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This message was originally posted by tinaw.

I had a message up here before regarding my question Does anyone else have a child that wakes up screaming at night or when waking from a nap.
When i got replies the whole system went down and i didnt get to read the replies.

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This message was originally posted by Micki.

I'd like to hear the answer to that one too!

I have a friend who's 8 yr old still has night terrors.

and another friend who's son freaks out when waking up from a nap.

I've always found this very strange to me.

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This message was originally posted by mommy_2001.

I've just recently done some net research on this. My bio son is 2 and everyone told me to look up "Night Terrors". Here's the thing, they don't alway happen at night and they don't alway happen to children, this is something that can continue into adult hood (usually a little milder, like sleepwalking or sleeptalking).

The catch is deciding weather or not its a night terror and not a nightmare. With night terrors, as my son has, they are very disturbing to witness. The child appears to be awake: their eyes can be open, but they seem to stare through you or not to see you at all. They will kick and push and carry on to get away from any effort you make to console them. This can be associated with bedwetting, sleepwalking and sleeptalking. They also will have no memory of the event once they are awake, except for a small sence of fear.

According to the sites that I checked, the best thing that one can do if your child is indeed suffering from night terrors is to just watch. The more you try to calm them, the more adjitated they will become. Make sure that they aren't able to hurt themselves (I can't tell you how many times we've put our son on the floor so he couldn't arch his self right off the bed), and monitor the times that it's happening. If there is some consistency to the timing, like around the same time every night, go in and wake your child about 15 min. before it normally happens and tell them you love them and tuck them back in (if I woke him up I'ld never get him back to sleep), or before you go to bed, assuming you go to bed about two hours after the child, go in and wake them up as above.

The articles I read said that these night terrors don't occur durring REM, but in a much deeper stage of sleep, hence the inability to wake them from the "fit"; therefore these little interruptions in their sleep pattern (waking them up and putting them back to sleep) will stop them from fully reaching that stage of sleep.

I haven't tried waking our son, there really is no pattern to his night terrors. I can only hope that he will grow out of it soon--- so we can all sleep better. It feels absolutely horrible to not be able to wake him when its happening and to have him kicking to get out of my arms, while at the same time he is reaching away from me calling "Mommy". He truly has no idea that I am the one that's holding him.

I haven't read your original message (I'm looking for it), but I hope that this helps.

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This message was originally posted by tinaw.

That has helped alot. I also read a little about night terrors. But i thought because he is calling for me and his eyes are open that it wasnt a night terror. He will also respond to questions sometimes. He hasnt had one in about a month now. Thanks for the info. Its a relief to know other people have kids that do this. It is scary to watch.