[JosieWales]

Owen's been having them for a couple of weeks. He's had trouble getting to sleep, too, but the night terrors are getting BAD lately, like every half hour till 2-3am. (Of course I wake up w/each one...) How long do they usally last--weeks? Days? Years?

Also, sometimes if we're away from home, he'll wake up screaming at night or after a nap and the ONLY thing that will calm him down is to go home. Is this normal for being 2y3mo old? Or is there some deeper issue here, like being displaced from his foster home to another home in Guatemala (w/me) to his forever home? (I'm probably overanalyzing again...)

[cborsa7]

First, are you sure they are night terrors? I can't tell enough by your post if that's what is really going on. Looking at you time line he didn't seem terribly old when coming home, correct?
While these could certainly be issues from displacement it would be hard to say that without knowing what's really going on.
What is his normal night time routine? How do you put him down for sleep? Anything change recently? When he wakes crying can you describe the terror?

Hope you can get some suggestions, hang in there!

[JosieWales]

He "wakes up" (doesn't seem to be really awake) with howling cries and screamy cries. His eyes sometimes are open, sometimes not. He might roll around or sit up, sometimes stand up. He sometimes says words--anything from Mommy to Thomas (the TRain) or No no no no. From what I can tell, they are textbook night terrors.

If we wake him during these, he can't settle down. He can't stop crying and doesn't seem to know why or what he wants. So, obviously, we don't wake him up--we just wait it out, make sure he doesn't do anything to hurt himself while rolling around.

Yes, he came home at 9mo. He had no problems at all, aided I'm sure by the fact that I spend almost all of June, July and Aug (he came home Aug 1) w/him in Guate.

[cborsa7]

Hey, Just noticed Missouri, same here!

If these have been going on for awhile I would suggest trying a sleep center for an evaluation. Nic does this occasionally and I was certain they were Night terrors. They were not.

Keep an eye out for anything new you may not notice right away. New teeth coming in? Something he eats? Keep a little journal the next few days and see if you develop any patterns you may have overlooked.

The book, Solve your child's sleep problems was a HUGE help for us. It addresses night terrors, different types and has a host of valuable information in it. Even if you do not use Ferber's method.

Wish I could offer an easier solution for you right now. I know it is no fun at all for anyone! Good luck, keep us posted!

[sak9645]

Most doctors say that night terrors are not a sign of stress unless they persist past age six.

My daughter had night terrors from age 18.5 mo. to age 4, and then they stopped cold, with never another one.

Night terrors are believed to be genetic and closely connected to sleepwalking. It is quite possible that your child's birthparents either had night terrors as babies or were sleepwalkers. My daughter did both, although sleepwalking was infrequent compared to the frequency of her night terrors.

Your description of your son's behavior sounds very much like normal night terrors. One way to reduce the frequency of night terrors is to be very, very rigid about bedtime and naptime scheduling, since any parent of a child with night terrors will tell you that they arise most often when a child is off schedule or overtired.

Some parents find it helpful to wake a child up before he/she usually gets a night terror, if the child tends to get them at roughly the same time every night. While this works for some families, it doesn't necessarily work for others, because the child, once awakened, may want to be up and about.

Sharon

[nurse_reedle]

Isaac has them...they started around 2.5 years old and got really bad for a short spell and now happen occasionally....but if they happen once in a night...they usually happen 2-3 or more times that same night. If I take him to my bed, he will quit having them.

[JosieWales]

Originally Posted by sak9645

Most doctors say that night terrors are not a sign of stress unless they persist past age six.

Night terrors are believed to be genetic and closely connected to sleepwalking. It is quite possible that your child's birthparents either had night terrors as babies or were sleepwalkers. My daughter did both, although sleepwalking was infrequent compared to the frequency of her night terrors.

Your description of your son's behavior sounds very much like normal night terrors. One way to reduce the frequency of night terrors is to be very, very rigid about bedtime and naptime scheduling, since any parent of a child with night terrors will tell you that they arise most often when a child is off schedule or overtired.

This is good to know--not a sign of stress, I mean. Stress for me...all my 'mom alarms' go off when he does it! I worry about my big boy!

His sitter is very good about routine and napping--they know exactly when to go down for a nap, ALL 7 of the toddlers (how she does that, I do not know). Weekends are tougher--he usually has a nap but later bc he sleeps a little later on wkends. Bedtime routines--we've got a couple of routines, depending on if it's a bath night or not. I'll work on that, for sure.

[jeck]

Hey Girl!!

Welcome to the 2's!!! DS does this too but not every night. To me it seems like it comes on more when he has had lots going on and/or is working on a new milestone.

I like you was all worried about it being something more but I think it is just something all toddler's go through some worse than others.

Hopefully they will get better and you will get some rest!

Hugs!

[AngelQT]

Angelena has night terrors... They started last year, and she is still going through them... They were always contained to bed... Lately she now gets up and runs down the hall yelling... I noticed that if I talk to her softly, she will respond to me... I usually say, its ok, mommy is right here... or when she takes of running, I follow her to were she ends up and say something like, it all good now, so lets go back to bed... Sure enough she walks back to bed and stays alseep... I have put extra security straps on the doors so she can't reach them... I only PRAY that she will outgrow this soon...

[Belenbaby]

My daughter went through night terrors for about 6 weeks at about 3 yrs old. We travelled across the country and then she got an ear infection. But they lasted way after the ear infection was gone. She got up every 2-3 hours every night, all night, screaming. She was inconsolable and frequently had to remove her pajamas. She thought there was things crawling on her. She would scream NO NO NO over and over. I finally found a website that said if you put their feet in ice water at the very start of the terror, it would stop. It worked like a miracle! She would be asleep within seconds. It broke the cycle and in a few days she stopped altogether. I know it sounds crazy but ice water on the feet worked as long as it was done at the very beginning of the terror. OH as a side note, she would remember the ice water while it was happening. She would scream NO NO NO FEET IN WATER NO! But in the morning would not remember any of it. Even now 3 years later I jump every time she cries at night.

[TyAva]

Ava gets them too. They are getting much better with time. But holidays are still triggers, or if she is around alot of people during the day, or if she is off schedule. I feel so bad when she has them. She seems so upset and just screams "no,no,no". I usually just pick her up and hold her telling her mommy is here. Once she "wakes up" she hugs me and falls right back to sleep like nothing happened. She also wakes up so happy in the morning...so I don't think she remembers them. She will even say that she slept good.

Try not to worry. Kids are very resilient!!

[mkinzie]

DD had one over the Christmas holiday that lasted for 30 minutes. It was during nap time and we tried everything to wake her up. She had her eyes open, was talking, etc., but kept saying no, no, no and mommy repetitively. Finally she just looked at me and smiled like nothing had happened. When I asked her if she remembered crying she said no. It was actually a little scary! DH and I joked that it was almost like she was possessed! We talked to ped about it and was told it's normal for the age. It's hard to sit through, though, especially at night. One thing ped did say, though, was that night terrors generally happen early in the sleep cycle, not later.

[JosieWales]

Thanks for all the input--I'm so glad to hear that it's most likely totally normal 2yo stuff. It IS scary, but there are several reasons he may have started having them now, from what I've read--we had 2w of Christmas break so routine totally different, we spent the night at my ILs one night (and they were REALLY bad), he probably has a sinus infection that has been coming on for a few days. Last night was better--he fell asleep in about 30min and only had 2 or 3 night terrors episodes. He and his daddy are home sick today, poor chaps!

[LisaAnn1170]

Unfortunately it's also normal 4-year-old stuff. DS turns 5 this summer and he's been "suffering" from night terrors for years. I sometimes think we suffer more than him, though, because he remembers none of it in the morning (as long as we don't wake him).

DS is also a bit of a sleepwalker. Fortunately it's contained to his room at this point, but it is certainly unnerving.

I want to echo what has already been said. The night terrors (and now, the sleepwalking) are most prevalent when he's overtired or off schedule. We were on a mini-vacation this past weekend and stayed up late Saturday night. We didn't get any sleep because he screamed all night. Very unsettling.

On a lighter note, when DS has prolonged night terrors, we bring him into our bed. We did this for a few nights, but he didn't recall how he got to our bed or why he was there in the first place. Finally he said, "Would you please leave me in my own bed tonight? I don't like yours!"

[sak9645]

By the way, night terrors occasionally occur during naps. We had a few of those, though they never occurred when she was at daycare/preschool, probably because she didn't sleep deeply enough or long enough. Night terrors occur when a child moves from one stage of sleep to another, so they are less likely during a brief nap.

If you read a good baby book that is not specific to adoption, you'll see that it probably discusses night terrors for about a page or so. That's because night terrors are common in non-adopted kids. Most pediatricians get lots of questions about them from parents of bio kids.

Sharon