"Waaaaaaa-" come the gut wrenching crys from downstairs. Assuming the worst (bunk bed fall, broken limb) I bolt down the stairs to find Bridgey thrashing around at the edge of his bed, eyes open, and in hysterics. Assuming he'd had a bad dream, I try to hold him and say, "it's okay Honey, Mommy's here" but this just prompts a new bout of cries, "Mom, mom, MOm!" still no recognition that I'm right there trying to calm his wriggling body.
It's pretty terrifying to say the least. I've read all abou them online but, it still seems so sad and I have a hard time not trying to comfort him, despite the online advice. Has anyone else dealt with this?
7 comments:
My XDH still has them - he had them as a child.
OMG it scared the crap out of me in the middle of the night - about once every couple of months. I read advice that said not to wake him and advice that it was okay to wake and soothe. I woke him anyway. Sometimes it took a few minutes, but a 35 yr old man thrashing around in bed isn't healthy either.
Night terrors are harmless and they forget them. It's harder on you to witness than it is on him to have them. Usually happened after a period of extreme stress or physical exhaustion.
They are very common in kids - not so common in adults, so I guess some do outgrow them.
Billy use to get those. He eventually quit having them, but when you are in the middle of it you don't know what to think.
My niece has night terrors. I think my sister in-law learned that she had to go to bed by a certain time to help with it. I also heard that it is scary for them to be woken up. My niece doesn't get them hardly any more, but she sleep walks now!
Thanks for the advice, I think I will try making sure he gets his nap and is in bed on time as well. I have noticed they happen most when those things are out of whack. I was surprised to learn some adults get them. That would be really scary as they're big enough to do damage thrashing around.
My niece would get them REALLY bad. I'm not sure how my sister dealt with them. Good luck. Poor little guy.
yeah both my boys have terrors. If you don't think you've found enough advice already, give me a call!
It truly is the sadest thing though!
Ugh. So sorry you have to deal with this. Ty had them regularly for a year. He's pretty much stopped now, just every now and then. The best advice we heard was to make sure he got to bed on time. Being overly tired was almost a sure bet to make him have them. We never were able to wake him, but at the same time I couldn't just leave him there alone. So I'd stay by him as hard as it was and as useless as you feel, because I thought subconsciously he's got to know that someone's around. They'd usually end before 5 or 6 minutes. Then after he'd calm down and be asleep again that's when I'd soothe him and love him. Even if he wassleeping through it, it made me feel better! Good luck. And just know it won't last forever.
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