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  • Infant night terrors
  • Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    Anyone else got little ones who suffer from this?

    My little lad started with it last week and it took us a while to work out what was happening. Screaming, shaking, sweating and wide eyed yet unconscious. Luckily he has no recollection of it in the morning and hasn’t noticed that often he wakes up with a different pillow case. Scared the crap out of us the first couple of times that it happened.

    300 years ago they would have got a priest / witch smeller in!

    TheSouthernYeti
    Free Member

    300 years ago they would have got a priest / witch smeller in!

    Judging by a lot of the threads on here it would seem that middle aged mountain biking males are pretty good at sniffing out witches…

    yossarian
    Free Member

    My youngest is getting them a bit at the moment. Not much you can do than be calm and give cuddles and stuff. They grow out of it pretty fast iirc.

    Can’t remember what the ‘latest’ advice is on whether to wake them up or not. We do sometimes, kind depends how bad they are.

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    thegreatape
    Free Member

    Just tell him not to be such a knob 🙂

    ComradeD
    Free Member

    mtfu

    poly
    Free Member

    Our youngest suffers from something similar. Mrs P did lots of investigation on the causes, and apparently it happens if you are overly tired and move from one phase of sleep to the next (REM). She has no knowledge of it at the time, and waking her up just disturbs the sleep pattern so that a couple of hours later she gets the same again. Leaving undisturbed (tucking back in etc) seems to be more effective and once it passes she will usually sleep the rest of the night with no issues.

    In terms of prevention the advice was to keep putting her to bed 15 minutes earlier each night until it stopped and then that would be the new bed time. We saw a correlation to whether she had an afternoon nap as well (nap meant less tires so no “terrors”, no nap – surprisingly meant less effective sleep that night). Bed time with nap has moved back 15 minutes, and without nap 45 minutes. She had been going down at the same time as her older brother did at that age.

    GW
    Free Member

    “Night terrors”? is this the new terminology for a bad dream? I’ve always (and still do) have the kind I can’t wake from and when I do I’ll usually be shaking/kicking and screaming/shouting. infact I had one this week, is this not normal then?

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    “Night Terrors” take place outside REM sleep unlike nightmares which take place during it.

    From the NHS

    Nightmares

    Nightmares are quite common. They often begin between the ages of 18 months and three years. Nightmares aren’t usually a sign of emotional disturbance. They may happen if your child is anxious about something or has been frightened by a TV programme or story. After a nightmare, your child will need comfort and reassurance. If your child has a lot of nightmares and you don’t know why, talk to your GP or health visitor.

    Night terrors

    These can start before the age of one, but are most common in three and four-year-olds. Usually, the child will scream or start thrashing around while they’re still asleep. They usually happen after the child has been asleep for a couple of hours. They may sit up and talk or look terrified while they’re still asleep. Night terrors aren’t usually a sign of any serious problems, and your child will eventually grow out of them.

    Don’t wake your child during a night terror. But if they’re happening at the same time each night, try breaking the pattern by gently waking your child about 15 minutes beforehand. Keep them awake for a few minutes, then let them go back to sleep. They won’t remember anything in the morning. Seeing your child have a night terror can be very upsetting, but they’re not dangerous and won’t have any lasting effects.

    Seeing it for the first time is quite alarming!

    GW
    Free Member

    Thanks.
    from that it seems I still have both and it’s nothing to worry about.. wonder when I’ll “eventually grow out of them” tho 😳
    8)

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    yes and sacry but grown out of them now and instead he has nightmares …**** Dr Who 🙄

    uphillcursing
    Free Member

    Eldest had them really badly for about 2 years. Was really spooky at first and SWMBO never really was comfortable with them. It was the eyes being open and wandering round that really threw me.

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    so – night terrors. Does the child appear awake (as in fully aware) or some kind of distant stare that suggests awake but not fully with it?

    Just trying to understand recent activities from one of our girls.

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    Our lad is like a zombie. Eyes on stalks looking straight through you, violent jerky shaking and arm waving, screaming his head off and drenched in sweat. I’ve learnt not to get too close too quick as my initial reaction was to pick him up and I got a crack in the mouth for my troubles!

    philconsequence
    Free Member

    he’s heard about the time you called him a knob on t’interwebz! if he hits you… well that’s domestic abuse, call the cops on him.

    (have to be honest dude, if it was my kid it’d freak the hell out of me to begin with, and can’t imagine getting used to seeing your kid that scared… good luck, hope some of the advice on waking him up before it happens, changing bed times, naps etc work!)

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Hmm, sounds different to our girl – I think maybe she was just upset at waking up (although we did have 45 minutes+ of screaming and violent thrashing around – we ended up just putting her on the floor and letting her wear herself out 🙁 )

    rumbledethumps
    Free Member

    Harry

    I’ve had the symptoms of what your little boy has most of my life. I’ve had it since 7 and I am now nearly 40. The Docs/therapists told me it would go in my teens but it never has. Not too bad these days as I am far more relaxed. With me its usually anxiety for the most part combined with REM. I have them within the first hour or so of nodding off and I still have them to this day (about once a week). I too have no recollection either of the event. My brother (who also suffers) went overnight to Papwith a few years back to have his head analysed for activity whilst asleep. They said there is nothing they can do. I also went to a sleep disorder clinic in Leicester that never worked.

    Its not too bad though. A few comedy moments wondering out the house nude but you just learn to live with it. Alcohol can make it worse. Thankfully my kids don’t suffer. Its a strange one!

    Forget to say, he will be fine!

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    LOL

    A friend once wandered, naked, into his girlfriend’s mum & dad’s bedroom (on the first time meeting them) and proceeded to urinate all over the bottom of their bed.

    Not sure who was having terrors there though 🙂

    EDIT: In his sleep of course 😉

    rumbledethumps
    Free Member

    Mastiles

    If you were to ask my wife I look fully awake in my sleep state and I sometimes just wonder downstairs and back up.

    I suppose its like the lights are on but no one is home.

    ditch_jockey
    Free Member

    You can only see them when you’re little… 😆

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Sorry yes – I think my friend’s state is similar to yours (asleep but apparently awake) and he is more prone when he’s been drinking too.

    I know it isn’t *really* a laughing matter but pissing on your future mother-in-law – well it IS priceless.

    Harry_the_Spider
    Full Member

    Friend of mine (Friend A) was staying over at another lads house (Friend B) and got up for a nocturno-wee. Friend A had lived in a bungaloo all his life. Friend B’s house had an upstairs loo. Friend A ended up peeing in the telephone table by the front door.

    The phone never stood a chance.

    Elfinsafety
    Free Member

    Maybe he’s invoked the spirit of Mrs Chimbong?

    derek_starship
    Free Member

    A friend of mine (CTB) stayed over at his girlfriend’s parent’s house and so had to sleep on the couch (house rules).

    He had a few too many sherberts and ended up stumbling around the living room in the dark and pissing in a huge glass bowl of pot pourri!

    It didn’t go down that well next morning.

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