Night Terrors

Ok, so he just turned a year old today and we have had the worst night yet. He is having night terrors to the point that he screamed for almost 3 hours last night. I did everything I could to get him awake, water, lights, blowing on him,walking him, you name it. He would calm down but was still hiccupping from crying so hard and then just start right back up. All of a sudden around 5 am, he woke up, looked around and started giggling. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. Any suggestions?

Definitly look into a sleep study, they do them at some hospitals.

My 3 year old use to have alot of those. I hate them. There's not much you can do. Some say not to wake them up, but i always do. Iusually take him to my bed and see if he'll calm down there. If not i'll wake around the house with him in my arm and ask him to calm down and to talk to me becausei can't understand his babbling.This usually wakes him up. Then he'll cry but it's not the same and it last 5 min and then he falls asleeps in our bed like nothing happen.

Hey there my 4 year old has been suffering from night terror for over two years, just wanted to no if ur wee man is a busy young lad always on the go keep ya on ya toes type, my girl is very busy always on the go and the night terror scare the shit outta me she explains them in detail its heart wrenching, so i took her to the doctors and we went through her routine because months before i had a lot of people saying wat do u let her see or watch on tv and automactically thought it was something i was doing wrong, we put a tv and dvd player in her room also she has her wee stereo, she goes to bed at 7 before grown up tv starts watches dora or garfield or wateva she wants for an hour to settle her down and if shes still away we use the cd player, dnt get me wrong the terrors still happen but are few and far between doesnt make it any less scary i know cos i been there, so the doctor said its definitely nothing that we are doing wrong for the busy busy on the go children she reckons it might take a lil longer for her brain to sleep even tho her bodys asleep if that makes some sort of sense and thats wat triggers the terrors

Quoting Cayz_Ree & Bump:“ Hey there my 4 year old has been suffering from night terror for over two years, just wanted to no if ... [snip!] ... lil longer for her brain to sleep even tho her bodys asleep if that makes some sort of sense and thats wat triggers the terrors”

He's a wild man who never stops. We have had them occasionally but never anything this bad!

I dont remember if you saw that I was having the same issue but I started playing lullabye music in his room I got him a cd and cd player and just keep it on repeat. It has worked to lessen the frequency on them....if he is having a bad night though I bring him to bed with me...he is usually calm if he is next to me...and of course my sleep then sucks because I am watching him and wake up with every sound or movement but it seems to work so far.

Quoting BensMom:“ He's a wild man who never stops. We have had them occasionally but never anything this bad!”

yeah same as Caylee good thing is they do grow outta it, does he go to sleep with music playing?, Cay listens to hi5 or wiggles kiddie music,
but I can assure you its nothing we do wrong as parents as long as we are by there sides when it happens they be fine, Cayz still has them but its like 1-2 a month on a good month so its not too bad

Quoting D's Mom:“ I dont remember if you saw that I was having the same issue but I started playing lullabye music in his ... [snip!] ... of course my sleep then sucks because I am watching him and wake up with every sound or movement but it seems to work so far.”

They seem to be happening hours after he's asleeep. He went down at like 10 last night and this started at 2. Is that normal?

First of all, I can't believe Ben is already 1!!!  That being said, we have been dealing with night terrors with Brant for the past 10 months (ever since he switched to a big boy bed). I had them as a child, and was still not too sure about what exactly they were and what to do for him. I found this website www.nightterrors.org and it has a LOT of good information on it. Brant even sleepwalks, and that is scarier than the actual terrors because his eyes are just glazed over and he will talk, but makes absolutely no sense. Have you mentioned this to the doctor? I've never heard of a terror lasting that long.

The best advice I can give is not to try to wake him up during one. Just sit next to him, telling him you're there, and if he will allow you to touch him, rub his back. Try to make sure that he isn't too warm, and try to be sure he takes a nap to avoid overtiredness. All of these have helped us go from having them nightly to maybe once a week. For Brant, the biggest factor seems to be the overtiredness. It isn't easy to get him to take a nap, but I make sure he has one for at least 45 minutes a day; he almost always sleepwalks and/or has a NT when he hasn't had a nap.

Thank you so much for the advise. It was a very scary night in our house

Quoting BensMom:“ Thank you so much for the advise. It was a very scary night in our house”

No problem, and believe me I've been there. I don't really remember having NTs as a child (other than whatmy mom has told me), but I do remember always thinking that there was a person hiding in my room or that my stuffed animals came to life. From everything I've read on the topic, these are very common descriptions of what people (yes, adults can have them too) describe seeing during one. It's so hard when they can't tell you exactly what is happening, and you have no way to really help them.