8yr having bad nightmares

esmy

My daughter had them at that age, more regularly when there was a change in her life eg going back to school after a holiday, going on the family holiday etc. They are absolutely terrifying for parents, particularly the 'eyes wide open but asleep' part of it!. We found the quickest way to end it was not to wake her, but to sit by the bed and make soothing noises and stroke her arm. She would gradually calm down and go back to sleep. They ended as suddenly as they started. She's now 15 and seems to spend most of her life in a deep undisturbed sleep! HTH

hngrymummy

Hi Sarahdol

I've not read the other replies, so appologies if this has already come up.

I used to get terrible nightmares when I was younger (about the same age). I used to climb into my parents bed, and sometimes they would come to me as I would be crying in my bed.

My parents' used to ask me what the dream was about, and once it was out in the open it didn't seem quite so bad. I tried to remember the dreams so that I could tell them what it was about, and because I wanted to remember them, that also started to make them less scary.

My Dad said that if the dreams woke me up I should tell them to stop being so horrible to me and go away. It seems such a silly thing, but it started to give me a feeling of power over the dreams, which again started to make them less scary.

It reached a point where I would still wake up having had an awful nightmare, but I could go back to sleep on my own afterwards. I also had a nightlight that I could turn on after bad dreams.

Try not to get him anxious about going to sleep, as that could make things worse, so even if you're concerned about it, still make bedtime relaxing for him. It will pass, honest!

sjc3 - yes I get that. Bloomin annoying as it wakes me up with such a jump that it takes ages to go back to sleep.

*max*

I used to have them as a child too, and I actually remember it vividly! They weren't nightmares as such, no "storyline" to them. They were just the feeling of being overcome by those moving "blobby", watery shapes, with lots of changing colours, and being totally helpless, and very very dizzy. I would wake up, and the shapes would linger even as I was awake, until I finally regained control.

Ugh...It was absolutely horrible! It used to terrify my mum too, because there was nothing she could do about it, and I was beside myself with terror. She even brought me to the docs, because she was starting to think there might be something wrong with my brain.

I did grow out of it though, they just stopped - although I can't pinpoint when exactly! I hope it passes soon for your son too.

Bettybigboobs

Awwww have no experience of these (and hope i never have!) but as a mammy to a 3yr old, i wish i had never read this lol! I would proper freak out!
The growling at the door part, really made me laugh though....although trust me i wouldnt be laughing if i was the parent in the situation...gosh it all sounds like a part from the exorcist!

Spendless

sjc3 wrote: »

Out of any interest do any of you ever get that horrid, dropping off a cliff feeling when you are asleep and suddenly wake up? This has been plaguing me for years.

Yes, and the worst rollercoater ride I ever went on was one that recreated this feeling. I was sat right at the fron too, which made it worse (it's at universal, Florida, though I can't remember its name). I burst into tears afterwards. I'd dreamt the night before that I was pregnant and as my period was a week late, suspected that the dream was true and I'd just damaged the baby.

toniq

Evan had night terrors, he was about 4 when they started and went on till he was 7,

The Dr's were useless, as they wanted to pump him full of sleeping meds, the advice i was given by a nurse at a dentists? was to try to keep his feet uncovered in the night ( done this by tucking duvet across him, not down him, and do a lavendar massage on feet and back, also to use a blissful night plugin which is available from boots, these combined measures reduced it from 3 a week to 1 every few months to none xxx

Sarahdol75

teffers wrote: »

The only time I experienced this with my son (he's now 21 and gives me nightmares and sleepless nights) is when he started playing video games, the violent type, Resident Evil etc.

I started to control his game playing after.

Thankyou, but my DS is not into any video games, at all, we have a wii and a playstation and my other son has DS but he is just not interested in them, he prefers other toys like cars, tractors and playing outside which I am quite thankful for.

Sarahdol75

toniq wrote: »

Evan had night terrors, he was about 4 when they started and went on till he was 7,

The Dr's were useless, as they wanted to pump him full of sleeping meds, the advice i was given by a nurse at a dentists? was to try to keep his feet uncovered in the night ( done this by tucking duvet across him, not down him, and do a lavendar massage on feet and back, also to use a blissful night plugin which is available from boots, these combined measures reduced it from 3 a week to 1 every few months to none xxx

Will give this a go, thankyou.

poe.tuesday

my son has had night terrors since the age of 5 (from what i recall) and he still has them at the age of 11, it's the usual pattern of about 2 hours after he goes to bed when he is in that real deep sleep that they start, he screams and shouts, talks rubbish, is agressive and walks about the house - all whilst asleep - he is not bothered by them, does not recall them in the morning and we have just learnt to live with them - we have found that video games do trigger them even more so he is not allowed to play for too often, too late

we have a dreamcatcher and we have tried lavendar pillows, baths at night, you name it, we have tried it - what has worked well in calming him down when he has a terror is my OH squeezing the bad stuff out of his body, putting it into a jam jar and he then opens the jamjar outside/out the window to release the badstuff away - don't ask me how we came up with that one but it has worked for years, it does not stop them happening but it stops them once they have started

my issue with my son's night terrors is that he does walk about, which, as you can imagine is scarey, but we have finely tuned our ears to his movement and wake up as soon as he is out of his bed as sometimes the screaming and crying does not start straight away, he can silently walk into our room or downstairs before he makes any noise

aint it great being a parent ;-)

building_with_lego

I have two children who sleep fairly well but I also have a sleep book:D About night terrors, which you're describing, it says that you can just steer them back to bed, as they're still sleeping. or if you really want to wake them and resettle you can wipe quickly down their face with a cold, wet flannel. This wakes them up so you can take them for a wee/ give a small drink etc to 'change the energy' if you like, and they go off to sleep again.
Thankfully mine haven't had these (yet) but lots of children I know have. Terrifying for the parents, children blissfully unaware...