My DD 2.8 months has been sleeping through the night since she was 2.

The past four weeks she has woken around 12-1 am screaming.Not wanting me, scratching me, biting me. (she never does this awake) and only wanted daddy.
And its hard to get her back to sleep unless my DH sleeps with her in the spare bed.

I have heard that some toddlers start having night terrors.

Has anyone experienced these with the toddler?

I just dont know what to do anymore. Its getting worse and worse.

Yep, been there done that (not the biting though).

Absolutely nothing would calm DS down, so we just had to let him scream it out and then when he was finished, cuddles and kisses until he fell alseep again (which was only about 5-10 minutes max).

It has gone from happening every night to now only happening once or twice a week, so hopefully it wont last forever.........

All we do is try to talk to her about what she is thinking and feeling. Reassure her with a cuddle and words. SOmetimes she wakes as she needs to go to the toilet, other times we take her for a walk around the house to wake her up a bit and let her know it is all ok.

It is a horrible thing to go through. DD is 4 and still having night terrors.

Good luck

The only thing that would wake DD up is music. Play some familiar music (or in our case a favourite tv show theme) and they might wake up

My 21 month old DS has done this twice in the last week at around 12 - 1 in the morning. It's scary as there is nothing we can do to console him, he doesn't bite but he screams loudly and yells out for us, kicks and thrusts around, it lasted about 40 minutes both times. The first time it happened I had no idea what was going on, but last night I realized it may be Night Terrors so quickly got on the internet, it has to be that as it explains his behavior perfectly.

I read that sometimes a change in temperature can help bring them out of sleep cycle, so we took him out to our garage (which was cold) and within a few seconds he was back to normal, I breastfed him and he was happy to go back to bed.

He wouldn't have a sleep yesterday and apparently it is more likely to happen if they are over tired.

me:26
dh:27
dd:6
dd:4
ds:21 months

We are having the same issue with our 2 year old. He typically wakes around 11 ish and screams , sits in the corner of his bed and screams. He isnt really awake, but you can not calm him for about 5 mins.

Its awful seeing it and the fact that you just have to wait for them to come out it. I even got out Robyn Barkers book last night to see if there was something else I could do to help him get out of these terrors. But it seemed like they are just part of the child.

I have found that no matter what the temp is he still has them.

My DD2 gets them sometimes and they started when she was really little.

I found they just got worse if I tried to touch her or speak to her. She doesn't seem to know us at all. They can seem awake with their eyes open and sit up and thrash around and scream. It's really upsetting.

I found with DD2 the best thing to do was to just stand there and make sure she didn't hurt herself or fall out of bed. If we touch her or speak to her then it makes it 10x worse.

The thing that has worked for us is a few drops of lavender oil under her pillow before bed every night. (Lavender is meant to calm the mind and the body)

We haven't found a link for our DD2 but I have heard sometimes food can trigger them. (Even healthy food like fruit etc)

She used to get them all the time and now she will usually only get them if she is sick or hasn't slept very well. But we still use the lavender.

This has been a regular occurance in our house for about 2 years. Aden started to have night terrors from about 8 months, they got worse after he had his surgery.
All I do is hold him tight and rock on the bad ones. I usually get hit and kicked when they first start. I have had him "wake up" and still go at me screaming. His are generally related to spiders - he is petrified of them and that what he screams about. So in the midst of holding/rocking I reassure him that there are no spiders, mummy is here, its going to be ok. Sometimes I have to get into his bed until he is totally settled because he wants the touch to reassure him, I only do that if he asks for it when he is fully awake and aware.

This happens every roughly 2-3 nights, some weeks its every night, and can happen 4-5 times a night on a bad one.

I have no real advice to give, just thought I would share our situation and what we do.

Hi,

My 4 y.o. has been suffering night terrors of late. He loves music and we have stumbled onto the fact that he will wake and go calmly back to sleep if taken into our room (with lights on) and is given an IPod to listen to. Bizarre, but it works! He lies there with the earphones in and starts to calm, then breathes heavily a few times and goes back to sleep. Note: These are generally DH's rock ballads and not my funky tunes. Works for us!

Cheers
Jennifer

oh they are the worst things arent they?

DS used to have these and was uncontrollable but I have just noticed now (he turned 4 in March) that he is sleeping through again with no more episodes of waking up and screaming.

I dont know why it has stopped but I am thankful, however he still talks / walks in his sleep at least 4 times a week! Just takes after me!

My DD gets them, especially if she has been very stimulated just before bedtime (friends over etc.)

I found out that night terrors happen at the same stage of the sleep cycle, when they are in a very deep sleep, and therefore tend to be at the same time each night. To stop the terrors you need to break the sleep cycle.

About an hour before she usually has a night terror rouse her from her sleep. Even if you just brush her face until she wriggles. This brings her out of the sleeping cycle she is in and prevents a terror.

It worked brilliantly for us. It's a bit trickier when they only have intermittent terrors but I'd give it a go.