Are these night terrors?

[Pippi L.]

My 2.5 year-old daughter has been waking up (or not fully waking up) recently and crying and screaming. The usual settling tricks don't work. She gets upset if I try to touch her, sing to her, or talk to her. Sometimes having a drink of water or eating a banana will help her because it will really wake her up. Tonight she settled down after a bit of nursing but sometimes she doesn't want to or even seem to notice that I'm offering.

She's never been a great sleeper but she's always gone back to sleep right away with nursing and, since we nightweaned in January, other soothing methods. Until the last few weeks she'd consistently sleep through the night if I was next to her and often do it by herself in her own bed in her own room. If she woke up she'd come in to our room and ask for help and I'd go settle her in.

Do these sound like night terrors? Has anyone ever experienced them before with their toddlers? How did you deal with it? I'm wondering if it has something to do with the baby that's on the way (I'm due in September) or the fact that I've been working more hours recently. Usually I work part-time but the other week my teaching partner was sick so I took over for her and worked the whole week so she could rest up and meet her new grandchild. My daughter loves going to the babysitter but she'd clearly had enough by the end of the week and sleeping went downhill and clingyness increased dramatically.

I'm starting to go on and on...any thoughts are appreciated!

[Lilypie32]

My son has night seizures. The only thing I have found helpful is to hold them on your lap in a semi lit room. We don't talk. We just sit together until he either fully wakes or slips back off to sleep.

[nathansmum]

I'll share how it played out for us and the triggers...

My DS used to have night terrors when he was 2-3. His would usually occur regularly around 10-11pm (apparently they happen prior to midnight) as he was flicking into a different sleep cycle (bedtime was about 7pm). For him it coincided with dropping his day nap and being overtired at bedtime.

He would wake up screaming and inconsolable and definitely not awake although his eyes would be open but kind of glazed over.

I had read it was worse to try and distract them out of it and wake them up - so we'd just cuddle or sit nearby if he was thrashing around and wait it out. Occasionally we would ask if he wanted to go to the toilet and he would (but would often continue to cry!). The times he agreed to go to the toilet he would often fall back asleep right away - so it could also have been a bladder thing (he was toilet training during this time too??).

He had a couple last year (at age 5.5 when he had just been diagnosed with an illness and put on drugs) and I asked him in the morning if he recalled having it the night before and he didn't - even though he was awake screaming/eyes open). Actually, he also wet the bed around that time - so I wonder if there was a link with the toilet training thing when he was younger and needing to go to the toilet this time (but was trapped in the sleep phase thing).

[wholewheatmama]

My 2 1/2 year old had a handful of similar episodes a couple of months ago, very much like you described. Nothing seemed to snap her out of it. She cried and screamed until she vomited, and it was only after the vomiting that she was able to finally calm down.

My ped said that night terrors generally occur at the same time each night (my daughter's happened almost exactly one hour after going to sleep), and he suggested to break the cycle waking her up at the expected time. Although waking my sleeping child (and like your child, mine has never been a great sleeper) seemed like crazy talk to me, I was willing to try it because the episodes were so scary to us both. Fortunately, they stopped on their own, or at least haven't occurred again since my talk with our ped.

In retrospect (because isn't that when all clarity comes ), they were happening at around the time when she was trying to give up her nap for good, so it was related to a big change in her life. Perhaps your daughter's episodes were related to the stressful week she had and will self-correct. Or maybe you could try waking her when you anticipate an episode to be coming? Good luck!

[Pippi L.]

Very interesting...she missed her nap yesterday at the babysitter's and so she was extremely overtired. She's really gotten the hang of potty training in the last month or two and has just started wearing underwear for naptimes -- no accidents yet. I wonder if it's a combination of needing to use the potty and being overtired. I don't think she's ready to give up a nap. She's just dreadful in the afternoon without one and will fall asleep at 5:00.

I'll see if I can find a pattern and wake her up before they happen. Maybe I'll try putting her in underwear at night, too. Having it on might make it easier for her wake up fully when she needs to pee. She's actually been happier getting up from her nap since we made the switch to underwear. It's worth a try for a couple nights anyway.