Night terrors

[amandae]

anyone with experience with this? My husband and his sister had them as kids and now my youngest (2 1/2) may have them. I know that they're hereditary and can usually start between 2-5, but I don't know if he's having them or just a lot of nightmares. My doctor said that she has some parents who give their kids Dimeatapp before bed each night and it seems to help them sleep through the night, but I'm uncomfortable getting him "addicted" to something so young. When I go into his room he ends up calming down and now he asks to sleep in my room cause he's scared (never says of what). I cave because I feel so bad for him but I don't sleep at all when he co-sleeps so this can't become a pattern.

There are no "cures" for this, but does anyone have any home remedies that seemed to work? He is waking up screaming almost every night now (or at least 4-5 times a week) so you can imagine that few of us are getting any sleep around here.

[Chalco]

1. Try these resources

<http://www.nightterrors.org/>

<http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/nghtter.html>

[amandae]

2. Thank you for those links

I wish there was something that could be done about them. I'm pretty sure that this is what he's having, and his doctor seemed to think it was likely that they're night terrors also.

Normally he's such a happy kid. But at night it's just such a different story.

[SarahB]

3. My now 9 year old son had them terribly.

When he was two, he would literally run around the room screaming in his sleep for about 20 minutes not able to be consoled. He's a really quiet, well-adjusted kid then and now, but it WAS just something hereditary (I was a minor sleep walker and his dad was a huge one). They're supposed to outgrow it by age 6 (he was closer to 8), and it does pass. We put unsweetened chamomile tea in a sippy cup for him to take to bed. That did seem to help a lot. Once that started, he'd only have a couple of episodes a month instead of 2 a week.

[amandae]

4. Thank you for that tip

I expect that these episodes will last a while. I'm not looking forward to it, but we'll get through it. Thank you for the tip about the tea!

[July]

5. My son had them at about age 3-4.

We would sit next to him and gently touch him and talk quietly till he came out of it and registered that we were there. He never remembered them, so I think our case was a little different from yours.

[mzmolly]

6. A banana before bed helps my daughter sleep soundly.

But she also sleeps with me so? ;)

We do a banana because of the L-Tryptophan. A pear will do nicely as well.

Not sure if the Banana will help with night terrors, but I do know that the age of two plus is one for nightmares.