When Your Child Has Night Terrors

It was a typical evening – the kids had been asleep for a few hours, my husband and I finishing up odds and ends before heading to bed, when all of sudden we heard screaming.  We ran upstairs, hearts pounding, to find our daughter, 6 at the time, thrashing around in her bed.  Thinking it was a nightmare, we sat on the edge of the bed to comfort her.  It was then that we realized her eyes were closed and she was sleeping.  We gently called her name to see if she would respond, nothing.  We rubbed her back and spoke a little louder, nothing.  She was still thrashing around, but her screams had turned to whines.  I placed my hand on her chest and could feel her heart pounding rapidly.  After what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes, she stopped moving and wiggling, her breathing returned to normal, and you could tell she was sleeping soundly again.  My husband and I sat there next to her, watching her sleep and looking at each other.  I remembered reading an article a long time ago about Night Terrors and Nightmares, but all that information seemed to go out the window as I sat on the edge of the bed watching her and wondering if it would happen again.

The next morning my daughter woke up and I casually asked her if she had any dreams the night before, or if she remembered waking up at all during the night.  She responded with a clear “no”.  She had no memory of what had happened the night before, and she said she did not have any dreams, good or bad.  I let it go, and thought to myself, maybe it was a one time thing.  And for awhile, her sleeping was as it had been before, 11 hours of un-interrupted sleep.

A few months later we were startled again by screaming, and ran upstairs to find the same situation as before, thrashing, whining, crying, etc.  Since we could not wake her up, all we could do was sit next to her and make sure she did not get hurt or fall out of the bed.  After a few minutes she was sleeping soundly again.  This happened every night for a few days, and then continued to occur once a week for months.  The Night Terrors escalated into episodes where she was getting out of bed and running around the house.  Her eyes were open, and she was talking random words but she would not respond when we tried talking to her.  This was the scariest part because she would run down the stairs, and then run back up, climb into bed and continue to cry.  Luckily her episodes always occurred while my husband and I were still awake and we were able to intervene, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she would fall down the stairs or hurt herself in any way if this should happen while we were sleeping.

At her 7 year well check up, I voiced my concerns to her doctor.  By this time, I knew she was having Night Terrors, but really didn’t know what to do about it.  I had researched online, but since every child is different the symptoms can vary.  The doctor confirmed my diagnosis, and offered a few ways to help prevent them from happening.  She also stated that Night Terrors are pretty common, but are not always reported, so when you research online, as did I, most websites will say they rare, which of course scared me even more.  In talking with other moms, I found a few others whose children also had Night Terrors.

So what have I learned from my experience with Night Terrors?  Biggest lesson – 1.) You are not alone.  Chances are, you have another mom friend who has also experienced a Night Terror in their child.

What is a Night Terror?  Night terrors are episodes of screaming, intense fear and flailing while still asleep.  Night Terrors happen during deep non-REM sleep. Unlike nightmares, a Night Terror is not technically a dream, but more like a sudden reaction of fear that happens during the transition from one sleep phase to another.  Night Terrors usually occur about 2 or 3 hours after a child falls asleep, when sleep transitions occur. Usually this transition is a smooth one. But sometimes, a child becomes agitated and frightened — and that fear reaction is a Night Terror.

What can you do to help prevent them?  With my daughter, we first tried putting her to bed 15 minutes earlier every night.  Being over tired can be a cause of Night Terrors, so we wanted to make sure she was getting enough sleep.  Our doctor had also mentioned that an Iron deficiency could also be a cause, so we started taking a multi-vitamin with Iron.  After implementing these two things, we did notice that the occurrence of her Terrors decreased.  Another suggestion to prevent the Terror is to wake your child right before the time the Terrors usually occur.  So if you know that your child always wakes up with a Terror at 10:00pm, wake them up at 9:45 and have them get a quick drink of water, or just give you a hug.  This disruption in their sleep cycle is sometimes enough to prevent the Terror.  I never tried this, so I cannot say if it works or not, but if nothing else is working certainly give it a try.

In the past few weeks, my daughter has only had a few Terrors, so she might be finally growing out of them!  Yay!  If your child is having episodes similar to this, certainly double check with your pediatrician, but know that Night Terrors are worse for the parent than they are for the child, as they will not even remember anything come morning!  And although they can be extremely scary for the parent or caregiver, the child is none the wiser.

For more information on Night Terrors, please visit the Mayo Clinic or Kids Health websites for symptoms, causes, and treatment.