[OGirlieMama]

Kate is 14 months old. Last night was not the first time this has happened, but was the first in a few weeks. She's actually been sleeping better lately - going to bed around 8, sleeping in her crib just fine, and only waking up once around 3-4, at which time she comes to bed with us and usually sleeps until morning. This is after about a month of going to sleep and waking up every hour or so until midnight and then sleeping through 'til morning.

But last night she went to bed a little on the late side (almost 9) because I let her and her sister stay up until Daddy got home because he missed them. Around 11:30, we heard her start crying a little over the monitor, then a "thunk" which sounded like her hitting her head, then more crying. But when we went in there, she was lying there with her eyes closed, crying. When my husband (who moves faster than I do!) picked her up, she screamed more loudly, and we brought her to our bed. She was screaming horribly no matter how he held her, so I said lay her down on the bed between us. She just lay there for several minutes, writhing and screaming, but the whole time her eyes were never open. I rolled her over on her side and snuggled up with her, and we patted her tush and sssshed her, and eventually she stopped crying, started again for a few seconds, and then fell absolutely silent, except for a few sobby breaths. Five minutes later she was totally limp-limbed and comfortably asleep, and she actually ended up sleeping until 5:30 without waking - something she hasn't done in months!

But that whole 11:30 incident was horrible horrible horrible. I cried afterwards because it was so awful to see her like that, even though I know if it was a night terror she wouldn't be aware of it at all.

So, if you've experienced night terrors, is this par for the course? Is there anything else we should/should not do if/when it happens again? Or do you think it sounds like something else? Thanks for any light you can shed.

 

[PaxMamma]

sounds like what i would call a night-terror, but don't know if it is "medically" one. my ds started these a little after 1 1/2. he is almost 4 and still gets them sometimes. it WAS frightening. we could do nothing to console him, either. he was a very late talker, and couldn't figure out what was going on. we were bewildered at what a 2 year old could have such terrible dreams about. when he started talking, we could sometimes get him to talk to us in the middle of it and he would say things like "My cookie broke" or "I want to drive the car", never anything horrible or violent. he had them very regularly, probably 5 or 6 nights a week until he was well past 3. and it seemed like once he had one, he'd have several in a night.

 

[josh&davesmomme]

according to the Night Terrors Resource Center night terrors are discribed as

Quote:

Sudden awakening from sleep, persistent fear or terror that occurs at night, screaming, sweating, confusion, rapid heart rate, inability to explain what happened, usually no recall of "bad dreams" or nightmares, may have a vague sense of frightening images. Many people see spiders, snakes, animals or people in the room, are unable to fully awake, difficult to comfort, with no memory of the event on awakening the next day.

what you're littl one went through could be night terrors or it also sounds similar to what both my boys seem to suffer from, it's similar to night terrors it's a parasomnia (a wide variety of disruptive sleep-related events) called "CONFUSIONAL AROUSALS"

Quote:

Confusional arousals often occur in infants and toddlers, but may also be seen in adults.These episodes may begin with a person crying and thrashing around in bed. The individual may appear awake, confused and upset, yet resists attempts by others to comfort or console. It is also difficult to awaken a person having a parasomnia. The episodes may last up to half an hour and usually end with the person calming, waking briefly, and then only wanting to return to sleep

more about CA here: http://www.nightterrors.org/dis.htm

I know it's heart breaking to go through with you're little one, i wish i had some tips to make it not happen again- but unfortunately as both my 5yr old and my 17 mo old go through this- i haven't found a fix.
(((hugs))) and best wishes

 

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Sounds a lot like the night terrors that ds2 had. The first one was absolutely terrifying, because we didn't know what was wrong. He actually was screaming and shaking, and even seemed like he was trying to talk, but we couldn't console him no matter what we did. It was so unsettling. But he was absolutely fine. He never remembered it in the morning and would fall into a deep sleep afterwards while dh and I sat up staring at each other from the adrenelin surge. No fun at all. It always seemed to happen when he was over tired or in a stessful situation during the day.

 

[guest9921]

Sounds similar to our DS's night terrors, they began at 16m.

He sleeps with us throughout the night, and yes, the seemed to happen about 1-2 hours after he fell sleep.

No advice, just wanted to give you

.