Regular Night Terrors!

Hi All,

Im so upset tonight. My DD has been getting regular night terrors/nightmares for the past 3 weeks.

She gets small ones which i can settle her with a pat BUT once a week she gets really bad ones which I need to pat her for at least 10 mins

she is crying uncontrollably BUT she is still ASLEEP

Any one know what causes these? (watching TV?) and how do I stop them???

Thanks all

Hello....

Have you noticed a pattern to when she has the terrors? Our DD has terrors and has done for a while now...it took a while but we eventually realised that she only had them when she was really overtired.

There is no known cause for night terrors..they know that it is in early sleep cycle so that is why it generally occurs earlier in the night as they haven't reached REM sleep. They say the best thing do it (what i have read anyway) is to just let them be and they eventually stop crying..i personally go in to her and be with her jic she wakes.

They say they are not bad and they will grow out of them and it is just one of those things that some kids get and others don't.

They aren't nice are they, but luckily they don't remember it and will grow out of it.

HTH.

As far as I am aware there are no triggers - Alex started having them at around 8 months old (incredibly early!:( )and grew out of them by 14 months old. I know that is cold comfort to hear but they do eventually grow out of them.


If you notice she is waking at a certain/regular time eg 11pm then it is suggested that you go and wake the child 15-30 mins before the terror normally starts in order to break the sleep cycle. By waking I mean getting them out of bed, out of their room and completely waking them up before attempting to resettle. Hope that helps.:)

Thanks guys

I feel helpless when she has them and its kinda scary too because she's crying so much but she's not awake.

Thanks agian. I will try the trick of waking her up before hand if I find a pattern