Night terrors

I have three children. They are all boys. Two of the three had night terrors when they were little. They grew out of this by the age of 5 or so. I was told by their Dr. that these night terrors are not caused by anything specific and they tend to be inherited. I understand your concern as they can be very scarey to go through. I hope this helps

That's so interesting! I have never heard before that night terrors tend to be inherited. I just assumed that my son was just "more sensitive" to the living conditions in the orphanage. Actually, I felt like he was having flash backs to the time when he was in the orphanage. My son also had to have tubes placed in his ears (twice). On both occasions, he screamed/cried coming out of anesthesia. It was very similar to a long, long night terror. The first time it lasted 45 min. The second time he got tubes put in it only lasted about 20 min. I felt then, too, that he was having flash backs to his life in the orphanage. Pat

Pat, My children are not adopted. (I am, thats why Im on here). The oldest one who had night terrors is now 20 and the youngest is now 15. Believe me it was mighty scarey when they were going thru this. They were about two when they started and five when they ended. They would get out of bed when they were a little older and just scream and scream and say things that made no sense at all. I always gave them a glass of water, took them to the bathroom, and held them until they were over it. Another thing, they never remember any of it. They are in fact sleeping. I of course, blamed myself and felt so horrible as I could do nothing about it. I took them to the Dr. and he explained that this is not really that rare of an occurance. The following is what webmd.com has to say about night terrors. I see that you said your son had to have tubes put in his ears. My oldest one had tonsil and adnoids removed and tubes in his ears. That could also be a factor. "Frequent episodes of sleepwalking and sleep terrors in children may result from allergies, swollen tonsils, and other factors that interfere with nighttime breathing - and may be cured with surgery to remove the tonsils and adenoids." If you want more info, log onto webmd. They have alot of things to say about it on that site. I hope Ive helped. Michelle

My son also had his T&A removed when they put his second set of tubes in. He is almost 3 yrs now and no longer has night terrors - thank goodness! On the other hand, one of my other sons (almost 4 yrs) had a bad dream/night terror last week. He thought a gigantic butterfly was after him!!! LOL!! You have been very helpful, Michelle! Thank you! Pat

As a parent, night terrors in our children can be very upsetting. Our youngest daughter came to us at nine months of age. She would scream the most piercing scream in the middle of the night waking our other children. Our daughter who shares a room with our youngest spent many nights in a sleeping bag on our bedroom floor. I associated her night terrors to her start in life and not getting the attention she needed even though she came to us from a caring foster home. These night terrors have come and gone in her 3 1/2 years of life. Besides hugging her and telling her "mommy's here" and "I love you", I have found that if she can get back to sleep on her own, she sleeps better the rest of the night. Here are a couple of great articles on night terrors and children. [URL]http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/142.html[/URL] [URL]http://familydoctor.org/handouts/566.html[/URL] Blessings to you, sherryk

We are currently going through some night terror episodes with Liam who is 22 months. We co-sleep with him, so it makes for a very intersting night!!! He thrashes about, rolling over and over again, crying like he's being poked with hot spears!!! It's the most horrible thing to go through as a parent, especially when it wakens you out of a deep sleep. His episodes seem to last about 20 minutes, and there seems to be absolutely nothing we can do to console him. Last night we let him roll around, sit up, fall back down on the bed and thrash. Towards the end he let me hold him tight and talk soothingly to him and he fell asleep while breathing in a "hitching - hiccuping" way. He did start to cry again about 20 minutes later but let me hold him and sooth him back to sleep. He then slept soundling for the rest of the night. Most of his episodes seem to happen around 1:30 AM (he goes to sleep around 9:30 pm) Anyone else going through this now? Any ideas to share?

[URL=http://www.nightterrors.info]www.nightterrors.info[/URL] They have published a book, Banishing Night Terrors and Nightmares, very helpful and offers great remedy. Abu

Hi, My husband and I recently adopted a 2 year old boy. He had been in a foster home since 4 months old. This is a domestic(american adoption). We are concerned that he may be having some form of night terrors or nightmares. It doesn't happen every night but I would say 3 out of the 7. He goes to bed without concerns and naps in the day without concerns. It always seems about the same time everynight as well between 3:30 and 4am. They last about half hour. He is sound asleep but thrashing about screaming, rubbing his eyes, arms swinging. My husband and I run to his room(right next to ours) and check on him, one of us gently rubs his back, hug him or caress his arm and says it's ok, mommy/daddy is here, you are safe, he immediately quiets and settles down and will sleep soundly until about 5:30 - 6am. He is definately responsive to us and sometimes we find him sitting up in bed and one time actually standing by our bedroom door, but eyes are closed and he is crying. Are these night terrors, nightmares, or adjustment issues. He has had wonderful care while in the foster home. Only difference I could think of is he is now in a bed with a soft railing and not a crib, and we use a night light. We thought the bed might be to hard so we put an egg crate cushion mat on his bed, he seems to be sleeping longer, but still wakes occationally screaming. I wil rock him and hold him and he does well. When he does awake for the day he always has a smile on his face and greets us with a possitive attitude. So I believe he has no memory of nights events because wouldn't he be more adgitated upon waking, or is it when he sees us he knows he is safe and still with us. He has not had many moves, and we had a 6 week transition period with him before he actually moved in with us permanantly. Should we talk to the pediatrician about this or wait and see if he gets better. I'm afraid to sleep at night thinking he will wonder off(even though the house is child proof and doors secure) I don't want him falling or hurting himself. I am so tired and having alot of anxieties about this. Personnaly I had a tramatic upbringing and as a result had flashbacks and PTSD and I could hear people talk to me and comfort me but I was very confused, just wondering if he is feeling the same. Only major history I know of birthmom is severe drug addiction and personality disorder. (he was not born drug addicted, but do you think there is something genetic going on? Sorry for such a long post, new mom, new adventures with a toddler, only child and confused and scared. Any sugesstions, opinions welcome. thank you to SherryK and ABU for your web site info, I will definatley look into those Deb:confused:

I had night terrors for most of my childhood including teen years. I was adopted at 5 months. It usually happened if I didn't fall asleep before 3 in the morning so I think being overtired was why. My natural dad is 74 and still has them. He also has sleep paralysis like me.