Tossin' & Turnin'

Night Terrors

What is it?
Within fifteen minutes of your child’s falling asleep, he will probably enter his deepest sleep of the night. This period of slow wave sleep, or deep non-REM sleep, will typically last from forty-five to seventy-five minutes. At this time, most children will transition to a lighter sleep stage or will wake briefly before returning to sleep. Some children, however, become stuck and are unable to completely emerge from slow wave sleep.
Caught between stages, these children experience a period of partial arousal.
Partial arousal states are classified in three categories: 1) sleep walking, 2) confusional arousal, and 3) true sleep terrors. These closely related phenomena are all part of the same spectrum of behavior.When most people (including the popular press and popular parenting literature) speak of night terrors they are generally referring to what are called confusional arousals by most pediatric sleep experts.
During these frightening episodes, the child is not dreaming and typically will have no memory of the event afterwards. If any memory persists, it will be a vague feeling of being chased or of being trapped. The event itself seems to be a storm of neural emissions in which the child experiences an intense flight or fight sensation. Once it is finally over, the child usually settles back to quiet sleep without difficulty.
These are very different from nightmares.True sleep terrors are a more intense form of partial arousal. They are considerably less common than confusional arousals and are seldom described in popular parenting literature.
Who gets it?
The tendency toward sleepwalking, confusional arousals, and true sleep terrors often runs in families. They tend to be more common in boys, and are much less common after age 7.
The events are often triggered by sleep deprivation or by the sleep schedule's shifting irregularly over the preceding few days. A coincidentally timed external stimulus, such as moving a blanket or making a loud noise, can also trigger a partial arousal (which again shows that the event is a sudden neural storm rather than a result of a complicated dream).

What are the symptoms?
Typically, a confusional arousal begins with the child moaning and moving about. It progresses quickly to the child crying out and thrashing wildly. The eyes may be open or closed, and perspiration is common. The child will look confused, upset, or even "possessed" (a description volunteered by many parents). Even if the child does call out his parents' names, he will not recognize them. He will appear to look right through them, unable to see them. Parental attempts to comfort the child by holding or cuddling often prolong the situation.

Is it contagious?
No

How long does it last?
Most often, a confusional arousal will last for about ten minutes, although it may be as short as one minute, and it is not unusual for the episode to last for a seemingly eternal forty minutes.

How is it diagnosed?
The diagnosis is based on the history.

How is it treated?
When an event does occur, do not try to wake the child -- not because it is dangerous, but because it will tend to prolong the event. It is generally best not to hold or restrain the child, since his subjective experience is one of being held or restrained; he would likely arch his back and struggle all the more. Instead, try to relax and to verbally comfort the child if possible. Speak slowly, soothingly, and repetitively. Turning on the lights may also be calming. Protect your child from injury by moving furniture and standing between him or her and windows. In most cases, the event will be over in a matter of minutes.

Flynn has had night terrors for about two years now. It didn't particularly scare me at first, as I had them growing up as a child & continued to walk in my sleep through adolescence.

Her episodes each might only last five or ten minutes, but the problem is, usually on a night she has an episode, she has about 10 episodes. And will struggle with it all night.

Like last night. I'm not sure we slept. We know she's okay & that there's not a lot we can do, but I still challenge you to sleep through hearing your four-year old screaming bloody murder from her room. Or yelling, "Mom, NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Or one of my favorites, "Bubby, get OFF the tv!!" It's usually mom or dad she's yelling at in her episode. And last night she even yelled about the brand new puppy she saw yesterday at Gi's.

Usually we take turns going into her room at crucial times (by crucial I mean where her screaming is getting so loud it will no doubt wake Gabe). I'm not totally sure what Jeff does, I usually hold her & sing to her (even tho I read above that you shouldn't hold them). Sometimes, it bothers me so bad to see her scared that I wake her, get her a drink, etc.

She never remembers. So, I realize she won't be scarred. But, still, you can't tell me it's a positive experience to be tortured in your subconcious. I don't remember having them when I was young, but I do remember my mom waking me or trying to comfort me.

I can definitely see where it could scare someone. And it's beyond scaring me. I'm just completely exhausted with it. It's about once a week.

Next time I'm going to try getting her up to go potty, maybe a full bladder is causing it.

After that, I'm strongly considering contacting a sleep therapist. It might be worth the ovary I might have to sell to pay for it.