[CrunchyChristianMama]

<p>My DD (26 months) appears to be having night terrors.  She sleeps in her own room and has since she was several months old.  We always go to her in the night though if she wakes and sometimes sleep in her room with her when she's sick or teething (she's in her own double bed). </p>
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<p>Last night was awful though.  She has started saying she doesn't want to go to bed and being really irrational/crying at bed time.  It took half an hour last night to understand that she wanted her dolly in the doll bed beside her bed and once we figured that out she calmed down and went to sleep.  She then woke up 4 hours later screaming bloody murder.  She was completely inconsolable.  She was thrashing around kicking and screaming.  We tried everything....laying with, trying to reason with her (she kept saying she wanted her baby to lay next to her but when we laid the baby there she flipped out again), picking her up and walking around the room with her, bringing her other stuffed animals that she loves, walking her around the house to figure out what she wanted/needed.  Nothing worked.  Finally, at the end of our emotional rope, we had to lay her back down in bed and retreat to our room to figure out what to do next.  I was sobbing, my DH was extremely frustrated, and 5 minutes later my DD fell soundly asleep for the rest of the night. </p>
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<p>So back to my question... do you go to your child when they are having terrors?  I'm assuming that's what last night was, but now I'm at a loss as to how to handle them.  If she calmed down once we left, should we just let her do her thing and put herself back to sleep? </p>

 

[McGucks]

<p>My son--who is now 15--had what we thought were night terrors around the time he was potty training.  A friend told me to carry him to the bathroom and put him on the potty.  Indeed, she was right...he was only screaming because he needed to pee, but some part of him knew he was not supposed to do it in bed.  Within a short period of time, the "night terrors" just turned into a midnight trip to the can.  Hope this helps!  Not sure if it'd work like this for a little girl, though.  And in answer to your question--Do you go to your child during night terrors?''--my answer would be yes.  If I was having a night terrors, I'd sure want my husband to come check on me and do what he could to help me feel better.  Even if whatever you try does not work, I think your just being there has value in that she will learn mommy will always try to help when she feels sad or bad.  Good luck.</p>

 

[sapphire_chan]

<p>Go in because sometimes the end of the night terror is to wake up. Plus, they thrash about so much you'd want to make sure things were clear.</p>
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<p>Do feel free to wear earplugs though.</p>

 

[A_Random_Phrase]

<p>I'd go in. Even though they are totally irrational and you touching them can make them freak out more (because they're asleep and don't know you're there), being there would make <em>me</em> feel better. Then, if they do wake up, you're there. Plus, your soothing voice may eventually penetrate their consciousness, even if it doesn't feel/seem like it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have noticed that a child knowing they have to "go potty" but not being able to wake up, can cry and become very upset in their sleep. I had a step-daughter like that. When I figured it out, all I had to do was get her up so she could go to the bathroom.</p>
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<p>But the night terrors I've seen in children are a lot worse than the crying and fussing she made.</p>

 

[beebalmmama]

<p>I would still go in. I found with my ds 1 (5 now) when he was 2.5-3 yrs was having night terrors that it was better to not touch him. I would sit and calmly try to soothe him with my voice but touching him or trying to hold him just made it worse.</p>
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<p>I don't know about the potty thing, could be it. My ds was potty learned at that point and rarely needed to pee at night and if he did had already been getting up to pee at night if he needed to.</p>
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<p>We started using the Hylands Calms Forte tablets before bed at this point and I think they really helped. They helped me when I was having a lot of nightmares during my last pregnancy.</p>

 

[CrunchyChristianMama]

<p>We've tried Calms Forte and find that sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. </p>
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<p>I think her problem is also related to food (as I've found is the case for a few others).  The poor thing has horrible reactions to gluten and sunflower and seems to have the worst time sleeping if she's gotten either of those even just through cross-contamination. </p>
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<p>She is potty-trained during the day, but her overnight diaper is always soaked in the morning (she wets more at night than my YDD who nurses at least twice in the night).  We'll have to try the taking her to the potty thing and see if that helps. </p>

 

[porcelina]

<p>My DS1 had night terrors. They started as early as around 4 months. He would thrash his whole body around, and have that possessed look in his eyes. Very scary. They came and went over time, and seemed to be related to changes in his sleeping pattern. For example, when he transitioned from 3 to 2 naps or 2 to one naps, he had night terrors. What worked for us when he was about 15 months was to sing him through it, or make a funny Elmo voice or something. I did a lot of reading about it, and read some stories from people who remembered their night terrors as adults. They described things like seeing their mother there, but that she looked like a monster, etc., which is why they freak out if you touch them. We coslept with DS1, so we were always right there. He also woke up screaming a lot otherwise, so we'd have to ask ourselves, "is this one a night terror, or just a terrible night?"  The pee thing kindof makes sense, but was never our issue.</p>