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-> Children's Health
Mimisinger
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 Tue, Feb 01 2011, 11:38 am
2 yo Ds was up for 3 hours last night screaming. I ended up giving him tylenol because nothing else was working. He didn't have a fever and I brought him to the doctor today to check if he had an ear infection. But he didn't. The same thing happened a week or so ago.
The doctor said that it might be night terrors. Anyone have any experience with them?
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amother
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 11:47 am
what is night terrors? My son-almost three- started getting really scared of monsters... he must have heard about the word MONSTER from someone and associated it with the only monster that he knew ...COOKIE MONSTER  We would talk about his dreams and how they are not real and that cookie monster isnt real...it's only on the computer... With Hashem's help, a lot of talking about it (cookie monster only eats cookies not people... etc ) and making him feel happy, safe and secure.... it seems to be getting better slowly...
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mommyof6
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 11:48 am
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Yes!!!! My now 10 year old had night terrors from about age 3-5. He'd wake up screaming and continue for hours, and finally fall asleep. There was nothing really to be done. We just tried to talk calmly and comfortably to him till it subsided. When he woke in the morning he had no idea at all that it happened. Happened 1-2 times a week usually. You can google it online, but basically, as long as the doc tells you it's nothing serious, you just have to be there and wait it out:)
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Mimisinger
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 11:51 am
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My ds doesn't talk (yes he's late) so he can't even tell me what's wrong.
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Mimisinger
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 11:53 am
Years? A couple of times/week?
I can't just leave him in the crib while he's crying....ugh. I was up all last night.
And, I'm going to have to move him out of his brother's room. Ugh....
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HindaRochel
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 12:56 pm
Yes yes. A couple of times she would wake up and hide under a bed...she'd run about screaming and act very afraid of us...then she'd settle down.
And like other's said, no memory in the morning.
It isn't like a nightmare...the children don't remember what happened...Nor are they awake at the time..They are asleep but screaming.
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aidelmaidel
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 12:58 pm
Night terrors and nightmares are two very different things. Nightmares are essentially bad dreams. Night terrors can best be described as a short circuit in the brain - the child looks like they are awake - eyes open, usually screaming in terror, walking, talking, etc. - but they are biologically ASLEEP.
My younger DD had terrible night terrors. Every night. I did some research and found that some of the following seem to help:
- taking a child who is potty trained to the bathroom and sitting them down on the toilet. Apparently some kids biologically have the urge to urinate and this triggers the night terror. Often after urinating, the child either "falls back asleep" or truly wakes up and wonders how they got there.
- there are no studies but lots of strong anecdotal evidence that some kids are sensitive to MSG/glutamates and food dye (red 40 in particular) and that they seem to trigger night terrors.
I tried both of these things and found the MSG/Red Dye seemed to be the culprit. We removed it completely from her diet and the night terrors stopped within a week. When she accidentally had some after that, it almost always triggered a night terror and/or horrendous raging behaviour. As she has gotten older it also seems that like me, MSG seems to trigger migraines for her as well.
(FYI MSG is only one glutamate, there are lots more with all sorts of different names: anything that isn't a leavened product and contains "yeast", autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, tortulo yeast, hydrolyzed soy protein, autolyzed soy protein, any ingredient that includes "glutamate", and anything that says "other natural and artificial flavors" is generally a glutamate as well. It's pretty tricky and as a result we don't eat a lot of processed food or takeout.)
Hatzlacha! I know how hard it is to watch and also to be so sleepless!
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aidelmaidel
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 12:59 pm
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I want to add that most kids outgrow it by age 10.
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Mrs.K
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 1:15 pm
One of my boys (age 6) has this but it's not for hours. It only lasts a few minutes and since he sleep walks and sleep talks as well we never know where we'll find him or what he'll be doing. He does things that make no sense such as uninating into the bathtub (no joke!) or last week when he waved his hands frantically over the garbage for a good minute, then pulled out an empty bag of lettuce and went to bed with it. One Friday night my husband came home at about 2am to find our front door wide open.
I always just talk to him calmly, escort him back to bed (he usually can't find it himself and runs into various rooms) , most of the time he'll stop screaming within a few minutes. He has no recollection in the morning.
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mazelandbracha
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 4:21 pm
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Is he taking any medication? My daughters had night terrors at that age when they were on Singulair. We moved it to a daytime dose, and they went away. ( yeah, I know, taking them off the meds would be better, but it kept them out of the ER with breathing issues, so it was necessary.) Also, another of my kids had them after anesthesia, for a week or so. Those were worse. Hatzlacha! They weren't fun.
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Rodent
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 6:48 pm
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Our 2nd gets them. He used to get them a LOT, nearly every night. Touching him just made it worse. They could last anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Horrid things. Night terrors are generally during the first half of the night. He started sleep walking for a while too, second half of the night. We'd find him sleeping in weird places, like the middle of the staircase. He stopped all of it mostly, still does it occasionally but usually the shorter terror variety. There's not a lot you can do, they eventually grow out of it.
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2busy
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 6:53 pm
yes hi I am a mother of night terrors 2-3 times a week min
from 9 mos and up until age 4 \
kids do not know what is going on they do not remember in the am
do not take them out of the crib as long as they are safe you can leave them and let them cry it out
they are still sleeping but look awake
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Tehilla
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 6:55 pm
| aidelmaidel wrote: | Night terrors and nightmares are two very different things. Nightmares are essentially bad dreams. Night terrors can best be described as a short circuit in the brain - the child looks like they are awake - eyes open, usually screaming in terror, walking, talking, etc. - but they are biologically ASLEEP.
My younger DD had terrible night terrors. Every night. I did some research and found that some of the following seem to help:
- taking a child who is potty trained to the bathroom and sitting them down on the toilet. Apparently some kids biologically have the urge to urinate and this triggers the night terror. Often after urinating, the child either "falls back asleep" or truly wakes up and wonders how they got there.
- there are no studies but lots of strong anecdotal evidence that some kids are sensitive to MSG/glutamates and food dye (red 40 in particular) and that they seem to trigger night terrors.
I tried both of these things and found the MSG/Red Dye seemed to be the culprit. We removed it completely from her diet and the night terrors stopped within a week. When she accidentally had some after that, it almost always triggered a night terror and/or horrendous raging behaviour. As she has gotten older it also seems that like me, MSG seems to trigger migraines for her as well.
(FYI MSG is only one glutamate, there are lots more with all sorts of different names: anything that isn't a leavened product and contains "yeast", autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, tortulo yeast, hydrolyzed soy protein, autolyzed soy protein, any ingredient that includes "glutamate", and anything that says "other natural and artificial flavors" is generally a glutamate as well. It's pretty tricky and as a result we don't eat a lot of processed food or takeout.)
Hatzlacha! I know how hard it is to watch and also to be so sleepless! |
I love this post. We cut out all food coloring, and are always on MSG watch but sometimes things slip by and I feel badly. I was a child who slept walk, talked, and had night terrors. B"H I outgrew it. I have a daughter who would have them for hours. It was horrible and I was always terrified of what people must think to hear it, and even more scared about how to help her. We used a homeopath with lots of success B"H, and also the dietary changes mentioned above. It was very hard to say the least. OP, hang in there, and may it go away!
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gryp
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 7:02 pm
| Quote: | | taking a child who is potty trained to the bathroom and sitting them down on the toilet. Apparently some kids biologically have the urge to urinate and this triggers the night terror. Often after urinating, the child either "falls back asleep" or truly wakes up and wonders how they got there. |
My 4 yr old does this. I can't get him out of diapers at night, and this is one of the reasons.
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Tehilla
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 7:05 pm
| grip wrote: | | Quote: | | taking a child who is potty trained to the bathroom and sitting them down on the toilet. Apparently some kids biologically have the urge to urinate and this triggers the night terror. Often after urinating, the child either "falls back asleep" or truly wakes up and wonders how they got there. |
My 4 yr old does this. I can't get him out of diapers at night, and this is one of the reasons. |
Needing to use the bathroom can still trigger crazy, freaky dreams in me! It makes my oldest wake up screaming sometimes, but not hours long night terrors like my other daughter had.
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TzenaRena
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 7:14 pm
I had just read an article in a parenting magazine about night terrors, and that very same week, my dd started having them. She was about four. She'd stare wide eyed at me in fright and scream! It probably lasted about ten minutes max, but I would have been scared if I hadn't just read the article! As it was it was completely unnerving.
It seems that now so many years later, she does recall something of it. How she felt, what she was seeing when she was looking right at me so unseeingly.
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amother
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 7:25 pm
My father has them, my brother had/has them and one of my kids has had some episodes. When my brother was a teenager they were really scary. One time he came flying down the stairs..
Maybe it runs in families??
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Miri1
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 9:00 pm
I never knew about the MSG connection.
Btw, certain products actually say on the packaging "no msg", but this is misleading as the ingredients contain a different form of glutamate, just not monosodium glutamate. I'm very mistrusting of soup powders that say this on the packaging.
My son used to get a night terror at the same time of night, a few times a week. I've read that this could have something to do with transitioning from one level of sleep to another (into or out of REM?). One suggetion given is to momentarily waken the child a few minutes before the usual time of the terror.
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amother
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 10:55 pm
Nightmares, night terrors, and sleepwalking! My son had them all. It was quite a time in our house.
With night terrors, you can't really wake the child up. Just try to be calm and soothing...keep your child safe and hope he will relax soon and go back to sleep.
My son who had these issues for his first five years, now has his own kids. When he complains that one of them kept him up at night, I smile and remind him he is complaining to the wrong person!
(amother because some people know about our "history")
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amother
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Tue, Feb 01 2011, 11:04 pm
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My son had them for a while when he was young. We found that giving him something to eat or drink made him wake up properly and as soon as he was up he would stop crying and go back to bed.
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