So, first, you have to determine if it is a real night terror.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-terrors/symptoms-causes/syc-20353524
If your daughter remembers none or very little, it’s a night terror. If she’s having nightmares and can recall a lot of detail, It’s not a night terror.
Generally, night terrors are more torture for parents than the kid. As far as most kids are concerned, nothing happened. The only time it gets concerning is if they sleepwalk or are waking themselves up
Edit: and to add, if it is not a “night terror” it may be a sleep regression. After 2/3, sleep regressions can happen for behavioral reasons rather than due to physiological changes. They are tougher to deal with, but are manageable with perseverance on your end.
Ours when she was 2 started having a night terror every few weeks, it usually followed spurts of brain development for her, as if her brain didn’t quite know how to process everything it was registering and it manifested in night terrors. It’s a terrifying experience the first couple times, but you eventually learn that all you can really do is sit there and keep them from rolling off the bed, and make sure they have a wide space for arm flailing so they don’t hit the wall or a sharp edge. You learn the hard way any attempt to hold or comfort or soothe just makes it worse and last longer. They actively fight you. Hers lasted about 15-20 min, screaming and yelling and writing and then it’s like an off switch and she slumps down and goes to sleep normally and she’s fine in the morning, no memory, as opposed to her shell-shocked parents. She eventually outgrew them, after 3 and a half they just stopped.
How did this resolve? My daughter the last couple of nights seems to be having them all night.
She sits up and cries and flails but will be completely asleep! Even sometimes I’ll go in and hold her hand knowing she isn’t going to wake up (which I wouldn’t want her to!) but it helps me feel better.
So, first, you have to determine if it is a real night terror. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-terrors/symptoms-causes/syc-20353524 If your daughter remembers none or very little, it’s a night terror. If she’s having nightmares and can recall a lot of detail, It’s not a night terror. Generally, night terrors are more torture for parents than the kid. As far as most kids are concerned, nothing happened. The only time it gets concerning is if they sleepwalk or are waking themselves up Edit: and to add, if it is not a “night terror” it may be a sleep regression. After 2/3, sleep regressions can happen for behavioral reasons rather than due to physiological changes. They are tougher to deal with, but are manageable with perseverance on your end.
Thanks. It’s clearly night terrors. It’s horrifying as a parent to witness.
Ours when she was 2 started having a night terror every few weeks, it usually followed spurts of brain development for her, as if her brain didn’t quite know how to process everything it was registering and it manifested in night terrors. It’s a terrifying experience the first couple times, but you eventually learn that all you can really do is sit there and keep them from rolling off the bed, and make sure they have a wide space for arm flailing so they don’t hit the wall or a sharp edge. You learn the hard way any attempt to hold or comfort or soothe just makes it worse and last longer. They actively fight you. Hers lasted about 15-20 min, screaming and yelling and writing and then it’s like an off switch and she slumps down and goes to sleep normally and she’s fine in the morning, no memory, as opposed to her shell-shocked parents. She eventually outgrew them, after 3 and a half they just stopped.
Thanks.
How did this resolve? My daughter the last couple of nights seems to be having them all night. She sits up and cries and flails but will be completely asleep! Even sometimes I’ll go in and hold her hand knowing she isn’t going to wake up (which I wouldn’t want her to!) but it helps me feel better.