Night terrors can be such a traumatizing experience for a parent. I used to think that nightmares and night terrors were the same thing. It wasn't until my second child that I got a full sampling of what night terrors were all about. My son used to wake up screaming for me. The first time it happened I rushed into his bedroom expecting to find blood everywhere. He screamed and screamed. I couldn't get him to stop. He wasn't fully awake and I couldn't get him to wake up. It usually would take him about ten minutes or so to calm down and go back to bed.
I started to research night terrors. I found some fascinating information. Did you know that while children are having their night terrors they aren't awake? They may be walking around with their eyes open and still be asleep, much like when people sleepwalk? Or that you can tell it's a night terror if they don't remember the episode when it's over? One site said that one way to tell if it was a nightmare or night terror was to see who seemed more disturbed by it, the child or the parent. If the child was more disturbed, it was a nightmare. If it was the parent who was more disturbed, it was a night terror. Fascinating, right?! (sorry, my geekness is showing through)
According to many sites night terrors are caused due to a disruption in the sleep cycle and can be more common when your child has been through stressful life events, had a fever, is overly tired, from medicines they may be on, and a few others.
Unfortunately all of the sites I found said that when your child is in the middle of a night terror there's nothing you can do other than to let them get through it.
So what can you do?
Here's the trick that helped us!
I didn't figure this trick out myself. In fact, I don't think I ever would have made this connection. I was at church one day and had mentioned our trouble with night terrors. One of the ladies in my ward said that her son used to have trouble with night terrors as well, but they figured out a solution.
Make your child go to the bathroom right before bed. And I mean RIGHT before bed.
I know, it sounds so simple that it's silly. Isn't that normal bedtime routine? I honestly didn't think it would work. But when I started to pay attention to when he was having his night terrors it was usually when he went to the bathroom a half hour or more before bedtime, or when he had a lot of liquid before bed. Ever since we started making him go to the bathroom right before he climbed in bed we haven't had a single night terror!
Now, I obviously can't say that this will work for every child who has night terrors, but it worked for us, and it's such a simple thing to do! It's worth a shot, right?! I hope it can help your little one too. And if you have any other helpful tips please share!!
