then around 8-10 months of age...
We were told to drug her for a few nights to get her to sleep (we opted not too!), in the end I'd go in & eventually the stare would go & she'd recognise me & settle back to sleep took about 4 nights though, never had them since!

I was told it's their memory remembering things??? Perhaps on news etc that were'nt nice!???

Mason has had a couple of these earlier this year. He screamed and stared straight ahead for an hour. It was like he didn't even know we were there, but he did seem to settle more for Trevor than for me.

I was told just to cuddle him and try and sooth him a bit untill he calms down.

Good luck with it.

My doc had them himself and he said that waking him for a little while is the best thing to do.

I might see tonight what happens coz I think what it is is Santa!! LOL Poor little guy sees Santa and has a psycho!!! We walked past him today and he went nuts.

Thanks for your replies- I think i will do the talking to him. How old was Nicola when she had them Magic?

Yep my daughter has only "caught" onto the concept of santa at 3. She still hates men dressed up, like the strange man at Warwick shopping centre that sometimes wears the large foam mobile phone for advertisment.

Magic are you in Perth or is there somewhere else with a Warwick shopping centre?

My Dr, said it was like that, him seeing Santa is probably playing over & over in his memory, so he is afraid, it will pass, but it's plain awful..
I can still go into maddy's room before I go to bed & put her doona back on & she will sit up eyes open & talk to me, then goes straight back to sleep, when I tell her she'd thrown her doona off etc, she has NO recollection, even if she falls asleep in the car & we carry her eyes open talking to us & put her to bed, she has no idea how she got there or about talking to us!!!