Night Terrors, How Do I Manage Them?

My 1-year old son, Enzo, has night terrors. I thought he was over it but last night, he had another fit. It was terribly worrisome for me and the hubby. Raia, my second child, got roused from her sleep because of the sudden screaming and continuous crying. We tried to pacify him by hushing but to no avail. Actually, we already know that no amount of hushing will help because it is night terror.I first learned about his sleep disorder when he was around five months old. That was when he already knew how to rollover and start crawling. He was actually sleep crawling. Eyes closed, hands flailing, sobbing and crawling. He was sleeping beside my husband’s aunt who was his nanny. The husband and I were sleeping beside the older two girls. We decided to let him sleep beside the nanny so as not to disturb the two girls who go to school early. When we first witnessed his “attacks”, we thought he was just having nightmares. We tried to avoid making him cry afterwards because we thought it could be one reason. However, there came a pattern, a time for these attacks. So later, I consulted with the pediatrician and learned that it was called Night Terrors, that it was normal for some children and that he will outgrow it.

Not satisfied, I consulted Google and read more about this sleep disorder. I felt frustrated to learn that no matter how much we try, a child in this situation will not be calmed down except when precautionary measures are made in the day or few minutes before it actually occurs. That’s what made it even more a terror for me.

Some of the efforts that we now make, including following those that are recommended on the pediatricians’ websites is to have him sleep with us. We also noticed that he sort of calms down when it is his dad who holds him. Like last night, when he suddenly sat upright and screamed, I held out to him but he did not notice (his mind is asleep even if his eyes were open). He continued to cry loudly. So my husband took him and held him, not too loosely nor too tightly. After 10-15 minutes, he calmed down and went back to sleep like nothing happened. At 5:00 am, he was busy climbing over all of us and waking us up.

I hope he gets over it as soon as possible. I am actually worried that it has happened to him at a very early age. Perhaps, I’ll have to re-consult the pedia or re-orient the aunt-nanny about avoiding overfatigue or stress for the baby. Hopefully, and in God’s blessing, these experiences will soon be over.