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Could Your Child Be Having Night Terrors?
Handling Night Terrors and Putting Your Fears to Rest By Laurie Dove
The screaming fits, which started when the baby was just 4 months old, were a bit frightening at first, Monson admits. Now, she and her husband simply try to awaken and comfort their daughter when the night terrors begin.
"I hold her, tell her it is 'OK' and that we are there," Monson says. "We've been told that's all we can do. The biggest thing is to remain totally calm."
Sheldon agrees. Often, his medical advice takes a common sense route, encouraging parents to calm and reassure themselves as well as their children.
"If parents are frightened, that can be transmitted to the child, which can make night terrors more frequent and more intense," Dr. Sheldon says. "It's a vicious cycle of fright."
Often, the most effective way to prevent night terrors is to limit a child's stressors. Pediatricians may recommend chronicling nighttime events in a sleep diary and linking night terrors with troublesome daily events.
Children who have nightly occurrences for one month or more or who have multiple episodes a night should be evaluated by both a pediatrician and a sleep disorder clinic, says Dr. Tedeschi.
"Multi-nightly occurrences of sleep terrors are not of the norm," says Dr. Sheldon. "If a child has consistent, frequent sleep terrors or there is something unusual about the spells, then the child needs to be evaluated."
Other remedies to prevent night terrors can include changing bath time from evening to morning because it reduces the amount of bedtime stimulation and gently stroking a child's skin with a soft brush to relax and comfort before bed. Using a few drops of an essential oil like lavender on a cotton ball near the child's bed also has been known to bring calmer sleep, Dr. Sheldon says.