Discussing Autism

Everyone says night terrors are common in children but until it happens to you one never worries about them. To be honest, most people underestimate night terrors and almost everyone told us not to worry about them…that they would just go away. Yeah, thanks for that advice.

How about you try to deal with a child for 45 minutes to an hour when he is NOT awake but is screaming at the top of his lungs, running from post to post in his crib, hitting himself and trying to hit you if you try to speak to him or touch him? AJ did this every night for a year and a half. Then it dwindled to about every other night.

Sometimes AJ’s night terrors lasted ten minutes. Sometimes they lasted 45 minutes but there was a guarantee. It was going to happen.

Two to three percent of all children experience night terrors, typically between the ages of three and five. Most of the time the night terrors are sporadic and occur after stressfull, overstimulating days or on days when the child is overtired.

A night terror is not a nightmare. A night terror happens in the first phases of sleep; between stages three and four, an hour to two hours after falling asleep. (We used to be able to time AJ’s night terrors to exactly two hours after he fell asleep.)

Symptoms of night terrors;
sudden awakening, screaming, no memory of what happened, sweating, confusion, rapid heart rate, crying, glassy eyes, difficult to comfort, not fully awake, etc.

How to cope, not treat;
Night terrors are not treatable, as children WILL typically grow out of them. However, there are several things you can do to help your child cope with the night terrors and to keep them safe.
1. Remove anything that would be harmful to them. We chose to keep AJ in a crib for as long as we could. He was not climbing out but we knew that when he had night terrors he would try to get up and walk. If he was in a regular bed he would hurt himself.
2. Do not disturb them. Many people say they can calm a child in a night terror but don’t yell at them or touch them. AJ hates being touched in his terrors (some children can stand this and like the comfort though).
3. Do not try to be forceful (unless your child is in a dangerous situation like the stairs). Put gates up if your child starts to sleep walk. This is the next stage of this sleep disorder.
4. Keep in mind that they are not awake and do not know what they are doing.
5. Limit Sensory Stimulation during the day and make sure your child is getting enough sleep at night and during the day.
6. Dr. Sears says to give calming and high protein foods before bed. However, filling children up on foods is not advised. Additionally, avoid sugars, dyes, and caffeine.
7. Institute a calming bedtime routine. I know that when we stopped rocking AJ to bed (which included touch) and allowed him to fall asleep on his own he tended to have less night terrors. What works for us is totally unconventional. He falls asleep on the couch with us. It works for him because he wants to be with us.

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