Comments on: Keeping Sleep Sweet – What You Need To Know About Night Terrors

By: Christy

Christy — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:01:36 +0000

Thanks ladies for sharing your experiences! It’s comforting to know that others have gone through it too and just knowing that our children don’t really “realize” what they are going through brings a little peace as well!!! Francesca made a good point, if you are truly worried about the episodes your child experiences, it’s a good idea to talk to your pediatrician about them!!!

By: Francesca Watson

Francesca Watson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:06:54 +0000

Our daughter (now nearly 20!) had the most awful night terrors for about three months when she was three. It was pretty horrible because there really wasn’t anything we could do for her. If we tried to hold her or touch her, she got even more hysterical. Each episode lasted between 20 and 30 minutes, and we’d know it was over when she stopped screaming and started crying – then we could hold her and calm her down and get her back to sleep. She never remembered having these episodes, which was a blessing, but it completely wore us down during the period that they went on.

I know first-hand what the term “hand-wringing” refers to, because I did a lot of it! But we learned to sit quietly and wait for the episode to pass, watching to make sure she didn’t hurt herself (she never did, thank God), and comforting and snuggling her after the episode had passed. In the end, I think they were much harder on us than they were on her – there’s something particularly horrible about being powerless in the face of your child’s terror and panic. We were thankful for a really good pediatrician who helped reassure us, and we were especially thankful that the terrors passed completely after about three months.

So: hang in there, parents! Make sure you check with your pediatrician to make sure there’s nothing else going on, but know that this too shall pass and your child will weather the experience (probably better than you will!).

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:15:42 +0000

My son experienced these on occasion between the ages of 2-4, although there was never more than 1 episode a night, it wouldn’t last more than 15 minutes, and there was no screaming involved – just crying while he was sitting up in his bed rocking forward and back or he’d be pacing his room.

Once my son hit the 4½ yr. mark, he started coming out of his room and on rare occasions we found him downstairs. Now that was frightening! That was when our pediatrician classified it as sleepwalking and we should put a safety cover on his door or a bell to notify us when he came out of his room. He still has these sleepwalk episodes on rare occasion.