Night Terror

[ClassicMom]

I hope I'm posting in the correct forum ... I've done a search and can't find a lot of info on this ...

I think my 20-month old had a "night terror" in the middle of the day while napping. He screamed to be held and to nurse, but when I tried to offer it to him he absolutely shreaked and threw himself on the floor. This is TOTALLY not like him. I tried to console him, but it wasn't as if he was hearing me. His eyes were open part of the time, but he wasn't seeing me. He kept rubbing his eyes, as he does when he's only half awake.

It was really scary. Dh and I tried everything we could think of: holding him gently, letting him kick and roll on the floor, taking him outside, telling him to wake up ... but nothing seemed to work.

Finally after about 15 minutes I took him on another long walk outside. About 5 minutes later, he finally started to calm down. By the time we arrived back at the house, he was awake and was absolutely fine the rest of the evening.

Is this normal at this age? Is there something else I should do next time?

[mokamoto]

IIRC DS had his first night terror around 3yo, but it was exactly as you described to a T. It helped us to eliminate videos before normal sleep times. Also, during it I always tried to hold and comfort him only to be pushed away with screams, so the touching might have added to the terror his brain was creating. Sometimes cuddling did help though. Also, trying to keep eating times sufficiently away from sleep time and cutting sugar coincided with the end of the night terrors. Not sure if the two were related, but maybe it would help? :hugs

[NovelMama]

That's when AJ started them. Daily double doses of fish oil completely eliminated them.

[ClassicMom]

Thanks for the replies. It's comforting to know I'm not alone in dealing with this! So far it's only happened once and I think the TV was on in the room when he went to sleep. Maybe that had something to do with it ...