Author Topic: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?  (Read 6336 times)

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Offline rinajack

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Re: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?
« Reply #15 on: June 28, 2007, 08:00:20 am »
If you are not sure if it is pain related, have you considered giving pain relief before bed to see if it eliminates the waking?  If it does, then you can probably assume pain....
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Offline M and N's Mom

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Re: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?
« Reply #16 on: June 28, 2007, 11:08:11 am »
I don't know if it was pain...just guessing as he has been teething.  Last night he let out a few good cries at 10:30 (same time as the episode the previous night) but thankfully, settled himself without me going in and slept until 6:45 this morning  :).

Our routine is:

wake 6:30-7:00
3.5h A
Nap #1 - 30 mins
2.5h A
Nap #2 - ~1.5h
3.5h A
Bedtime


Good luck today Annette.  I think they say 5-5.5h A before nap should be the max when they are going to 1 nap.  We are still a long way from that (and our LOs are close to the same age).


Offline Stace

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Re: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?
« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2007, 12:04:17 pm »
Thankfully my DS had a really good night last night, only a couple of crying spells, which calmed down pretty quickly and he went straight back to sleep  ;D.

I think our prob has been night pains, I think teeth, I can't see/feel any new ones but he's had a lot more smelly bums?

He woke at 8:45 this morning, so I'm going to do the same again today as yesterday and hope that's been our problem.

Annette - Robbie took ages to settle yesterday with his nap being brought forward and cried a bit but he settled after about 20 mins but I'm hoping he will start to settle back down again if I persevere (I put him down about 25 mins ago and he's gone out like a light), I think bringing lunch forward is a fab idea. How did disturbing his sleep cycle work? Has he any sign of new teeth or any signs of being unwell? I have tried giving DS meds before bedtime but he still woke crying, I think possibly when the meds wore off.

M&N's mum - sounds like you've had the same prob as us with the teeth, hopefully both are getting over the worst of it and back to good nights sleep ;D.

Stace x

Offline Asher's Mommy

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Re: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?
« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2007, 14:54:49 pm »
Yea, after talking with some of the girls on our birth thread, their babies seemed ready for 1 nap and as it turned out, there were not.
So, today I am going to try and move everything up and hopefully he will get enough sleep. If not, then we will go back to 2 naps.
I really don't think ours is sick/pain related. Meds did not work.
However, all the sleep he got yesterday and disrupting his sleep cycle seemed to work like a charm. NO night waking! And he was up at 7am like normal.
I think I have mine figured out. I really appreciate you guys letting me think it through with you! It means so much that I can talk with mommies following the same parenting style. Your thoughts and comments are meaningful to me and get me thinking when my "in person friends" don't make any sense and their kids do this kind of thing ALL THE TIME! KWIM?

So, mommies who are still wondering. For us, it was not enough sleep during the day (I am 99% sure). For us, in addition to more nap time,  disrupting his sleep cycle worked great (it has in the past too).

Disrupting his sleep cycle - Usually just walking in is enough to make him stir a bit. Or, covering him back up with his blanket. Or, just tugging slightly on the blanket until he flinches a little. I'm explaining how we do it because when we first did it months ago (for naps I think?) I was disrupting him too much and it didn't work. I thought I was following the instructions in the book but after talking to another BW mom she described this and it worked MUCH better.

Good luck!!!
Annette

Offline M and N's Mom

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Re: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?
« Reply #19 on: June 28, 2007, 18:35:20 pm »
That's great Annette!!   ;D Hope it stays working for you!  It sure is nice to have other Moms here who think similarly! 

Some LOs can easily handle 1 nap (my DD transitioned EASILY between 13-14 months, but here we are with DS who gets OT so easily and he is a long way from ready  :-\).


Offline oilerbaby

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Re: What Age Do Night Terrors Start?
« Reply #20 on: June 28, 2007, 21:46:36 pm »
Hi there - we experienced night terrors when our daughter was 2/3.  Here is some information on night terrors from the Berkley Parents Network... 

Things That Go Bump in the Night
Coping with Night Terrors

It's 10 p.m. You're dozing on the couch and decide it's time to go to bed. Just about the time your head hits the pillow, a bloodcurdling scream from your toddler's bedroom propels you like a shot down the hallway. You find her sitting up in bed, wide-eyed. She's screaming and flailing her arms. It's one of the scariest things you've ever seen. As you rush to her, you see she doesn't appear hurt or sick. It must be a nightmare, you think. "I'm here," you say as you put your arms around her. But she pushes you away. The more you try to calm her, the more upset she gets.

What's going on?

Most likely, your child is having a night terror - a relatively rare sleep disorder that appears mostly in young children. Two or three percent of all children will experience episodes of night terrors. Yet by the time they reach school age, most children will have outgrown these generally harmless events.

It's a normal phenomenon of childhood," says Harry Abram, M.D., a neurologist with The Nemours Children's Clinic. "As the brain matures and a child's sleep pattern matures, the terrors go away. This usually happens by age six."

Night Terror or Nightmare?

A night terror is not the same thing as a nightmare. Nightmares occur during the dream phase of sleep known as REM sleep. The circumstances of the nightmare will frighten the child, who usually will wake up with a vivid memory of a long movie-like dream. Night terrors, on the other hand, occur during a phase of deep non-REM sleep - usually an hour or two after the child goes to bed. During a night terror, which may last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, the child is still asleep. Her eyes may be open, but she is not awake. When she does wake up, she'll have no recollection of the episode other than a sense of fear.

Can I Help My Child During a Night Terror?

It's helpful to know that although these events may be disturbing for you, night terrors themselves are not harmful to your child. But because a child may get out of bed and run around the room, doctors do advise parents to gently restrain a child experiencing night terrors. Otherwise, let the episode run its course. Shouting and shaking your child awake will just agitate him more.

Can Night Terrors Be Prevented?

It's likely that if you or your spouse had night terrors, your child will too. Fatigue and psychological stress may also play a role in their occurrence. Make sure your child is getting plenty of rest. Be aware of things that may be upsetting to your child, and to the extent you are able, try to minimize the distress.

Children usually have night terrors at the same time each night, generally sometime in the first few hours after falling asleep. Doctors suggest you wake your child up about 30 minutes before the night terror usually happens. Get your child out of bed, have her talk to you. Keep her awake for five minutes, and then let her go back to sleep.

Night terrors are a normal, if frightening, phenomenon of childhood. If they occur frequently or over a long period of time, however, discuss this with your child's physician.

Fast Facts Night Terrors...

    Are not dangerous.
    Are most common between the ages of three-five.
    Run in families.
    Occur in the first third of the sleep cycle.


What worked for us was to go in 1/2 hour before the night terror was "scheduled" to start and rouse her from sleep - not enough to wake her completely - we would just sit her up and give her a small drink of water.  I've also heard that you can dunk their feet into a sink of cold water but we never had to try that.  Good luck!
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