The Mother of all Night Terrors
We've dealt with simple ones before, the older two walking into our room crying...DS wanting to take an orange to bed to cuddle when he was littler :lol...but this one takes the cake!
My 2 year old woke up around 2am screaming his head off. I tried to comfort him and he shrieked and shoved me away from him.
He kept up the screaming, and I thought he was saying "I want Pa." (what he calls his sister), so she got up and tried comforting him but he kept on screaming he wanted "pa".
Well, it turns out he wanted POP (no we do not give him pop, Daddy is the only one that drinks it in the house)...so I gave him an unopened can, hoping he'd just hold it like DS did the orange and go back to sleep (yes, this sounds crazy but it's 2am and I wanted sleep :lol )
I try to reach to put him back in bed and he was like a wild animal! Fright or flight! He took off running to the corner by my closet clenching that pop can in his hand. He just stood there crying, and everytime I'd talk to him or reach for him he'd shriek.
I sat on the bed and waited a bit, and his eyes started to close with him laying his head against the wall. He ended up sliding down to a sitting position and was going back to sleep.
Again, I reached for him and he SHRIEKS! Ugh! (By now, I'm getting really flustered...I am NOT good at nighttime parenting, my kids learned early on to go to Daddy's side of the bed if you need something, but even Daddy couldn't get him to settle down.)
I ended up just picking him up, screaming and fighting all the way and setting the can on my table. When we got in my bed, he jumped out and THREW himself onto his toddler bed screaming. :eek DH turned off the light and DS appeared to go to sleep! I tried to put a blanket over him a couple of minutes later, and he started shrieking at me again.
So needless to say, he got a little chilly in the night and finally climbed back up between us, but holy crap! At least he finally settled himself down.
Anyone else ever deal with night terrors of this extent?
^_^:
Wow. I can't say that my DD has experienced night terrors like this, but I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to you. Its the worst thing in the world when your child is suffering or terrified and won't allow Mama to comfort him.
^_^:
How was he the next morning? When my dd went through this she never even remembered them the next morning. It was very tramatic for us, but she was oblivious. I would ask her if she had a bad dream or if she was feeling bad in the night and she would smile and answer no.
Sorry you had to deal with that.
^_^:
we dealt with night terrors too and although they really appear awake they are NOT. the only way we were able to get Ben calmed down to go back to sl;eep was to wake him up. Our pediatrician suggested sitting him on the bathroom counter and wetting his feet in the sink and this generally worked for us.
Also he had them around a certain time (about a half an hour after he went to sleep if I recall) and if he didn't get them then he didn't get them at all. Also suggested by the ped was to slightly rouse him about 10 minutes before they would normally occur. so about 20 minutes after he fell asleep we'd go shake him till he woke up a little and then let him fall back asleep. apparently the night terrors would occur because he couldn't transistion from one stage of sleep to the next, by rousing him we "forced" the transition to occur.
^_^:
Lisa, that's what I read the difference between a night terror and a nightmare is, that a nightmare they often remember but a night terror they do not. also I read that night terrors are more like sleep walking than like nightmares (for the child)
^_^:
Andrea, this was the first one for him, so I wouldn't know a set time to do the second suggestion, but thanks for that first tip. I'll try to remember it if this (hopefully doesn't) happen again.
With the older two, we'd always hug them, set them on the toilet (once potty trained) and put them back to bed and they'd be fine. :(
^_^:
I hope it doesn't too - they are terrifying. Ben's did last about a year though - just so you are forwarned. they started around 2 years old. I read that they are most common in 2-5 year old boys, IIRC
^_^:
My older two still have minor ones, but the one I referred to (with the orange) would've been around age 3-5 for my older son so that makes sense. Thanks!
^_^:
my dd occassionally has weird phases of night waking - not really night terrors but more she is really mad at anyone who goes near her but at the same time cries and seems to need comfort. I always find it very confusing and frustrating.
Really what helps is to be at hand but not to touch her. Sometimes singing or talking quietly will help her to calm down.
If I offer or try to cuddle her too soon she goes beserk - a bit like you described in your post.
So I wait until I see some little signs that she might be calming herself down.
I have learned that she is not awake during these times - although she seems to be. I see little link with the daytime - I do not know what causes it - really I just think she sometimes has got overloaded or is overtired ...
On waking she is just fine and her normal self.
More Topical:
My 2 year old woke up around 2am screaming his head off. I tried to comfort him and he shrieked and shoved me away from him.
He kept up the screaming, and I thought he was saying "I want Pa." (what he calls his sister), so she got up and tried comforting him but he kept on screaming he wanted "pa".
Well, it turns out he wanted POP (no we do not give him pop, Daddy is the only one that drinks it in the house)...so I gave him an unopened can, hoping he'd just hold it like DS did the orange and go back to sleep (yes, this sounds crazy but it's 2am and I wanted sleep :lol )
I try to reach to put him back in bed and he was like a wild animal! Fright or flight! He took off running to the corner by my closet clenching that pop can in his hand. He just stood there crying, and everytime I'd talk to him or reach for him he'd shriek.
I sat on the bed and waited a bit, and his eyes started to close with him laying his head against the wall. He ended up sliding down to a sitting position and was going back to sleep.
Again, I reached for him and he SHRIEKS! Ugh! (By now, I'm getting really flustered...I am NOT good at nighttime parenting, my kids learned early on to go to Daddy's side of the bed if you need something, but even Daddy couldn't get him to settle down.)
I ended up just picking him up, screaming and fighting all the way and setting the can on my table. When we got in my bed, he jumped out and THREW himself onto his toddler bed screaming. :eek DH turned off the light and DS appeared to go to sleep! I tried to put a blanket over him a couple of minutes later, and he started shrieking at me again.
So needless to say, he got a little chilly in the night and finally climbed back up between us, but holy crap! At least he finally settled himself down.
Anyone else ever deal with night terrors of this extent?
^_^:
Wow. I can't say that my DD has experienced night terrors like this, but I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to you. Its the worst thing in the world when your child is suffering or terrified and won't allow Mama to comfort him.
^_^:
How was he the next morning? When my dd went through this she never even remembered them the next morning. It was very tramatic for us, but she was oblivious. I would ask her if she had a bad dream or if she was feeling bad in the night and she would smile and answer no.
Sorry you had to deal with that.
^_^:
we dealt with night terrors too and although they really appear awake they are NOT. the only way we were able to get Ben calmed down to go back to sl;eep was to wake him up. Our pediatrician suggested sitting him on the bathroom counter and wetting his feet in the sink and this generally worked for us.
Also he had them around a certain time (about a half an hour after he went to sleep if I recall) and if he didn't get them then he didn't get them at all. Also suggested by the ped was to slightly rouse him about 10 minutes before they would normally occur. so about 20 minutes after he fell asleep we'd go shake him till he woke up a little and then let him fall back asleep. apparently the night terrors would occur because he couldn't transistion from one stage of sleep to the next, by rousing him we "forced" the transition to occur.
^_^:
Lisa, that's what I read the difference between a night terror and a nightmare is, that a nightmare they often remember but a night terror they do not. also I read that night terrors are more like sleep walking than like nightmares (for the child)
^_^:
Andrea, this was the first one for him, so I wouldn't know a set time to do the second suggestion, but thanks for that first tip. I'll try to remember it if this (hopefully doesn't) happen again.
With the older two, we'd always hug them, set them on the toilet (once potty trained) and put them back to bed and they'd be fine. :(
^_^:
I hope it doesn't too - they are terrifying. Ben's did last about a year though - just so you are forwarned. they started around 2 years old. I read that they are most common in 2-5 year old boys, IIRC
^_^:
My older two still have minor ones, but the one I referred to (with the orange) would've been around age 3-5 for my older son so that makes sense. Thanks!
^_^:
my dd occassionally has weird phases of night waking - not really night terrors but more she is really mad at anyone who goes near her but at the same time cries and seems to need comfort. I always find it very confusing and frustrating.
Really what helps is to be at hand but not to touch her. Sometimes singing or talking quietly will help her to calm down.
If I offer or try to cuddle her too soon she goes beserk - a bit like you described in your post.
So I wait until I see some little signs that she might be calming herself down.
I have learned that she is not awake during these times - although she seems to be. I see little link with the daytime - I do not know what causes it - really I just think she sometimes has got overloaded or is overtired ...
On waking she is just fine and her normal self.
More Topical: