2 year old with Night terrors?

[Jina4416]

Has anyone experienced night terrors with their young child? My 2 year old son almost 3 now has been struggling with sleep since I can remember. He will wake up almost every night crying, pointing, just feeling afraid, some nights are better than others and takes me about 5 minutes or so to help him back to sleep, other rare times he will be inconsolable for up to half an hour before going back to sleep. He also does this during day time naps. He wakes up really sweaty at times too. Should I see the doctor? Also, his speech isn’t very clear and I cannot make out what he’s trying to tell me when he is crying which probably frustrates him more. Is this night terrors? Is it something else? Will he grow out of it or is it something I need to address? Please help! xx

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This has some useful info: nhs.uk/conditions/night-ter...

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[emmab178]

My 2 year old started night terrors about 4 months ago. She will scream (like she's being murdered) which causes me to run in to her room. Sometimes she will also scream out mummy in a terrified pitch which again is so scary.

The first times i switched the light on and grabbed her mainly in fear of what was happening. This caused more problems as she would go frantic, kicking and hitting me. But after 30 mins or so would calm down.

I then heard about night terrors. If she gets one now i go in, leave the light off and check her behaviour. If she isn't interacting or reaching for me i leave her alone but sit next to her just incase. She's had 2 or 3 at nursery during day time naps and it's scared the staff to death aswell. They said they waved their hand infront of her face and she didn't acknowledge them so they knew it was a night terror rather than a nightmare.

[Jina4416 in reply to emmab178]

That sounds so scary, that must be so frightening for you and your child. I have to admit I don’t think my son has that level of night terrors. Have you considered seeing the GP? They may be able to refer to a sleep specialist.

I was the same at first; trying to wake him up and getting him to snap out of it. Now I just remain calm and reassure him I’m next to him and let him calm down himself. I may wait it out a while and see how he does. If he doesn’t improve as he gets older I’ll probably see a sleep specialist. Thank you for sharing your experience. Xx

[emmab178 in reply to Jina4416]

Ours are few and far between now. Had about 20 in total and she's not had one in a while so just dealing with it ourselves and wait for her to grow out of it. Was good that the nursery assured us that is what it was.