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Anyone eles's baby having night terrors?

Kelly - posted on 02/17/2010 ( 3 moms have responded )

My 21-month-old seems to be having night terrors. That's the only thing I can think of that is causing her to wake up every night at the same time, about 3 hours after she goes to bed. She just wakes up screaming, crying, sweating and is sometimes just inconsolable. Most of the time, if I pick her up, she puts her head on my shoulder and let's me rock her back to sleep in 5-10 minutes. Sometimes, though, she is stiff as a board, screams more when I pick her up and doesn't stop crying until I talk to her soothingly while rocking.

She's getting enough sleep, usually 8-10 hours, plus a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. It's just making life difficult on my husband and me because it happens right before or after we fall asleep for the night. I've put her big teddy in with her to hug on while sleeping. Is there anything I can do?

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Rebecca - posted on 02/19/2010

Liam has them.. about once a month. We cant wake him up. He will look as if he is awake, eyes wide open, kinda like the light are on, but nobody is home look. He will scream like you are torturing him within an inch of his life. It is the most horrifying screaming cry you can ever imagine. It will last anywhere from 30min - 3 hrs. Then he will just wake up on his own. We have tried everything to wake him and nothing ever works. Our Ped said to just comfort him, hold him tight, have his wrapped in his fav blanket and his fav item and try to soothing him with a soft voice telling him he is ok, and you love him. After he finally wakes up it will take him almost just as long to calm down and relax enough to fall back asleep for a few hours.

Like I said.. we have NO CLUE what causes them and there really isnt a tried and true way to wake them and to end them.

LOVE & PATIENCE IS THE ONLY KEY...

Kerry - posted on 02/19/2010

My son is the same. He wakes around the same time most nights, and is inconsolable for a couple of minutes. He screams and crys and won't let me touch him. After a couple of minutes he will settle and cuddle into me and go back to sleep. It is quite worrying to be woken in the night to him screaming and it does seem to happen almost everynight.

Cardhia - posted on 02/17/2010

My son also has night terrors. I talk calmly to him before I touch so he knows I am there, then I hold him against me without pick him up. Once he seems calm I lay him back down and just sit with him for 5 minutes before leaving the room. You want to make sure not to scare a child who is having night terrors by grabbing them, it's kind of like sleep walkers. I know it is a pain but just know that most toddlers with night terrors grow out of it by the time they are 3 or 4.