Night Terrors

suzukibabe

Thanks for all the replies.
DS1 only woke once last night but did get in with us at 5:30 this morning which i didn't really mind.
His bedtime routine has gone wonky tonight, he's been helping to cut the grass and plant some bulbs in the garden, came inside and fell asleep on the sofa. I did try to wake him and he was half asleep when i put him into bed.
Normally he will have a bath, come downstairs for a bit and then have a story before bed.

Have been speaking to my sister and one of her work colleagues son has the same problem, she changed his room around a little and got him a buzz lightyear room guard and she says it has helped him but not sure if changing his room would work for DS1.

poe.tuesday

my son gets night terrors and we have kept a diary on when they occur and what was happening during the day they may have triggered them, at present the only very loose link we have seen is that they occur sometimes when he has been playing video games just before bedtime but this is a very loose tie, we have now stopped him playing games right up to bedtime (not that he did it that often) and only time will tell if this helps

We also find that it is around 2 to 3 hours after he has gone to bed that they occur, he will often 'wake up' crying and talking gibberish, we nornally get him up and take him to the loo just in case that is linked, what he have done recently is to take the bad dream away and put it in a jar, I know this sounds mad but it really calms him down, we tell him that we are taking it away and physically give him a squeeze and sort of 'draw' the dream out of him cupping it in our hands and popping it into a jam jar, don't ask me why we started doing this but it certainly settles him down very quickly, it has not stopped the terrors from starting but it has stopped the lenght of them, in the morning he does not remember any of it but we always go and release the bad dream from the jam jar outside with him even though he doesn#t recal having the terror he still enjoys throwing the dream away.

He has a dream catcher on the window too just incase any bad dreams want to come in, the catcher will then catch it and stop it coming to him, this was his idea and again, it keeps him happy and not a bit hippy

I have done some research into it and if your child suffers from it most nights, results in reducing the terrors have been found if you wake your child up a few hours after they have gone to sleep, they will fall straight back to sleep and don't get into that deep sleep mode and the terrors do not tend to occur, I think this was also tested on a tv programme about night terrors that was on some months back, luckily my son does not get them every night so we have not tried it but it may be worth a go if your child gets them most nights

good luck

kaznelson

Both of my children suffered from night terrors - my youngest is nearly 12 and hasn't had one for about 4 months.

I would agree with another poster then I could almost time them to start 1 hour after they went to bed. I was also advised by the doctor to gently wake them about after 40 mins after they were asleep to break the pattern.

The calmer the bed routine the worse the terrors seem to be?? They never had terrors whilst sleeping at family or at sleep overs?

They are very frightening to watch - my son whould also roam all over the house, climbing up shelves and into small spaces!!

Looks like it may be one of those things that they will hopefully grow out of x

suzybaby2001

Hi,
I'm 25 and I've had night terrors since sharing accommodation in university! From what Mum has told me, I've always talked and muttered on to myself in my sleep, but I was 19 when the screaming started!

I remember the first time it happened, I was staying at my fiancé's house (shared with 7 others) and apparently I started screaming an no one could wake me up!

It still happens now (~ once every couple of months) and I never remember if I was dreaming or not. I only know I do it by people telling me. I forget to tell people and in my last house they thought we were being burgled when I started one night!

It happens when I'm overtired, and in the very first stages of sleep (that part where you are half concious).

*Louise*

kaznelson wrote: »

They never had terrors whilst sleeping at family or at sleep overs?

Really?

And there was me using DS2's terrors as an excuse not to let him stay overnight with my MIL :rotfl: