Night Terrors

az2wp0sye65487

Our 3 year old starts crying in her sleep almost every night. A lot of the time she doesn't even wake up but will seem very upset (crying & whinging). Sometimes she will wake up when we pick her up but most times she stays asleep.

If I pick her up and hold her for a couple of minutes she seems to relax and falls back asleep. But most nights she will then either have another episode of crying or else will wake up and come into our bed.

The first one is generally after 2 or 3 hours of her being put to bed. It happened for a while when we originally moved her into her own room but went away after a while. But it's been happening again for about a month now and will happen most nights.

Aside from that she doesn't seem to have any issues. She's very social, loves playing with other kids & making new friends, she's a chatter-box with us and everyone she meets.

I will say that since the day she was born she has never been a big sleeper. Never slept through the night, stopped having naps during the day relatively early on. She can be up from 8am and still be on the go at 9.30pm every day with no sign of her being tired.....

Just wondering if any others have gone through this and whether you needed to do anything or it just stopped over time?

Thanks for reading!

Atari Jaguar

As far as I remember this is completely normal. Children's imagination is developing and that's what's causing the bad dreams/night terrors and it will eventually go away on its own.

evolving_doors

Snap!
None the wiser.

But.maybe! Are they Still in nappies? We just use nappies at night ...(waiting for weather to get better before we enter into nappy free time (cos of drying)).
So I'm thinking it's every time the kid empties the bladder.

Or else it could be a sleep cycle finishing (I think it's between 3 and 4 hrs for kids).

A lot of it is probably habit now at this stage.

az2wp0sye65487

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Snap!
None the wiser.

But.maybe! Are they Still in nappies? We just use nappies at night ...(waiting for weather to get better before we enter into nappy free time (cos of drying)).
So I'm thinking it's every time the kid empties the bladder.

Or else it could be a sleep cycle finishing (I think it's between 3 and 4 hrs for kids).

A lot of it is probably habit now at this stage.

She's been out of nappies for a good while now. But we still put pull ups or 'magic pants' on her when putting her to bed. They're rarely wet the next morning though.

sword1

Its a stage most kids go through, as Atari said above ,nothing you can do only reassure them,doubt they remember most of the time

az2wp0sye65487

sword1 wrote: »

Its a stage most kids go through, as Atari said above ,nothing you can do only reassure them,doubt they remember most of the time

She rarely remembers. As far as reassuring her she often doesn't wake up when it's happening. I usually just pick her up and give her a cuddle for a few minutes and she settles down. The thing is though she's usually in on top of us an hour later!

evolving_doors

Arely Obedient Wallet wrote: »

She rarely remembers. As far as reassuring her she often doesn't wake up when it's happening. I usually just pick her up and give her a cuddle for a few minutes and she settles down. The thing is though she's usually in on top of us an hour later!

Ok.... once you're on the path of 'sleep better in parents bed' then they will always sleep better there.... always.

Atari Jaguar

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Ok.... once you're on the path of 'sleep better in parents bed' then they will always sleep better there.... always.

Yeah don't let her sleep in with you. That's one nightmare of a habit to break.

Big Bag of Chips

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Ok.... once you're on the path of 'sleep better in parents bed' then they will always sleep better there.... always.

They won't! I've yet to see a 15 year old who still hops in beside mam and dad!! It's a phase that she'll grow out of. I don't think she's necessarily having night terrors though, as night terrors are a very different thing. My nephew has them and even though he is asleep his eyes are open, he looks at his mam as if she's a monster trying to strangle him, he crouches in a corner of his bed screaming the house down.

It could be just a phase, and if her getting in your bed makes her sleep better, leave her. We used to bed hop in this house. Some mornings I'd wake up and it would take a few seconds for me to figure out where I was and when I got there!!

evolving_doors

Ya I'm kidding about the 'always' part. A week is a long time in parenting though.

LushiousLips

My daughter had night terrors and it would frighten the life out of you. Nothing really will calm them down and she definitely doesn't want to be cuddled etc during one. It's like their body is awake but the mind is still asleep. The only bit of advice I can give to you is you say it happens after 2 to 3 hours. Go up to her say 1 hour 45 mins after she goes to sleep and gently just roll her or even kiss her, something that will make her move in her sleep. It's getting her out of her very deep sleep, it's during deep sleep that the terrors occur. It helped us xx

az2wp0sye65487

Just an update on this. The night terrors seem to have stopped. Admittedly we have been "bed hopping" as someone else said, for a while. By that I mean she sleeps in beside Mammy and i sleep in her room on my own. We're all sleeping better anyway & don't mind the change. My wife actually thinks i prefer having 'my own room'! Get a great sleep in there!