Three Year Old With Night (Nap) Terrors?

[Hunni Bee]

I have a 3.5 year old who has been for the past 2 months or so waking up in the middle of nap crying. I can find no reason for it and when i ask her, she never says anything. She does this whether im sitting beside her or across the room.

I've asked dcm several times, and she's given me different reasons - toothache earache, didn't sleep well the night before...the latest being dcm thinks dcg is seeing things (ghosts?) in their apartment.

Dcg is usually happy before and after nap, and falls asleep easily. She usually wakes 30-45 minutes in, crying and confused. Then she usually wakes up one more time time to potty. if she's up and down that much in a two hour period, i can only imagine what her nights are like.

Any opinions on this?

ETA: excuse the bad typing, im on my phone.

[saved4always]

My son had night terrors when he was younger. He would start screaming and crying in his sleep. He would be sitting up in bed but he would not react to us being there or trying to comfort him. He looked like he was awake but he actually was not. He would do this for a few minutes and then would settle back to sleep. In the morning, he would not be able to remember waking up. He eventually outgrew it. He did it occassionally; it was not every night.

[Heidi]

my daughter sleepwalked rom age 3 or so to about 9 or 10. I noticed an increase when she was getting sick or was stressed (like at a sleepover). She did not do it at nap, only at night, usually about an hour after she fell asleep.

She would wander around, seeming awake, and if you asked her questions, she would answer nonsense. "T, what are you doing?", I asked her once, as she was trying to carry the rocking horse out of the room. "Mom said I could" was her answer. Her brothers still tease her about it 10 years later.

For the longest time she didn't beleive us when we told her about these "events". She eventually just outgrew it.

[Countrygal]

My son had night terrors when he was younger. He would start screaming and crying in his sleep. He would be sitting up in bed but he would not react to us being there or trying to comfort him. He looked like he was awake but he actually was not. He would do this for a few minutes and then would settle back to sleep. In the morning, he would not be able to remember waking up. He eventually outgrew it. He did it occassionally; it was not every night.

Yep, mine reacted exactly like this - and like bbo, he also sleep walked, but that was when he got older. He also had growing pains, so sometimes it was hard to tell it all apart.

The night terrors are because then get "stuck" in the REM cycle and can't get out, if I'm remembering correctly. Can be caused by a whole plethora of things including allergies, migraines, fatigue, etc. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/night-terrors/DS01016
I like Mayo clinic's site. They explain so you can understand!

There are tests for it now, I think, sleep tests, there weren't any when my son was little. But basically, the main way to help is to try to find the cause....

[Sunchimes]

My 17 mo dcg has them every single nap. She's been staying here until midnight some lately and has them about every hour-just like nap time. I've been attributing it to the new visitation schedule with her dad. My personal opinion (not voiced to dcm) is that a week is too long for a baby to be away from mom with someone she has only seen a few times. That's when they started anyway. I think she has been sleeping in too many beds ( whoever keeps her during visitation) and never really feels secure. But, I'm a worrier when it comes to my girls. It might just be allergies or something.

[bice99]

Okay, this is going to sound so strange. Our DD had these from 18 months until the summer after she turned 3. Turns out her feet were hot and it kept her from moving smoothly between the diff sleep cycles. Uncovered her feet after she fell asleep (after dr had no idea what to do for those 2 years so I finally googled it. Arousal confusion or something like that). She never woke up that way again.

[Michael]

https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=sleep+-+terrors