Night Terrors - Real Mum story on MoM

9 Comments

My son has a bone disease and one of his medications caused what I now know were night terrors – quite different from nightmares. I would wake during the night to hear him crying (a totally different cry to his normal) in different rooms in the house. One night I found him high on his window sill trying to climb up his window and another on top of his bed head trying to climb up the wall. The terrors would last until I could get him back to his bed and re-settle him. I tried to wake him during the terrors and reinforce that “Mummy was here” but as it turns out children generally are asleep when they have these events but their bodies are ‘awake’. No amount of effort to comfort or wake makes any difference – in some cases it made it worse. I learnt after the drug was ceased and the night terrors also ceased that the best thing to do is guide your child back to bed and tuck them in and sit with them until they fall off to sleep again. I had high locks installed in the house and bought an alarm that set off across his bedroom door when he passed through because I had found him in so many different parts of our house. It was a frightening time and one that I wish I had been able to talk to someone about whom had some knowledge. I am sharing this to assist anyone else who may be going through this frightening experience.

Posted by mundoo, 10th August 2013

9 Comments

- - june11 said
  - 11 May 2016
    9:49 pm
It is horrific when it is medication induced. We went through a stage of night terrors but no medication involved. I asked our Dr. and General Practice Nurse for advice. At about the age of 3 y.o. little ones develop a very strong imagination which can cause this situation. Gently attempt to find out the next morning what it was about. You may able to reassure your child that it was a dream, not something that actually happened.
Some sleep walk without having night terrors or nightmares. I know a lady who as a teenager used to drag her mattress out onto the verandah in warm weather. They had no mains power and had to rely on a generator which they couldn’t run at night as the noise kept all of them awake. She did it when she moved to the city to live too. A friend heard the door go and followed her down the street before turning her around, walking her home and putting her back to bed. At that point she was sharing with 2 other girls (they were all studying) in a rental property. All of them came from country areas. She started sleeping too heavily and having problems so they now waker her during the night. That has stopped the problems.

- - Nas01 said
  - 08 Dec 2015
    11:51 pm
Great advise. I hate when their in that state. You Really feel for them.

- - Danae Jo said
  - 27 Jul 2015
    10:32 am
Great advice, heartbreaking when they wake up and are inconsolable.

- - mom113055 said
  - 16 Apr 2015
    7:45 pm
nice story

- - mom113055 said
  - 08 Apr 2015
    2:02 pm
exellent super story

- - mom57522 said
  - 06 Jan 2015
    6:41 pm
Thank you for sharing. I have heard of night terrors but, wasn’t exactly sure what they were.

- - emily_flores said
  - 08 Mar 2014
    10:57 pm
That is pretty scary to go though, thank you for sharing

- - kymaree said
  - 10 Aug 2013
    9:21 pm
What an awful experience for both of you, hope that your son is well now.

- - chloedavies said
  - 10 Aug 2013
    9:09 pm
My son has the same thing, the blood curdling screams at the wee hours of the morning. Not something you want your kids to have. We didn’t know this when he first had it not to wake them or talk to them about it in the morning as it makes them scared to go to bed. We not have a night light in his room and my partner or i lays with him reading a book until he falls a sleep. It seems to be working as he does get it as much but it’s an awful thing for kids to have.