8yr having bad nightmares

Sarahdol75 · 8 April 2011 at 10:05AM

Was wondering if anybody could help, my 8yr old boy is having nightmares everynight for the past couple of weeks.

He is going to bed about 8pm and waking up after 2 hours screaming out and getting really upset and crying and talking, but he is still fast asleep. We go in and talk to him and rouse him awake, then he is okay and goes to sleep again.

We have gone back to basics like a baby and taking him for a walk and then having a bath before bed, but still not working, he has not got any problems in his life, at home as we are a very happy and stable family and I have asked the teachers at school and they say he is happy at school and they have not seen any problems with him. I have asked my son if anything is bothering him and he is just so placid anyway it just goes over the top of his head.

I just dont know what to do to stop him getting so upset after only 2 hours of sleep at night.

niklepic · 8 April 2011 at 10:23AM

Sounds like he's suffering from night terrors. My niece suffers from them so i know how scary they look!

Just found this link for an explanation but not sure how helpful it is http://www.circlecity.co.uk/sleepdesk/nightterrors.php

Spendless · 8 April 2011 at 11:00AM

I also thought it might be Night Terrors. My eldest sufferred from them and AFAIK there is no 'cure' my son just grew out of them. What I did find less likely to have one (but not guaranteed!), was if the bedtime was calm which in this house frequently wasn't as my son considers sleep optional!

The only thing I would say is as disturbing as they are to witness, the person having them doesn't remember anything about it the following day.

teabag29 · 8 April 2011 at 11:17AM

This was happening to my dd when she was 6-7 (shes almost 9 now) and it started like you say with bad dreams and screaming out and it was very concerning. After a few weeks though she started talking to someone and screaming at them in her sleep and 1 night dh and I went in her room she was shouting and groaning something along the lines of "no I dont want to jump out of the window". Oh my god my heart nearly stopped. From then on I made sure windows were locked. For a few weeks after she would scream out and shout as if she were shouting at someone and sometimes sit up with her eyes open and be talking as if there was someone there in the room. She never remembered any of this the next day though and thankfully it fizzled out after a few months. It was a very scary time though. The doctor said its quite common in children and would fade out and he was right.

stelly · 8 April 2011 at 11:18AM

My DS is 9 and went through a period of having night terrors when he was 8 too.

I used to go and sit with him until he woke up. He would cry, scream and quite often you could have a conversation with him.

There is one that I always remember. He was shouting that he wanted to go home and then shouted really loudly "Will someone just plug me in". It still makes me laugh but he has no recollection of it :rotfl:.

They just seemed to stop quite suddenly after a couple of weeks and he hasn't had any since.

Sarahdol75 · 8 April 2011 at 11:28AM

Thankyou all for your comments, I have asked DS if he remembers what happens and he looks at me as if I am mad, so obviously he has no recollection of what is happening, which is probably a good thing. So hopefully this will just fizzle out.

Thankyou.

lch_2 · 8 April 2011 at 11:32AM

I went through a phase like this when i was little. i don't remember feeling scared or anything just remember my Mum being totally freaked out at silly times of night. I don't know if this will help or make sense, but for me it started when the evenings got brighter and my bedroom was lighter than usual. I had red patterned curtains and i remember they cast funny shapes and shadows with the extra light coming through. My Mum changed my curtains for a dark blue pair and the whole thing stopped. I'd suggest looking around the room at different times of the night and seeing how bright it is and what shadows etc are being cast. You could always try a blackout blind or a nightlight, something to change the way the room is and see if it helps. It may have just been coincidence that it worked for me, but i'd try it.

Good luck.

realised · 8 April 2011 at 11:40AM

I had these when I was younger too. I never remembered what I was dreaming about but would remember waking up in the middle of the night screaming and running as fast as I could until my parents caught me.

I had a conversation with my aunt recently about it who used to live with us at the time. She said it would happen every night at exactly the same time - around 2 am and so she would set her clock to wake up at that time knowing that she'd have to try and stop me from running out the front door.

I eventually grew out of them so I'm not sure if there is a cure. But I agree with Ich about the room because thinking about it now I do remember being fixated on shadows etc before falling asleep - I had green patterend curtains - it never acutally occurred to me until now that that could have been one of the reasons behind it!

melwright · 8 April 2011 at 1:39PM

Hi,
My DS went through a phase of these last year (he was 5), they happened every night for about a month, then less often and after about 3 months of starting stopped completely.

It's very scarey as a parent to know what to do. DS wouldn't/couldn't talk to us and it took ages to understand that he was stil asleep even though his eyes were open.

However, he was very compliant with instructions, so we took him to the bathroom to have a wee as someone recommended a slight cooling of temperature may be enough to take him out of it. Our bathroom floor is lino and just those few degrees seemed to help. Also, turning his pillow over so he had the 'cold' side, both of these things seemed to settle him down and back off to sleep.
May not work for everyone, but worth a try.

Mx

floatylight · 8 April 2011 at 1:39PM

Hi

I don't know if this will help, but my daughter also has this problem and I brought her a dream catcher and had a long conversation about how it was magical and that if she gave it a shake every night before bed that the bad dreams would not be able to get through the web on it.

We always made a big deal about how magical it was and she used to get really excited about shaking it before bed.

a friend of mine's daughter had the same problem and this also worked for her so it may be worth a try.
Good luck

Sarahdol75 · 8 April 2011 at 2:44PM

lch wrote: »

I went through a phase like this when i was little. i don't remember feeling scared or anything just remember my Mum being totally freaked out at silly times of night. I don't know if this will help or make sense, but for me it started when the evenings got brighter and my bedroom was lighter than usual. I had red patterned curtains and i remember they cast funny shapes and shadows with the extra light coming through. My Mum changed my curtains for a dark blue pair and the whole thing stopped. I'd suggest looking around the room at different times of the night and seeing how bright it is and what shadows etc are being cast. You could always try a blackout blind or a nightlight, something to change the way the room is and see if it helps. It may have just been coincidence that it worked for me, but i'd try it.

Good luck.

Thankyou but we already have a blackout in his room and it dark, these nightmares did start around the time when the clocks changed and that was my initial thought that it was too light still when he was going to bed, but even if I keep him up a little later, it is still 2 hours later that he starts crying.

8yr having bad nightmares

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