Night Terrors

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That would make a lot of sense about it being hereditary. My husband has what I like to refer to as wakeful blackouts. He usually falls asleep in front of the TV at night and I wake him up to go to bed. He can be completely awake and have a conversation with me, but then will suddenly fall back asleep and never even remember waking up. Sometimes, when he is particularly difficult to wake up, he can get very nasty and aggressive, even tries to swing at me - well not at me, but at what ever he thinks is in his face at the time. This is nothing like how my husband is normally. He is a very gentle and easy going guy.

My son is now having night terrors about every other night. A few nights ago I think he was sleep walking because I found him standing in the corner of his room with his blanket on the floor. He was very confused and cried that he didn't know what to do.

Sidenote to MrsP1965: That eagle wouldn't happen to be Stephen Jr., would it? Good luck with your son, too!

I have a 2 year old who I think may be suffering from night terrors. They started about 2 weeks ago and we have had 4 episodes. She wakes up screaming and doesn't snap out of it no matter what we do. We have noticed that if we try to touch or comfort her it only makes it worse. One thing that is consistant every time is she will crawl under the bed like she is trying to get away from something/somebody. Sometimes she is calling for me but doesn't know it's me. With one of these episodes she started to attack the fan and tried to pull the baseboard heater from the wall. We have called the pedi and he has referred us to a neurologist, but of course we have to wait until Oct 20th for the appointment. We have a 4 year old that never had anything like this and I'm due with my next little girl in 7 weeks. I feel so helpless when it happens because I just can't do anything to help her. I think some of it matches night terrors and some of it doesn't. She usually doesn't wake up until between 2-4 last night was around 1 and she doesn't seem to be sweating and they seem to last at least 15 minutes.

momto3girls, I'm sorry to hear that this is happening at such a bad time for your family. I think the best you can do is super child proof the room, so that she will be safe no matter what she tries to do during the terror, and then be there for her emotionally. I would probably move into the room with her, if it was me; its just my style - I like to "see" as much as possible - and the simpliest answer in my world. But whether or not that would be your answer is up to you.

Right now she is sharing a room with my 4 yr old. I do go in the room to see what is going on but it only makes it worse, she is a little calmer if no one is in the room. The past 2 nights have been good. I'm now keeping a journal of when it happens what goes on when it's happening and recaping the day before to see if I can find a trigger. Right now moving into the room is really just not an option for me, but I do stand by when it's taking place.

My son starting getting them between 1 1/2 and 2 yrs old. I realized that it was alwasys when he was hot so after that Ive always been careful what to put on for Pj'S. Also He stopped getting them after I took him off of dairy. I found out that he was allergic to dairy at about five yrs old. He would get them so bad and scream and cry for hours sometimes. He didnt even know who me and his father was or anything. We would try to talk to him and he would scream I dont know you, dont hurt me! He also sleeps with his eyes open.It was awful. Good Luck!

Night Terrors occur in the first stage of sleep. ie. in the first few hours after falling asleep. They are usually not remembered, and can be accompanied with sleep walking.

Nightmares usually occur in the early hours of the morning (provided you were asleep before about 11pm), from 3 or 4am. The longer the sleep, the longer the 'REM' (dreaming) period lasts. Therefore a dream at 6am is going to be longer and move vivid, and we always remember them when we wake up.

Im sorry not much help on a solution, but maybe a little more understanding on sleep cycles, I hope xx