What does a night terror "look like"?

DS has done this twice now. He'll wake up in the dead of the night and just lose the plot. It's like he's having a tantrum. He will cry uncontrollably and won't let me touch him, if I try to offer him any comfort items he throws them at me or slaps them away.
The first time he did it I told him off :redface: because I thought he was having a tantrum and it ended up making it so much worse and lasting a good three hours.

Last night he did the same thing again, I tried to comfort him with no luck, offered him water which got thrown at me, so left him to his own devices while I ducked to the loo (thinking I was in for another three hour stint of this "tantrum") and when I walked back into the room he calmed down, laid back down and drifted back off to sleep. (and woke up ten minutes later for an ACTUAL drink then went back to sleep for real ><;)

Does that sound like a night terror? Or is it really just some random tantrum type thing?

Thats exactly what my DD does when she is having one. I will wake up to her crying and i will go in there and she starts thrashing her arms if i lean over to get her she slaps me and hides in the corner of her cot. The screaming/crying is nothing i have ever heard she sounds absolutely terrified. I have learnt to leave the light off and stand next to the cot and talk in a low soothing voice. I got a referral for a sleep clinic but she hasn't had one in a while.

:hug: its horrible isnt it.

It really is. What bugs me more is there isn't anything I can do about it other than sit and watch him cry. Poor guy. :(
DS sounds somewhere between angry, frustrated and hysterical when he has his. Not nice!
The worst part tho is those crying hiccups... Oh, my heart just breaks!

yep - that is what DD1 went through at about 2yo, it was terrible. It went on for about 6 months and we know it was caused by a huge upheaval in our family at the time. XH and I used a team approach, he would wake her up, and then she would come to me for comfort and I would get her back to sleep. But I have heard of other ways of doing it, but cant remember them at the moment.

HTH

My GP was baffled as DD is apparently too young to be having them but the sleep clinic would be able to help us but because they don't happen every night its random. And from what i can think nothing has really happened to set them off. The next day she is fine, her happy playful self... :dunno:

Helle, this is my second kid with them. Nate's are so much worse than Darc's were. They sound exactly what we go through every night.
No there really isn't anything you can do. It's their brain going from one sleep cycle to the next with a few hiccups. Generally they are at the same time, but not always and some kids have triggers. Others don't.
As hard as it is, touching and speaking stimulate their brain and waking/stimulating makes them worse.

When they're staring right through you screaming and screaming and don't even know you're there...that's what I find really hard.
I was nearly going to post last night about them.

:hug: babe. Hope they're only in your house for a short stay.

My DD used to have them - hasn't had one for quite sometime now. She would get up, eyes open - crying & carrying on, walking around & around the house. Wouldn't let me hold her - this would actually prolong the night terror we found out later. She would point at random things, scream like it was something horrible. Eventually she would go back to sleep. I remember being so scared for my DD and so helpless. I actually cut out some foods she was eating (flavoured rice crackers) b/c I read that this can trigger the brain - dunno if she just outgrew them or if it was the rice crackers that triggered them

My DD2 used to have them, we found it was almost always becuase she was over tired and or overheated. They are horrible, the screaming, eyes open, crying hysterical but nothing settles them, then all of a sudden she was 'there' awake and focusing on us and settled back to sleep straight away. I found cuddling to her and talking quietly was all we could do, trying to wake her up made it worse. I think the cuddling gave us more comfort than her :( but she did grow out of it over a 12 month period and by the time she was 2 I think they had stopped

Good luck, its so hard we you cant do anything at the time, maybe try and work out if there are certain triggers for him

Thanks girls. At least I know what the hell they are now, and what not to do!

Oh something else i thought of.
DS does something DD didn't. As well as the thrashing/kicking/hitting he actually gets out of bed and has had some nasty collisions with DDs bed/desk if I'm not quick enough to get in there and guard the end of the bed (while I try not to touch him it's great fun - not). I've found him in random corners of the house when I was busy doing something as he started, facing into the corner, not awake, screaming.

DD has had a couple that sound like this, but only went on for 10 minutes or so.

I looked into them and was told they usually happen at the same time after the child goes to sleep every night. And if they become habitual, to time them, set your alarm and go in and wake them (give them a drink or something) 10 minutes or so before it would usually occur, for a few nights to break the cycle. Don't know if it actually works as they haven't become habitual here so haven't given them a go yet.

Boys are more likely to have them then girls too.

Thanks for posting and asking the question helle!!

DD2 has had them for a while and we never know how best to help her.

And thankgoodness we are not the only house dealing with it too! :)

My DD used to have them quite frequently between the ages of 12 months and 2 years. She hadn't had one for ages but then out of the blue had one 2 nights ago. At nearly 4! Mann, I hope that was a once off . . .
They are so horrible aren't they. Especially when there's nothing you can do. I hope your LO grows out of it soon.

My DS aged 4 has them. And yep theyare the exact same time most nights. So I might try the waking before the time and see if that helps.
It is so strange how they see through you.

i actually haven't seen his face. i don't turn lights on when i get up at night as I find it wakes both of us up and its not only hard getting DS back to sleep, but i have trouble as well.
I'll have to start keeping a mental note of times, i think. Hell i should start writing DS a sleep diary... he has some weird sleeping patterns!

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My DD2 used to have them, we found it was almost always becuase she was over tired and or overheated. They are horrible, the screaming, eyes open, crying hysterical but nothing settles them, then all of a sudden she was 'there' awake and focusing on us and settled back to sleep straight away. I found cuddling to her and talking quietly was all we could do, trying to wake her up made it worse. I think the cuddling gave us more comfort than her :( but she did grow out of it over a 12 month period and by the time she was 2 I think they had stopped

Good luck, its so hard we you cant do anything at the time, maybe try and work out if there are certain triggers for him

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I'm just putting DD back to bed after an episode exactly like this. She's been experiencing night terrors (like Sararose described) randomly for a good 9 months I'd say. She'll be 2 in two weeks time.

They are horrible but probably more so for us parents than the child. I've read you should just leave them and just ensure they don't hurt themselves but I couldn't do that, no way. I feel much better cuddling her and gently talking to her. DDs normally last about 10 minutes then she's fine. We normally switch on a dull light, like my bedside light, and she comes around and calms down. Just then we got her a small bottle of milk as she felt a bit warm and just like that, she snapped out of it and said 'cow, moo!' as DH gave her 'cow' bottle to her. :lol:

They're horrible things though. Hopefully they won't be too frequent for you.

my niece used to get these. wake up just screaming and not recognise anyone that went in to see her.
we found givin her a small dose of rescue remedy every night before bed helped . worth a try

My little one seems to get them, but not consistently.
She'll wale up every month or so, screaming blue murder. Thrashing around and refusing everything including being touched. It can last hours depending on how effective we are at distracting her. I've found stripping her down to her nappy and wrapping her in her security blanket most effective at this point.
Yet it's only every month or so for one night. The repercussions are about a fortnight of no sleep. She has trouble going down and staying asleep, waking up at all hours and not wanting to sleep in her cot. So she usually sleeps with us. It's not the same as the suspected night terror nights, as she is still herself and wants to be held etc.

Is this still falling in the night terror category or is it something else?

And is there anything we can do help her?

We're currently in week two of broken/little sleep and it's so tough but more so, worrying.

I'm sorry to hijack... It just made a lot of sense to me and I wanted to ask.


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Hijack away! After the night we had I totally sympathize, If they keep continuing DH and I are on a steady road to divorce XD

Kamarine they sound more like nightmares than terrors.
Terrors usually always have a long spanning and regular pattern.
Terrors cannot be calmed. You just have to wait for them to finish.
Kids with terrors do not remember in the morning. There are no ongoing effects to their sleep whereas nightmares can effect sleep over a long period.

There's a really good article on them written by a friend on kidding dot com dot au just search for night terrors.