Night Terrors
June 30, 2009 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under mothering, sleep
Your child has been sound asleep for an hour or so but suddenly starts screaming and crying. You try everything you can think of to soothe him, going down your list: needs to nurse, hot, cold, feverish, wet, in pain. Nothing you do seems to help, and what’s worse, your child does not even seem to know you are there, trying to help.
Photo by Dez Pain
Ask Dr. Sears: Night Terrors
WebMD: Night Terrors
Thank goodness I had heard about night terrors from friends who had experienced them with their children. Otherwise I would have taken the half an hour of inconsolable crying as a sign that I needed to take my daughter to the emergency room! Fortunately, my daughter eventually allowed me to nurse her back to sleep. She slept well after that and appeared perfectly fine in the morning. I, however, was a wreck! One of the things I love most about breastfeeding is that it “fixes” almost anything — hungry, thirsty, over-tired, cranky, lonely, ill. When my daughter was crying inconsolably and she arched her back away from me when I attempted to nurse her, I felt a helplessness I have never felt before as a parent.
Has a child of yours ever experienced night terrors? How often did they happen? Were you eventually able to prevent them? Did your child outgrow them? How did you handle them when they were occurring?
My son regularly has night terrors. It’s so sad and he’s such a happy baby during the day that it’s confusing to me why he has these. At least, we co-sleep and I can usually nurse him back to sleep fairly easily. Thank god for that!
My now 4-year-old had a couple of night terrors. We actually realized what it was when she refused to nurse or even be held by me, instead clinging to my husband for dear life. Completely unheard of for her. Eventually she just stopped crying and slept. It was scary for us, but she was really just fine. Luckily we only had a couple, so we didn’t really do much other than sit with her and reassure each other.
Oh gods, Night Terrors!! My eldest daughter had a few between 2 and 3 years of age. But my youngest daughter started them at 8 months of age and still has them regularly at 4.5 years old. They’ve gotten better, and shorter in duration, and she handles them much better now that she’s older, but still has them at least once or twice a month. My youngest son has just turned 2 and I think he’s starting with them too now. Lovely.