What can i do about my 17 month olds Night Terrors?
Answer:
I saw this on a news story about night terrors:
After they fall asleep, and have slept for 45 minutes, go in and gently wake them and then let them fall back to sleep. Apparently that alone can prevent them from even happening for the majority of people who suffer from night terrors.
My son, who is now 18 years old, went through a stage of night terrors and also some sleep walking. He did grow out of it. My concern was keeping him safe if he got out of bed. I used a nursery monitor so I would hear him and then I would gently guide him back to bed. He even had an episode of sleep walking when camping with the boy scouts near a stream... that was scary. He wandered into the tent of an older boy who got him back to his own tent.
I know its hard to watch your child suffer, but trying to wake him may actually make the terrors worse. You are doing a good job by just trying to soothe him. Hold him close and let him feel you and hear your voice. He will probably grow out of them by the time he is four or five, but don't be surprised if he doesn't. Also keep in mind that Night Terrors are not the same as bad dreams or nightmares, and they are also harder on you than on him. He'll forget about them by morning -- you have to think about them all the time!
My sister used to get night terrors really bad when she was younger. Most kids grow out of them before they start school so 5 or six. You should NEVER wake a child up when they have a Night terror. Its not good for them. lay him down and don't make a big deal of it in the morning. Because he doesn't know that he's doing it.
hope this helps
Whenever my 2 year old sister had a night terror I just get close to her and give her a bottle of milk, this should stop the night terror.
Hope this helps.
This is how we stopped our daughter's night terrors. True night terrors are horrid- you can't comfort them because you have become part of the nightmare they are stuck in. We went through this for two straight weeks before we found the solution. Wake him up BEFORE his typical time to wake crying. We started waking our daughter half an hour before she'd normally wake up crying to break the sleep cycle. We'd get her up and moving for at least five minutes- go potty, get a drink of water, whatever. The point is to break the sleep cycle out of the twilight sleep that they are stuck in, and move them past it. It worked. We did this for about a week afterward... waking her 30 min. before the night terror fits, and they stopped completely. She hasn't had them for the last 5 years since. Night terrors are scary to watch, and worse for the parent because the child doesn't remember them. Try waking your little guy 1/2 hour before he typically wakes, get him up for a few minutes and get a drink, etc. and then put him back to bed. Good luck!
I went through the same thing with my son...it even got so bad that when i was rubbing his back.his back muscles were twitching and knotting up. He eventually grew out of it it seems like around the age of three it got better and now he does not have them but he is afraid of the dark(so am I) My heart goes out to you. milk at bed time seemed to help and making my son go to bed early also helped. If i selfishly let him stay up too late he almost always had a bad nights sleep and so did I. We started our bed time routine at 7:30 and he was asleep by eight. Eight is really the perfect bed time for my kids and we amost always seem to suffer one way or the other if I let tham stay up too late.
Your doing a good job. You can try singing or soothing music will you rub him.
Counselling with you and some alternate medicines for the child, work wonderfully for this type of situation.
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