4yo sleep issues. Night terrors??

[bjrose]

DD2 has been waking at the same time every night for about 3 or 4 weeks now.

It started when she had a sore throat. I was a bit worried & kept a close eye on here coz she's had tonsilitis & glandular fever recently, but she never got feverish & stopped complaining about the sore throat a few days later.

Since then she's still waking at the same time every night winging & crying, but isn't awake enough to know that I'm speaking to her, or settle down. She cries as if she's hurting, but won't tell me why, or whats wrong.

I can't put Jesse to bed til after she does it, coz she wakes him up. Its really getting frusterating! She's a very loud child & her crying is even louder!

Do you think its night terrors? DD1 had a few at about 18 months old, but she was younger, more hysterical, & they were random. Not he same time every single night.

Could be her sleep cycles for some reason, since its around 2 hours after she goes to sleep, but she only does it once over night...

Maybe just habit? But 3 nights of a sore throat wouldn't keep her doing it for this long would it?

Maybe I should give her some panadol before bed & see if it helps in case she actually is in pain for some reason??

I'm confused, frusterated & tired! Help?

[bjrose]

Anyone? She just woke, yet again, absolutely hysterical. Screaming. Saying something hurts, but doesn't know what it is.
She's still crying. This is really getting too much.

[Jodi]

so she's awake, and alert? If she is, then it's not a night terror. Night terrors are when they're still asleep, but screaming out.
If she's awake and saying it hurts, maybe point to different spots on her body and see which one she reacts to ???

[bjrose]

She's awake, but not really alert. Like, her eyes are open, but she's still asleep iykwim. Its not til I keep shooshing & asking what's wrong & what hurts that she really wakes up. When I ask whats wrong she doesn't answer, like she didn't hear me. It was her throat to start with, so I ask if her throat hurts, she just cries.

Eventually she wakes up a bit more & says I don't know & lays down & goes back to sleep. Last night she started again at around midnight, so I gave her some panadol. She was ok after that.

[Sarah_H]

We've been dealing with night terrors for the last four years!

If she is responding but not really coherent, repeating the same thing but not making much sense, saying random things & not answering questions then it is more than likely a night terror. Basically what happens is they are moving too quickly between stage 3 & 4 of sleep, so their brain doesn't cope & the night terror happens. It's not a nightmare, because as you have mentioned she easily goes back to sleep (I assume she is ok to get to sleep at night, not frightened etc).

The only way to deal with it is to wake them up before it happens. Makes it hard huh?! You've said it's almost like clockwork though... So if she wakes at say 10.15pm, wake her at 10.00pm take her to the toilet & put her back to bed. The interruption is enough for their brain to progress slowly through the stages of sleep & the night terror won't happen. It is a pain in the butt (especially if it's happening at 3am & you have to set an alarm to get you up to wake them) but a five minute wake up to take them to the loo is far better than what can be hours with a night terror.

They also come in a wave pattern. Maybe one here or there, really bad for a while (can be a month, six months or for us three years) and then they will die out & she won't have them anymore. I am soooo thankful ours are finally dying out, we've had three major ones (and about six minor ones) over the last eight weeks compared with two bad ones every night for the last few years

[bjrose]

Wow Sarah! That must've been hard. The last month has been hard enough.

Thankyou so much for the advice. It really sounds like it fits too. I'll be trying that over the next few nights & see what happens. Hopefully it works & I can put DS in his own bed again. I always leave him in mine til after she's had her yell, coz, as you said, its pretty much like clockwork.

Thankyou so much. Its alot better to understand what it actually is & whats happening too.

[Sarah_H]

Honestly I got so used to it that it was "normal" for a long long time.

[bjrose]

Ok Sarah, when you wake them, how awake do they have to be?

She's been a bit random with her times, so tonight is the first time I've tried. Is her opening her eyes & saying no when asked if she needs the loo enough? Then rolling over & going back to sleep?

Or does she have to fully wake up, then go back?

She normally is crying by now, so I'm hoping I beat her to it & we'll be ok, but I'm not too sure... She did understand what I was asking & opened her eyes, so I'm hoping that was enough...

TIA

[Sarah_H]

I'm not exactly sure because whenever we have done it, he has gone to the toilet ok. I suppose it's going to be a matter of learning what is going ot work for her. I'd do it for maybe a week & then not for a few days because in the meantime she may grow out of it & you don't want that wake up to become a habit IYKWIM.

[bjrose]

Yep, well I think it woked last night. She didn't stir after that!

[Sarah_H]

Awesome!