night terrors!! @hhhhh!!!

So obviously from the title of the post I have a child that suffers from night terrors! Night terrors are not the same as nightmares!!!! Night terrors are distinctly different from the more common nightmares. With a night terror the child is not aware of his/hers surroundings and doesn't remember anything the next day. As with a nightmare the child might not want to go back to sleep because of the fear of something and might recall the next morning what happened.

Mason has terrors! Bad Terrors sometimes. Well for me they are all bad. . .no one ever wants to hear the screams of their child in the middle of the night. Once you enter the room you really don't know what to expect, whether its a child screaming, crying or scrambling around in the bottom of their closet looking for YOU! {Its not funny because there have been numerous occasions where I've found Mason in the closet, behind the door just standing there screaming and crying}

He has had these on and off since the age of 8 months. This sleep disorder typically occurs in children aged 2-12 years, with a peak in children aged 3½ years.Night terrors are characterized by frequent recurrent episodes of intense crying and fear during sleep, with difficulty arousing the child. Night terrors are frightening episodes that typically effect the entire family.

Here is some info I pulled off the internet {what most relates to what his pediatritian(s) have told me!}
"Sleep is divided into 2 categories: rapid eye movement (REM) and nonrapid eye movement (non-REM). Non-REM sleep is further divided into 4 stages, progressing from stages 1-4. Night terrors occur during the transition from stage 3 non-REM sleep to stage 4 non-REM sleep, beginning approximately 90 minutes after the child falls asleep."~MedicineNet.com


"An estimated 1-6% of children experience night terrors. Boys and girls are equally affected. Children of all races also seem to be affected equally. The disorder usually resolves during adolescence."~MedicineNet.com

Night terrors may be caused by the following:

* Stressful life events
* Fever
* Sleep deprivation
* Medications that affect the central nervous system (the brain)

Parents might take the following precautions at home:

* Make the child’s room safe to try to prevent the child from being injured during an episode.
* Eliminate all sources of sleep disturbance.
* Maintain a consistent bedtime routine and wake-up time.


His pediatricians mostly tell me that "terrors are mostly inherited and that he'll grow out of them" Well I'll admit that I used to walk in my sleep and I'll even admit to StILL talking in my sleep (poor Clint I know) but I've never had any kind of "terror"! (I've asked!)

But I can admit that having him on some sort of regular sleep pattern helps (I can't convince my grandmother of this). Also if he has had long exhausting day it helps if I put him to bed then about a half an hour to an hour after he's fallen to sleep I go and wake him up {briefly}This is right before he falls into the second stage of sleep. Well I hope he grow out of this soon. . .for one I would love a night (just one) well maybe three consecutive nights of SLEEP!!! And well to be honest I'm sick to death of hearing my insane grandmother keep telling me that some one is hurting him and thatw why he does this. That child is with me (or my dad and her~ha ha) 99.99% of the time. And rest assured that my lil ANGEL will never be in harms way!

[p.s. I did use some direct quotes from ~MedicineNet.com I hope I don't get into any trouble for plagiarism! I don't exactly remeber the rules from 12th grade english...Sorry Ms.Michael!! ]

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