Night Terrors

[jnezmama02]

Emily has been having night terrors on and off again during the last few weeks. Interestingly enough, it seems to be happening more now that we're going to bed earlier. Most nights, it's just a quick wake up screaming and she settles down w/in a few minutes. But, on Sunday, my ILs came to visit w/ my nephew.  Well, Jessie and him are only 10mos apart so they like to play hard. Emily tries to keep up, but she can't really b/c she's so much smaller. Any way, she was only able to nap about 30min that afternoon b/c the other kids were being too loud and woke her up.  Well, anyway, it was a long day and we played hard. They played outside twice...once for over an hour. And then we went for a walk. Needless to say, Emily was exhausted. By the time the ILs left (after 9pm), she was really really tired. I got her a quick bath and into bed. But, then she woke up a few hours later screaming and was screaming for over 20min. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do for her. She won't nurse, she pushes us away when we try to soothe her...it's so heartbreaking, scary, and frustrating at the same time.

We've talked to our ped. about it several times and we've researched online. Basically, the only thing we can do to prevent them is to make sure she gets lots of rest...fatigue triggers them (definitely has proven to be the case w/ Emily). Once she's in the middle of them, we're not supposed to try to wake her up and not hold her(as that makes it more scary and prolongs the episode).  Once she does kind of get out of it, she's breathing really heavy for another 5-10min and seems really upset. I nurse her back to sleep and then she's usually fine. She seems fine in the morning.

Anybody else experience these?  Any other advice you give us?

[skeettafic]

Jocelyn has had a couple of night terrors - at least I think that's what they are.  The couple of times she's had them its been like you said - screaming, wailing, kicking, not wanting anything to do with us.  We basically just sit in her room so we can be right there if she needs us.  It was absolutely horrible and the 2 or 3 she did have were very much related to fatigue.  She had either had several days in a row of not sleeping or had been really running for a day and was just beat.  Knock wood we haven't had one in a while but I really try not to let her get too overtired.  She's in bed by 7 or shortly thereafter most nights and I really do everything I can to make sure that we stick to that bedtime as much as possible.  She's not the world's best napper and rarely naps if not at home so the days I'm not working I really plan on doing things around her nap so that she can get a good long one in.  I hope some of this helps!

[Karen + Greta]

Hey girls!  I just found this board, sorry I would have replied sooner!

Im starting to think G has had/has night terrors too.  I just read that at this age they really start dreaming, and remember it now.  I am FAMOUS for all my dreams, starting when I could first talk.  So, even if she doesnt really look like me, she is like me! 

Anyway, G acts the same way. Really upset, but more upset about being held. UGH it hasnt been like that in a while, and it's not usually that bad.  I guess that's when we really got into having her sleep with us, when she was being like that more frequently.