Two year old having night terrors???

[PirateMommy]

I am wondering if any Moms out there are familiar with this scenario...5 nights now. 5 nights. My 2 1/2 year old son has woken up around 11 pm SCREAMING. I'm talking inconsolable screaming. He'll reach for me but slap me away. He won't answer any questions or really speak (he is normally very advanced in his speech and communication in general). He will barely make eye contact but his eyes are definitely open. I thought it was because he has been sick and is waking up congested, but this particular night he was acting almost as if he had autism or something. I mean, he was slapping at me whenever I tried to comfort him. What is throwing me is that all the stuff on night terrors say they aren't truly awake, but he sure seems like he is. It seems like he's responding physically ("Do you want to go downstairs?" He lifted his arms up but then smacked at me when I tried to touch him.) It made me remember that when he was an infant (like 8 or 9 months) he would wake up screaming. I remember wondering what on earth could be troubling such a young mind while asleep. Any thoughts?

[sapphire_chan]

With dd, she would have night terrors if she didn't get a reasonable (hour+) nap during the day and/or didn't get cholesterol.

I figured out about the cholesterol because night terrors come in part because of the underdeveloped nervous system reacting oddly to the dream state.

The first few times, before I learned what was going on, I tried to comfort her and distract her and she just kept screaming until about 15 minutes later she woke up and couldn't go back to sleep for a couple hours. After I learned about night terrors, I lay down next to her and just suggested nursing every time the crying started to ease up, and about 15 minutes later she nursed for about a minute and fell asleep again.

With dd, touching her turned the crying to screaming and thrashing, so it was pretty clear that touching wasn't helpful.

[PirateMommy]

Thank you for your input. Now that I've had night terrors suggested to me, I am going to pay more attention to the details. Because I thought he was awake the whole time, his behavior did not make sense to me. Now I'm not sure when he was asleep and at which point he woke up but it has confused the potential diagnoses for me. One thing you said has put things in perspective...he has not been resting well because he was congested. Maybe once his cold goes away, this particular episode of night terrors (if that is truly what is happening) will go away as well. It has certainly made me think back and I have realized he has never been a very willing participant in the whole "sleep" thing. And we share a family bed so I know he feels very safe and comfortable.

With your dd, were her eyes open? Did she seem to respond to you at all? That is what is throwing me with ds. His eyes were open but at one point I actually wondered if he were really seeing me.

[sapphire_chan]

When we tried to soothe her and picked her up and cuddled her, her eyes were wide open and staring and she'd repeat things just like she'd do when awake and upset.

e.g. we'd say "are you hungry, do you want some egg?" and she'd shriek then whine "no hungry! no eggies!!"

When we just left her to lay in a dim room (light on in the hall), she opened her eyes a few times, but not for long and closed them again.

Another important thing to tell you, dd is 30 months now and I can't remember when her last night terror was.

[McGucks]

My older son used to do this...it looked like he was possessed and he was hysterical & 100% inconsolable...it turned out (a friend told me to try this) that he needed to pee.  It was around the time he was potty training.  We would just carry him to the toilet, he'd pee, and it was like magic.  I don't know if this will be the answer to your issue, but I hope so because it is an easy fix!  I remember my ex-h. wanted me to send flowers to the friend who told us to try this because we were both so relieved.  Best of luck!!!

[sapphire_chan]

Oh, right! Forgot that possibility because pottying dd at night is usual for us.

[Mi_LuBelle]

Look up "Confusional Arousal" and see if that matches what you're seeing better. My daughter has very similar night time episodes; usually when her daytime / nightime routine has been off (naps not long enough or not at right time, to bed late or we missed something we would normally do). I have to be pretty religious about keeping things one schedule to keep her sleeping well without waking up like that. I put a hand on her and try and "shhh" to her softly and just wait it out. Picking her up or trying to otherwise console her makes it worse. Sometimes if I say her name in a serious voice or just a little louder, it will jog her enough where she will settle down and go back to sleep.

Those are the only things that have worked short of waking her up completely - which is a whole other ball of wax because it takes time to put her back to sleep then...