So now it’s time for your baby’s goodnight schedule, you read him a book, tuck him in his blanket, give him a goodnight kiss and walk across the room to find him fast asleep. After two hours in his sleep, he starts screaming out of fear and screams with his eyes closed and sometimes widened. He starts a fit, hitting and kicking uncontrollably. The session lasts about 10 minutes, sometimes lasting about 30 minutes and repeats as many times as every night. Your child has no memory of the episode the next morning. As a parent, initially you are worried, trying to console your child in every possible way. But when the episodes are repeated every night you lose your patience and often feel angry. This can be a traumatic event for both children and parents. Let us understand what is really happening to your child and how to deal with it.
Children as young as infants are prone to nightmares that can scare them. They are neither fully awake nor fully asleep. It is called night terror or sleep terror or nightmare. The whole session is quite traumatic for the children as they are unable to understand their dreams and feel completely helpless hence making them aggressive. It is believed that they see shadows in their dreams and get scared. Sleep terrors are quite common, especially in children up to 10 years of age. The good news is that they eventually move on as this age. On the other hand, some children also become sleepwalkers. Let us know other topics of discussion.
What could be the cause of night terror?
There are many factors that can cause night terrors in babies or older children.
More fatigue
If your child had a busy day and was very active physically or mentally, chances are that he is not able to sleep peacefully. This can keep him mentally active even when his body is asleep. This can result in disturbing dreams.
Scared
The second possible and most common cause of nightmares in children is if they have seen something scary during the day that has subconsciously come to their mind. Thoughts may become active while sleeping. This may result in an episode of night terror.
Fear of losing
If the child has lost someone close to his heart like a pet or a family member, he may be in a traumatic situation. Their emotional loss may result in nightmares of losing someone near and dear and this may lead to their prolonged periods of sleep disturbance.
Sleep disorders or sleep apnea
In very rare cases, children may have sleep apnea in which they wake up and sometimes stop their breathing while sleeping. This can sometimes be a result of lack of sleep or lack of sound sleep which can then become a reason when night terrors arise.
How to handle night terrors?
When your child is experiencing a night terror, he or she is not aware of the outside world. She is in a world where she is feeling helpless and looking for help. Night terror experiences can be very traumatic and so it is important for a parent or a family member to handle it patiently and calmly. Children’s night terrors usually disturb the sleep of adults hence there is a feeling of frustration in adults. This is how you can handle the episode with your children:
Switch on the lights
Creating light around the baby can help them feel comfortable. Children often see shadows in dreams and light can reduce the appearance of shadows.
Avoid shouting or scolding
Yelling or yelling at your child can make the situation worse. This will double his fear and make him more aggressive.
Going back to sleep
Your child may be awake throughout the night terror, but assume he or she is not awake and you should not try to wake him or her. The key is to try to transition your baby from agitated sleep back to calm sleep.
Keep calm
Try to pull your baby closer to him by saying “Everything’s okay, you’re okay” if he allows or by gently patting his back or chest.
Prevent injury
It is important to ensure that they do not get injured as a result of their movements. So although they will find you as a threat, it is necessary to handle them gently to avoid injuries.
Afternoon nap
For preschoolers, it is important that they take a nap sometime in the afternoon. It helps in reducing their fatigue.
Waking up in the middle of the night:
For slightly older children, if the episodes are repeating every night, get an idea of how many hours of sleep they experience after these night terrors. Accordingly, try to wake them up an hour or half earlier to drink water or simply take them out of sleep for some time so that they can start sleeping afresh and avoid an episode. By repeating this for a few days, you can get rid of these episodes completely.
Night terror experience
Experiencing night terrors can be an inherited disorder in children. Sometimes these can get so bad as to affect their developmental milestones. Preventing night episodes is the best way to take care of these episodes as there is said to be no cure.