Although we haven’t had a night terror (rather, Olivia hasn’t had one) in a long time, I was recently reminded of these terrible events. This morning, my sister texted me at 6am (3 am her time) saying my niece had just had several last night for the first time in over a year. I was instantly reminded of how terrifying they are.

If you have never experienced night terrors with your little one, be thankful; they are NO JOKE. If you don’t know if you have experienced night terrors,  you haven’t….because you would know. These crazy nighttime whirlwinds of mayhem are some of the most painfully scary situations you could ever experience with your child. Typically, according to kidshealth.org, they happen between 4-12 years of age but have been reported as early as 18 months. (For myself and my sister’s two children they occurred off and on from 2-3 years old).

In my experience (and with the help of kidshealth.org), here are  a few signs your child may be having a night terror:

1.They happen within the first 2-3 hours of sleep                          

According to kidshealth.org, night terrors occur early on in the night when your child transitions from the deepest stage of non-REM sleep to lighter REM sleep- a stage where dreams occur.

2.Crying that is completely unsoothable

“During a night terror, a child might suddenly sit upright in bed and shout out or scream in distress” (kidshealth.org). For us It usually started with a normal cry…  I would go in to find Olivia usually looking pretty typical…. until I tried to touch her…Then she would cry even louder and start to say “No” repeatedly.

3.Touching them escalates their cry to a scream

This part is probably the worst. With Olivia, as soon as I picked her up or touched her, she would lose her mind. It was like I was a stranger trying to hurt her… she would wail and flail and try to escape my touch all while yelling out for me at the same time. She would scream, “MOMMY!!” as if I was not in the same room as her. Nothing I said or did made it better. The more I tried, the worse she got.

4.Unknown requests/made up language/ break in the screaming 

I would SWEAR sometimes that she was awake. She would sometimes ask for something amidst her crying like water or answer me if I said “do you want me to rock you?” She would say yes, but then when we would sit down to rock, she would keep yelling “NO NO NO”. I would even tell my husband that she was awake at some point of her answering me and responding normally, and he would adamantly remind me she was not… and she wasn’t. Within another few minutes she would flail out of my arms and start screaming with a glossy stare through my body.

5.You feel helpless

Night terrors are not only scary for your child, but they are also scary to experience as the parent too.  The worst part about them is that you really can’t do too much in the middle of the episode to help your child “snap out of it” for lack of a better phrase. It’s actually advised not to try to wake them because it tends to make them more disoriented and less able to settle back down. It’s like you are watching your child fall in a snake pit and someone is holding you from running toward her.

The only comfort is knowing that this abnormalness is normal. Though it is such a small percentage of children that experience this, the symptoms and coping mechanisms are similar. It also makes sense that My niece, nephew, and now daughter have experienced night terrors because according to kids health.org 80% of kids who experience night terrors have a family member who did/does too. SO if your child is in this club, chances are someone else in your family it in it too!

* For more super helpful info on causes and coping with night terrors, click HERE:                                                               Kids Health/Night Terrors 

This article is full of great information about night terrors.

Please SHARE with us YOUR experiences if you have had any. There is comfort in knowing some of us have seen similar things.

Liv&Leen

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