Night Terrors? Need some input--

[LarryPQ]

OK- Need some opinions.

The baby is almost 13 months...Two weeks ago we finally were able to move the crib out of our room into his brother's (4 years). We would have done is sooner, but the house was under construction.

I expected the first couple of nights to be rough:
---The baby wakes up, the noises are different (no wicked daddy snoring, but his brother is noisy).
---The street lighting is different, so he can see he is in a different room.
---Our response-time is a little slower: I would usually wake up before the baby was all the way awake. Now he has to cry for me to hear him.

But HOLY COWBELLS! The baby seems to be having full-blown night terrors. He will be standing, sitting up, laying down and SCREAMING at the top of his lungs. FULL-ON tempertantrum mode. Arching his back, kicking, pushing us away, throwing himself backwards, throwing the bottle.

Nothing seems to calm him. A few times I have been sure he is not even awake.

Other factors:
---It has been a stressful coupla weeks: family in and out, his b-day party,
---He was moved from the baby room to the toddler room at school,
---His daytime napping is changing from 2-3 short naps a day to 1 big one,
---He is rejecting "baby" foods for table foods,
---He only wants to feed himself, so he seems to eat less at meals,
---The baby can run/jump/climb now, so he is constantly active and super-tired.
---His brother is **perfecting** the art of the whine/dramatic-but-fake cry/not listening.
---His brother talks non-stop, so baby doesn't try to talk beyond the basics.
---It is getting cold outside.

I know night terrors are rare (1-3% of kids), his brother had 2 or 3 episodes around this age. Unfortunately, the baby is going on 2+ weeks of this with a few nights of multiple episodes. Sometimes I am sure he is still asleep (eyes wide-open) other times he just seems ROYALLY ticked.

Last night's happened around 10 pm and lasted about 20 minutes. I had to put him on the living room floor because the flailing about was hurting me and him. Once it subsided, he was all sweetness and light.

Any suggestions? We are tying to "calm things down" and help de-stress the rest of his world as much as possible. We are good about keeping the boys on a schedule play/clean up/food/tubbytime/bed time---with room for flexability.

Is it time to go to the pediatrician?

 

[Laney]

Time for the pediatrician. If it's truly night terrors vs trouble adapting to the new sleeping arrangements you both need help dealing with it. I can still remember my night terrors from when I was a young child. I'm 41 years old. Bringing him back to your bed isn't the answer either, because he is at the age where he really needs to learn to sleep by himself and I think you are ready for it.

Until you get in to see the doc, make sure the baby monitor is turned on high and get in to comfort him as quickly as you can.

Laney

 

[maplesky7]

It can't hurt to talk to his dr. about your concerns.

Know this about night terrors: It scares mom more then it does the child.

If it truly is a night terror he won't have any recollection about the episode in the morning. It's related to hormone changes... i.e. growing. I took my little girl into the Children's Hospital of Chicago and this is what they told me. Just try to make it so they don't hurt themselves... and like you said, he'll go back to sleep and won't remember it in the morning.


Now, another possibility is is he reacting to something he's eating? Perhaps a food allergy and his tightness and arching may be factors of an upset bowel? who knows? talk to your dr. and my dr. said about my 2 girls going into phases of eating lightly to heavily is they eat how much their body is telling them and not to worry because if they are hungry they WILL eat.

I don't know if it's the season but my 8 & 3 year olds have been very very crabby lately... just whining and getting on each others nerves.... I've talked to the school councilor and she said the same thing about her kids lately... ha ha ha ha. So I guess I shouldn't worry.

Sounds like your little one has had plenty of changes but I think he'll adjust.

Hang in there sister.

hugs,
gretch

 

[[email protected]]

My daughter had night terrors. She was older. Like 6. Come to think of it, it started when I remarried and we moved in with my husband. Hmmmmmmm. It's crazy scary. All I could do was comfort her.

 

[maplesky7]

oh and night terrors start a couple of hours after they have gone to bed... so my little girl was waking up about 2 hours after she was in bed.

 

[BarbK]

Ditto on the talk to the DR. I don't know if anyone remembers but I had some issues with my daughter sleeping at night. There were nights that we would only get about an hours sleep sometimes none!! I know what you are going through.
How much quiet time BEFORE bed does the little one get? Maybe try a little more down time before bed. Cuddle and read a story.
Depending on how bad he is to calm down taking him to bed with you for a few may be ok. You know your child best. When you get through this then get him back to sleeping in his bed all night again.
If it is some kind of cramps have a massage oil available to use and give him a massage.
Check into the food issue someone else mentioned. (again this is a dr. app.)
Mom take a breath and relax a little. I know its hard but don't be hard on yourself. Things will straighten out eventually even though it doesnt seem like it.

 

[LarryPQ]

maplesky- yeah....2-3 hours for my little guy. It is the timing and "sleepwalking" look that makes me think it is night terrors. I thought it might be food-related for a while: the kids have been TOTALLY mowing down on these tasty fancy crackers that have seeds in them (poppy, sesame, sunflower)...but they have those in the morning/afternoon. Diverticulitis is rare in kids, and niether kid shows any other symptoms.

EDITED:---looks like it is a drs trip! I love my pediatrician, but not so much the $$

BUT: I'll be happy if he tells me the same things you all do.

 

[maplesky7]

yeah, i don't know about the diverticulitis in kids. I myself was just diagnosed Oct.

But I also suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and that started out in my younger years.


With the timing and dazed look, you could be looking at night terrors. It's hard, I know but as they grow the episodes will become less and less.

hugs,
gretch

oh and what the dr. said about the IBS was to eat wheat bread instead of white and brown rice instead of white.

And we actually need something like 2 tablespoons of oil a day to keep our bowels slicked up to keep the food moving down... you can get that with butter or oil.... I heard this from Dr. Oz. Water is also good but it's the oil that glides things down.

Increase fiber too... with the whole wheat/grains and broccoli and such.

 

[LarryPQ]

Veggies and fiber are EASY...getting the little turd to have meat every now and then, that is another story. Plus the little bugger will push chairs around to climb up and get bananas, which is a whole different problem.

 

[fordmommy]

Quote:
My youngest did that. He just finally started eating meat around age three and a half. He ate peanutbutter sandwiches to make up for the lack of protien.

He also had night-terrors. When he started to talk, he would wake up and scream about spiders and other bugs in his bed. There were not spiders and bugs in his bed but he was convinced there were. ( I know because 1- I would check and 2 becouse I spray my house, inside and out for that stuff once a month)

The dreams are hard on everyone. I just kept reasuring him there were NO spiders and bugs in his bed. Eventually he got over it. But it took a LONG time.

But I personally think that it my be herititary. I had and still have scary dreams. And I have a phobia of bugs and spiders. But I have never showed my fear to my kids. I squish those creatures and show no fear. If I can't, DH or oldest son does it. I don't want my kids to go through that terror that I do.