Night Terrors - Ionia, MI

Hi K.

I have one question, does she wake up from her night terrors. If she does not wake up just rub her temples till she has calmed down or there are points in the neck you can massage and it helps calm down a child the points i am speaking of start at the neck/shoulders.

Good luck and let me know

C. from Warren Mi
my wesbite my.tupperware.com/candisales

K.,
First I would like to say that I am so sorry that your daughter (and you) are going through this. My cousin suffered from night terror's and my aunt did some research and I remember her telling me about this great website:
nightterrors.org. She said that it was one of the best sites she could find, it even has a forum where you can talk back and forth with other's going through the same things as you. It's just a very well put together site, easy to read and understand. Sorry I don't know more about it to help you. Hopefully the site helps you and your daughter.
~C.

My four year old daughter suffers these quite often (they started when she was around a year old, maybe a year and a half), though not nearly so often now as she did even six months ago; it used to be a near-nightly occurance a year, year and a half ago. The best I can do for her when it happens is hold her, as she gets rather physical and somewhat violent when it happens. It has nothing to do with the TV she watches, because even when she was watching no TV or movies at all it happened. Everything I've read says it's a common occurance in children up to the age of about five or six, something to do with the way the brain processes the information it's received during the day.

As far as sprays and what not go, the best thing that happened for her night terrors was when she 'found' her imaginary friend. He helps keep her safe, apparently.

Hi K.,
My daughter, now 15, had night terrors when she was younger. I was told not to try and wake her, and wait out the storm. Make sure she is safe, and keep close by until it is over. I know doing nothing makes us feel helpless, but the child will be alright, when it is over. I was always scared while they were happening, and thought she was "scared", but in reality she had no recollection of this ever happening, that is why it is so important to make sure the child is safe. If they have a bedroom upstairs, make sure there is a gate at the top of the stairs, just in case she gets up while having it.
Also, be very aware of what you put on the childs wall. Often, what we think is cute, or funny, to them when they are having these night terrors, is very scary. For example, I remember having a poster of a disney character on her wall, and at one point my daughter said "mommy get it off the wall it is too scary." Things look different to kids when they are half asleep then fully awake, as do they to us.
Hope this helps a little. -S.

There is all kinds of books at the library to support this and help. I have heard of something called monster spray...you fill up a squirt bottle and spray it everywhere so the child feels safe. Keep a dim light on in your child room so she can see. Take her to the store to pick a cozy of her own "to help protect her". Are you religious...you could pray? Does she watch scary movies or alot of tv...maybe cut out tv time. Play some classical music to calm her. She is just probably having anxiety about things, 3 usually is the age it starts....also just ensure her that she is safe you and daddy are in the next room and you are not going anywhere. You could talk to her Ped about it. T.

What I had to do with mine is wake her up every couple of hours. The night Terrors where also causing her to have seizures too. So we would wake her up every two hours for a couple of nights. Also it was recommeded to read a love story or someother story to her that wont trigger the night Terrors.

My 16 mo son had his first night terror last week. I was told not to wake them but to make sure they are safe and free from anything with sharp corners or edges. (My son flailed around for 1/2 an hr with eyes wide open and screaming.) I played some soft piano music and he seemed to calm down and then dropped off to sleep. Hope it helps.

I know a little about night terrors and they usually will grow out of them so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have seen a night terror and they are very scary especially when you are watching your child go through it. I noticed it happens most often when the child is over tired or like my son it was the cartoons he was watching. He was always a very good sleeper then he started watching Tom and Jerry and he began waking in the middle of the night screaming crying and we couldn't console him. It took us about a week to put 2 and 2 together, but when we did he didn't watch Tom and Jerry and that very night he slept through the night without a wimper, it was that quick. But if you know she is not watching TV programs or commericals I have been told first not to talk to your kids about them so in other words don't let them know they are having terrors and second to write down the time at night that the terrors occur and wake her up 10 minutes before they usually happen and do this for about a week and they should subside. I hope this works. Good luck to you and your daughter.

I went through this with my little boy when he was 18 mths. I figured it was caused by what we were watching on t.v. during the day. I cut out certain shows that we would watch on t.v. and within a week he was not having that problem anymore. I highly suggest that you look at what she is watching during the day and look for anything that may look scary and not let her watch it anymore. HTH if that is the problem.

Hello K.,

My son had tight terrors and is going on 15 now. I found he would get them the most when he was overtired , anxious about something. From time to time if he has a really bad day he will still have them. I just learned to comfort him and talk him into laying back down. They do say don't wake them up just make sure they don't get hurt. I would talk to your dr about what is going on and make sure there is not anything else going on .

L.

Did your Doctor diagnose it as Night Terrors? We thought my son was having night terrors but it turned out to be a bad case of acid reflux. If you haven't communicated with your pediatrician about it, I would and make certain it isn't being helped along by anything else. Also, keep a journal of what you do during the day, what tv she might be watching, anything you can think of that might trigger the terrors at night. there should be a pattern if it is reocurring every night with the intensity you are describing.
Good Luck,C. L.

K.- I am not sure if your daughter is still having the night terrors, but I have been going through the same thing with my daughter for the past few years. She is 4 now, but last year she would have a night terror every single night. Now on average she gets a night terror maybe once a week. It does get better. I found that it would help to turn on the light because I read that shadows tend to make it worse. I would also ask my daughter if she wanted to go find mom and then she would let me pick her up and we would walk around the house looking for me. It sounds crazy I know, but eventually she would fall back to sleep. I hope that helps.