Night terrors in children are a type of sleep disorder that generally affect children between the ages of 2 and 6, though they can happen at any age. Night terrors can be frightening because children who experience them may act like they're awake when they're actually asleep. This can be more alarming for the parents than it is for the child, who often wakes with no memory of the night terror. This is different from a nightmare, when the child can easily be woken and comforted and can remember details of what happened. Night terrors are benign, though there are things you can do to help your child deal with them.
What Causes Night Terrors?
Night terrors are also known as sleep terrors or pavor nocturnes. Unlike nightmares, night terrors occur in the first part of the sleep cycle, not long after your child has gone to bed. Experts aren't entirely sure what causes night terrors, although overexhaustion can be a contributing factor. Occasionally night terrors can be caused by sleep apnea, a sleep disorder in which a person stops breathing and wakes up.
Night terrors, like other sleep disorders, tend to run in families. Some researchers believe that night terrors are a bump in the road during the transition between sleep stages. It is not thought that night terrors indicate a psychological problem or that your child is upset about something.
Symptoms
Symptoms of night terrors include waking suddenly from sleep, fear that occurs at night, screaming, sweating, rapid heartbeat, confusion and no memory of a bad dream. Some who experience night terrors see animals, spiders or people in their room and are unable to fully awaken.
Children who experience night terrors may bolt upright, eyes open, looking terrified and possibly screaming. Their pupils may be larger than usual. During a night terror children are inconsolable and may appear awake, although they are not.
Night terrors can last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. Afterwards, children tend to go back to sleep.
Treatment Options
Although it can be tempting to try to stop a night terror by waking your child, that may not be the best thing to do. Sometimes when children are successfully woken from a night terror they can become frightened by their parents' reactions.
Comfort your child and make sure that he is safe. Physically touching him is not usually advised, unless he is going to hurt himself. Help him return to sleep afterwards, if possible.
Some children who experience night terrors sleep walk or participate in activities that are usually done when they're awake. For safety, you may want to put up toddler gates and keep children with night terrors on the bottom bunk of bunk beds.
Since night terrors often occur when children become overtired, try sticking to a regular sleep schedule. If your child frequently gets night terrors, try waking her just before they generally strike. The thought behind this is that waking the child interrupts the sleep cycle and prevents the night terror.
As children get older, night terrors typically go away on their own. Occasionally a doctor will prescribe medication for night terrors, but this is only in the most extreme cases.
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