I feel like the night terror/nightmare situation is getting out of hand at our house lately.
Landen frequently wakes up between 10pm-1am panicking and screaming. This is the night terror time frame, but when he check on him, he is awake. When he was about 6 months, he had a few actual night terrors and what he has now are different. So, I'm not really sure which it is.
Anyway, when I go get him, he is usually very awake and very upset -- lately so much so he is physically shaking. He has a death grip on his blanket and wants mom and out of his room. I know the difference between fussing, and this is not fussing. This is that cry that you jump out of your skin and run to because something is seriously wrong.
Then it gets hard, because he can't calm himself down. Sometimes he wants to be held, and other times he just pushes you away, but if you put him down it makes him more upset. We usually go through every room and check that everything is okay. We try getting him a drink. We sing, read a book or get a single toy out to play. If that doesn't help, turning on his favorite baby einstein's movie-- this always helps. Something about the visual and audio distraction gets him calmed down.
Once he calms down, we go through a condensed bedtime routine and he goes back to sleep just fine.
He has a night light in his room. He has a good bedtime routine that we stick too. He doesn't eat to close to bed. He doesn't watch any tv not suitable for him-- and even then he doesn't even watch much tv or movies.
And I don't know what else to do. I understand that all kids go through it, it's part of their 'growing up' but I honestly feel like they are getting out of hand. It's no more a go get him and calm him down and get him back to sleep. It's more of get him, check him really close to make sure he's not hurt or bite by something, spend 20 minutes or more calming him down and getting him back to sleep. They are happening more frequently and getting more intense.
So what do you do for nightmares? Any suggestions?
I can't not go to him. I really just can't. We've tried just checking on him, making sure he's okay, turning on his cd, and leaving him and he will literally cry for 2-4 hours. I'm awake for this anyway, I can't sleep while he cries and cries.
I wish there was a magic pill. But there's not. :(
2 comments:
How scary! I wouldn't leave him either. It sounds like he is honestly scared. Do you have another room in your house besides yours and his? Maybe it has something to do with the room. Maybe changing his room? I don't know. I really have no idea that is just a though. But I would be scared to leave him every night because I feel sorry for him getting scared. Poor guy. I really hope you find something that helps!
I hate it when they get so scared and you cant clm them down. Tyler really didn't have the night terrors. (knock on wood) So I don't know any real good suggestions. One thing Tyler had for a while was a stuffed animal when he woke up and he was scared I would give it to him. and when he did wake up I tried my hardest to leave him in his crib and sing hime a song. to get him to calm down. I found that when I took him out of his crib he didn't want to go back. Also he started not waking up as much. Good Luck!!
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