I have a two year old daughter whom we recently put in a toddler bed and got rid of the pacifier. Well, now not so recently that was about 2 months ago at least. And it took a couple of weeks for her to adjust but now she's pretty much ok. She never used to cry when we put her to bed but now she does for just a couple of minutes and that too is getting better but we've had a couple of incidents that leave me baffled and feeling totally helpless. She will sometimes (not often) wake up about 1-2 hours after she's been asleep screaming and crying uncontrollably. We both go in and try to comfort her and pick her up but she's thrashing around, and screaming and crying in a way she NEVER does. It takes up to an hour to calm her and then all of sudden she'll be done and go right back to bed. Someone told me it could be night terrors but she's totally awake. She's sitting up, she either grabbing for us or pushing us away. Any thoughts? We usually end up giving her gas X and a little tylenol because she's screaming like she's in severe pain. Anyone have experience with this??
Thank you everyone for your responses! I spoke to my pediatrician too and she felt that it also sounded like night terrors. We are now going on night 3 of these so I hope we get a break soon and I REALLY hope this clears up before our new baby arrives. I don't know if I have it in me to listen to two uncontrollably crying babies!! It helped so much reading your experiences with this and I will continue to work with her and see if we can get this under control. I can say that both nights this happened she was off her normal sleep schedule so tonight she's had her nap and she's going to bed ON TIME! And let's hope that does the trick. Thanks again Mommys. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without this message board!
I, too, think it is night terrors. Part of what makes them so baffeling is the the child SEEMS to be awake, but they're not. Unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do. Thankfully, the stage doesn't last long...
K.-
What you have described is EXACTLY what my daughter does, and has done off and on since she was about 2 or 2 1/2. (She's now 5) It IS night terrors. I know your daughter looks totally awake, eyes wide open, but she is NOT. Comforting her makes no difference if it is a night terror. (Keep in mind, your daughter can also have nightmares, where comforting DOES help.) The only thing you can do once it starts is to be nearby, but out of the way, to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or someone else.
Night terrors usually occur 1-2 hours after the child falls asleep, and the behaviors you describe are totally typical. We've heard (and found) that night terrors are more likely when your child is overly tired, so making sure she gets a nap and enough sleep is important. It took us a long time to realize that this was what was happening, and trying to help or yelling or screaming at her doesn't do any good. They seem to last longer when we try to intervene in any way. Night terrors are related to sleep walking, too.
Some websites I found when I was looking for info are:
http://www.nightterrors.org/
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/sleep/terrors.html#31
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep/a/night_terrors.htm
http://ga.essortment.com/nightterrorssl_rmge.htm
(I have a folder of websites on this saved on my computer!)
A couple of more things: night terrors CAN happen during the day, at nap time. Also, they seem to be rarer as the child gets to 4 or 5. Some people suggest taking socks off, or waking the child 1 1/2 or 2 hours after they fall asleep. The socks didn't matter for our daughter, and the night terrors started happening less frequently, so we never tried the waking her up strategy. Good luck. Try not to take it personally. It's hard to stay calm when your child is screaming and thrashing, but I've found it's the best (and only) thing to do in our case.
It does sound like night terrors to me. My 3 year old has these sometimes. And we do thigns similiar to what Jen B described. My son would freak out even more if we talked to him, so I would go in his room and sit on his bed and not talk and just rub his back until he calmed down. Sometimes he would "wake up" during the episode and be even more freaked out and other times he would wake up while we were rubbing his back and be ok. The key was to just be calm and try to realize that he was still "sleeping."
You may need to just try somethings and see what works.
Good Luck,
B.
at about the same age my daughter too had these episodes. it is quite frightning. even though she would appear to be awake and responsive she was in fact still sleeping. she would do everything youa re describing. i was th eonly one that would o in to her. i just held her while she was in her bed. u would say sweet things to her and just as soon as it started it stopped. she is not in pain or anything. try rubing her back or tummy or arms,or whatever body part is open to caressing. hope this helps.these things only happened for a few months and then gone. my baby is 5 now and we haven't done this for a long time.
Sounds like night terrors. Talk to your pediatrician about it. Night terrors occur around this age and tend to happen when the child is a bit sleep deprived. Does she still take a nap during the day? Try putting her to bed a little earlier as well. Night terrors can seem like the child is completely awake but most of the time they do not remember the event. Do a little internet research for night terrors and see what you come up with. I'm sure you want to try to nip this problem now before your new baby is born.
I agree that it does sound like night terrors. From what I understand, a person experiencing night terrors usually appears to be awake but is not.
My 2 year old just went through this and she was having night terrors, she appeared awake, eyes open, all that, but she was not awake at all really. I talked to my pediatrician who said that is more than likely what is was, also at that age they are growing and growing pains are real, my nephew had growing pains in his legs and cried like that and we tested him for everything under the sun and finally it was decided that is was growing pains. I dont know if this helped any, but I do understand your frustration, I went through it too, the good thing is now she is sleeping through the night again.
Hang in there
M.
Our daughter still has incidents of this and she is four. She appears toatlly awake, sitting up, screaming, thrashing around, pulling or pushing away. Recently, my mom was staying with us and our daughter has had pneumonia, so I brought in some Ibuprophin for her thinking she is in pain. Apparently coughing is very painful with pneumonia. Anyhow, our daughter calmed down and went to sleep eventually. Later when she woke up, she asked my mom if mommy brought that in? She had no recolection of earlier what so ever. I believe it is night terrors. They appear to be completely awake and they are not. Good luck!
K.,
Wow, this past week/weekend we went through the SAME thing with our 21M old son. Bedtime at 8:30 and at 11:00 up and screaming. It scared the h*ll out of me! He was inconsolable and sitting up in his crib totally awake (it seemed). I actually held him while he was screaming and just sang to him and kept whispering to him "It's ok. Mom's here." He calmed down and went back to sleep for the rest of the night.
I'd just continue to give her whatever comforts here. A rub on the back, the head. Holding, rocking. Whatever works.
T.
I agree with the other posters. My son started doing this around 8 months of age. Just be nearby to make sure she doesn't hurt herself - but do not interact with her. She's not really awake - it's just a sleep cycle thing. The Ferber book has a good explanation of what's going on here, too. If you do not respond it should get better in a couple weeks.
