11 month old night terrors. Advice needed!!

[ZoeA]

Hi there
I hope you guys can help me once again :-)
My lo is now 11 months old and is a lovely little boy.  He has always been textbook / touchy and has been a great sleeper (day and night) since he was about 3 months.  However, for the last 4 - 6 weeks he has been waking in the night in a really distressed state.  Basically, he is screaming like he is terrified, and when we go in and try to comfort him we dont make it any better.  In fact, I think we make it worse.  He has a dummy and a lovie.  Neither seem to help.  The whole ordeal lasts about an hour, and generally either DH or I will pick him up in the dark and hold him to stop him from thrashing around, then stroke his head and talk softly to him until he calms down.  The HV have said that it sounds like classic night terrors and that we cant do anything for him.  She suggested that we wear ear plugs.  And she was serious.  We have been following EASY and BW since he was born and he is just so happy and contented generally, I can't ignore him.  Besides which, it is hard to ignore something that loud at 3am!  I just wanted to guage whether anyone has any experience of this?  I go back to work F/T in 3 weeks and need to prepare myself if this is going to be an ongoing thing!! 
The routine looks like this most days:
7:00 Wake
7:10 Bottle (formula 7-8 oz)
8:00 Solids - 1 x weetabix or oatibix & water in beaker
9:00 - 10:15 Activity
10:15 - 10:30 Catnap (trying to cut this down and go 2:1 but cant cut completely as DS gets too tired for lunch)
10:30 Snack of fruit and water in beaker
10:30 - 12:00 Activity
12:00 Lunch, solids including yogurt, finger foods and water in beaker
12:00 - 13:15 Activity
13:15 - 15:00 Sleep (sometimes starts a bit earlier or finishes a bit later. Never more than 2 hours)
15:00 - 17:00 Activity
17:00 Dinner, solids including finger foods and water. Normally lighter meal than lunch.
17:00 - 18:15 Activity
18:15 Bath & massage
18:30 Bottle (formula 7-8 oz) in nursery
18:45 Story with dim lights and perhaps more bottle if didn't finish it
19:00 Bed
The night terrors (or night wakings) occur anytime between midnight and 4am.
Any advice or help would be very welcome!!
Thanks, Zoe

[mini me]

Hi Zoe, we had the same thing going on between 7 and 12 months old, then it just stopped, so I queried whether it was night terrors or not. I thought DD was too young to be having them, but she has since had a couple more (she's 2.5yrs now) and I believe they were the same thing. I found they passed quicker if I didn't pick DD up. I just quickly checked to see if she was screaming because of a wet nappy or if something else was visibly wrong, and then just stayed near her quietly and they got much shorter. I think it was a phase she went through (she's always been extremely imaginative in her play from a very young girl) and they just stopped until very recently. She doesn't remember waking if I ask her now, but will always remember waking in the night if it isn't connected to a terror. So I feel they are harmless enough and she has no recollection of them. It was waaaay harder for me to ignore them and get over them. I would be in tears waiting for them to end. Hugs and I hope they end quickly for you all.

[<Catherine>]

We had night terrors, but only for a couple of weeks. They really were horrible but didn't last as long as they are for you. I *think* they were happening when he was OT - could this be the case for your LO? I think they can be related to developmental changes too. I think DS was around 11 months at the time too.

We couldnt do anything about it whilst it was happening, just had to let him thrash it out in the cot but let him know we were there with him.

Sorry I havent helped much, really hope it's just a short phase and they stop soon. x

[<Catherine>]

Posted at the same time as Andi....

I found they passed quicker if I didn't pick DD up.

I definitely found this too.

[ZoeA]

Thanks both for coming back to me so quickly :-)
I wont pick him up tonight and just watch (to make sure he is OK) and see whether that makes it easier for him.
XX