Night Terrors

[PoetryLover]

Last night my 7 month old son woke screaming inconsolably. We cosleep and he was nestled between my husband and myself, the same as always. He went on for quite some time. I've never seen this happen with him before. It was like he couldn't see or hear us. DH kept saying DS's name, but it took a long time for DS to snap out of it. Now I wonder if that's what we should have done. Should you wake a baby from night terrors? He nursed down after he calmed down enough to nurse.

Also does anyone know what causes night terrors?

[honeybunmom]

7 mos is a bit early for night terrors. Could it have been that his diaper or other clothing was pinching him somewhere? In any event, they can be caused bed a disruption in the normal schedule, like going to bed later that normal. You should not try to wake an infant/toddler going through one. What I have read suggests that waking can prolong the episode. My daughter had them starting at around 18 mos and I know they are downright scary. When she had an episode prior to that age, I asked her pedi about them and she said it was too early. And having witnessed real night terrors, I can say in retrospect that the earlier episode was something different.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

I don't know the ages they start buy my son has had them for years. The only thing that works for us is to convince him to lie back down. I tell him "okay we'll go take care of X in just a second" X being whatever he's adamant we MUST go do right that second. It takes a lot of convincing to get him to lie back down but he falls back asleep and that ends it

My understanding is they are *stuck* somehow between 2 sleep types and trying to wake them is difficult and doesn't work. They need to get to the next sleep type in order to come out of it.

It's truly horrible to watch and honestly I can't think of much that I've had to experience that is worse

[honeybunmom]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog Mtn

I don't know the ages they start buy my son has had them for years. The only thing that works for us is to convince him to lie back down. I tell him "okay we'll go take care of X in just a second" X being whatever he's adamant we MUST go do right that second. It takes a lot of convincing to get him to lie back down but he falls back asleep and that ends it

My understanding is they are *stuck* somehow between 2 sleep types and trying to wake them is difficult and doesn't work. They need to get to the next sleep type in order to come out of it.

It's truly horrible to watch and honestly I can't think of much that I've had to experience that is worse

Seriously, night terrors made me begin to believe in demon possession. They were just that horrible to me. I mean, how else could such a little person having never experienced the violence she was committing come to express this?

I don't know if you've tried this, but I do recall reading that you can wake up your child before they usually happen. For us, if I remember correctly, it was about an hour and hour and a half into the sleep cycle. If you disrupt the sleep cycle, then the child should be able to go back to sleep without having a night terror.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

Originally Posted by honeybunmom

Seriously, night terrors made me begin to believe in demon possession. They were just that horrible to me. I mean, how else could such a little person having never experienced the violence she was committing come to express this?

YES YES YES. Seriously it's that bad.

Originally Posted by honeybunmom

I don't know if you've tried this, but I do recall reading that you can wake up your child before they usually happen. For us, if I remember correctly, it was about an hour and hour and a half into the sleep cycle. If you disrupt the sleep cycle, then the child should be able to go back to sleep without having a night terror.

I've heard this works but for us it's not a great option. He can go months without them and then have them for a few nights in the same week.....or once a month or once a week. It's so random I can't manage waking him every night (we have 5 kids and one on the way) without disturbing the others.

I've also heard that over stimulation, too much stress or excitement and so on can contribute but we've never been able to find any sort of pattern. I've tried a journal and just about everything.

It's really hard to watch and my heart hurts for every mama out there who has to watch them because honestly you can't really *do* much to fix them

[flavorfull1]

my DS started doing this if he was super overtired. DS is 7.5 months now and it started at around 6 months. I HATE it. It is so hard to not feel like you can get through to your child to help them. The only thing that "works" for us is to try to make sure he doesn't become exhausted and when it starts to just keep him safe and speak soothing words to him until he eventually wakes up. Last night it happened again (we have been traveling a lot and he is fighting a cold) and singing a familiar song worked after a little bit. Not much in the way of help but yeah our son is that young and definitely has them and yeah it is sad/scary. Hugs mama.

[spmamma]

DD used to get them when she was sick. Her ped. said it was rather common for babies to experience them when they are sick or on a medication.

[PoetryLover]

It hasn't happened since, but it was truly freaky at the time.
Thanks so much to everyone for the commiseration and advice.