How do I manage 2yo NW?- bit hysterical

[noonie]

Hi

My 2 year old (26mo) wakes at night almost a bit hysterical about 3 nights a week - and im finding it hard to calm him to get him back to sleep.  I would say 80% of the time he doesnt want my husband at all - and if i send my husband in thye can both get a bit grupmy at each other.  And honestly I have to calm myself a couple of times mainly because im quite tired too.  (our 6mo is still waking a few times in the night).  Last night I was in and out of his room for over an hour, maybe because he woke up too much at the start?

I just want some ideas on how to manage this - Do I stay in a rub his back which is what he wants me to do.  WI/WO - or is this too disturbing after waking from night terrors? 

ideas please.

his taking is coming along amazingly but he is so loud!  is this normal?  esp at night everyone wakes up.

[ascwing]

I don't have any help for you but I wanted you to know I've read your post and have been having some similar things. I did lol at the part abt. your LO and DH getting grumpy at each other-- that happens here too and it makes the situation even more stressful for me.

[deckchariot]

Are you sure it's night terrors?  Here's a link on nightmares and night terrors:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=109770.0

He may just be having a bad dream or could be waking for any number of reasons.  In fact, if you've been doing the rubbing for awhile, he could be waking for that now.  You could come in, calm him down, then do wi/wo.  With our dd, when she wakes screaming, she always wants me to hug her, but I don't want to get her out of the crib, so she stands up, I hug her while she's in the crib and comfort her that way, then tell her to lay down and go back to sleep.  Then I do wi/wo if I need to.

hth
michelle

[SylvieA]

DS did have night terrors and confusional arousal. It lasted for almost a year. All you can do is be there for him and be patient. I could never leave to room until he was calm enough and ready for us to leave. I don't think our DS even remembered his episodes. They are very stressful but it doeas get easier when you can relax about it yourself. There's really nothing you can do other that softly talk to him and let him know your there. He alway had occasional terrors since he was about 10months old, maybe once every few months, but last summer we moved into a new house, had a baby, potty trained all within a few months. Thats when we started getting nightly wakings lasting anywhere between15min-1hr. It even came to a point where he had a few per night. I'm not saying this will happen to your LO though. Our DS hasen't had one in over a month and it feels great, so it won't last for you either. You also have a baby, could it be the change is triggering this. Any changes at all can start NT and CA.
So be calm and huge hugs to you. It's no fun at all.

[becky1969]

I would love to do a poll on this topic as I've seen a lot of kids at around age 2 go thru this.

My son also went thru a phase like this.  We had numerous occasions for about 3 months after turning age 2.  Then few occasions for the next 3 months.  And I don't think we've had it happen but 1-2x in the last year?  I think there must be some kind of developmental thing that happens to kick this night terror thing into gear!

PP is absolutely right -- must stay and comfort.  He probably won't remember anything about it.  Not sure that there's anything you can do to prevent -- at least we never found a way.  But in all likelihood he'll either outgrow or it will become less frequent.  Of course I still have these at the ripe old age of 40.  For me they appear to be hormonally related and only come at certain times of my cycle.  At first my DH would rush to comfort me.  But after a couple of times of me attacking him with my fists, he has since learned to wait out my screams and hope that I don't find the knives!    I just REALLY hope someone doesn't attack me in the night as my DH will just think I'm having a night terror, LOL!