What is night terrors in babies

Night Terrors (for Parents) - Nemours KidsHealth

What Are Night Terrors?

Most parents have comforted their child after the occasional nightmare. But if your child has ever had what's known as a night terror (or sleep terror), his or her fear was likely inconsolable, no matter what you tried.

A night terror is a sleep disruption that seems similar to a nightmare, but is far more dramatic. Though night terrors can be alarming for parents who witness them, they're not usually cause for concern or a sign of a deeper medical issue.

What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Night Terrors?

During a night terror, a child might:

• suddenly sit upright in bed
• shout out or scream in distress
• have faster breathing and a quicker heartbeat
• be sweating
• thrash around
• act upset and scared

After a few minutes, or sometimes longer, the child simply calms down and returns to sleep.

Unlike nightmares, which kids often remember, kids won't have any memory of a night terror the next day because they were in deep sleep when it happened — and there are no mental images to recall.

What Causes Night Terrors?

Night terrors are caused by over-arousal of the central nervous system (CNS) during sleep.

Sleep happens in several stages. We have dreams — including nightmares — during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. Night terrors happen during deep non-REM sleep. A night terror is not technically a dream, but more like a sudden reaction of fear that happens during the transition from one sleep stage to another.

Night terrors usually happen about 2 or 3 hours after a child falls asleep, when sleep moves from the deepest stage of non-REM sleep to lighter REM sleep. Usually this transition is a smooth one. But sometimes, a child becomes upset and frightened — and that fear reaction is a night terror.

Who Gets Night Terrors?

Night terrors have been noted in kids who are:

• overtired, ill, or stressed
• taking a new medicine
• sleeping in a new environment or away from home
• not getting enough sleep
• having too much caffeine

Night terrors are relatively rare — they happen in only 3%–6% of kids, while almost every child will have a nightmare occasionally. Night terrors usually happen in kids between 4 and 12 years old, but have been reported in babies as young as 18 months. They seem to be a little more common among boys.

Some kids may inherit a tendency for night terrors — about 80% who have them have a family member who also had them or sleepwalking (a similar type of sleep disturbance).

A child might have a single night terror or several before they stop. Most of the time, night terrors simply disappear on their own as the nervous system matures.

How Can I Help My Child?

Night terrors can be very upsetting for parents, who might feel helpless when they can't comfort their child. The best way to handle a night terror is to wait it out patiently and make sure your child doesn't get hurt if thrashing around. Kids usually will settle down and return to sleep on their own in a few minutes.

It's best not to try to wake kids during a night terror. This usually doesn't work, and kids who do wake are likely to be disoriented and confused, and may take longer to settle down and go back to sleep.

There's no treatment for night terrors, but you can help prevent them. Try to:

• reduce your child's stress
• create a bedtime routine that's simple and relaxing
• make sure your child gets enough rest
• help your child from becoming overtired
• don't let your child stay up too late

If your child has a night terror around the same time every night, you can try waking him or her up about 15–30 minutes before then to see if that helps prevent it.

Understanding night terrors can ease your worry — and help you get a good night's sleep yourself. But if night terrors happen repeatedly, talk to your doctor about whether a referral to a sleep specialist is needed.

Night terrors in babies: Signs, causes, and treatment

Night terrors are more common in young children but may also occur in infants. Babies may cry, appear frightened or confused, or exhibit a fast heart rate. Keeping a baby on a regular sleep schedule can help.

A night terror is when a person wakes from sleep in a terrified state but does not remember anything the next day. They usually appear in children between the ages of 3 and 7 years, and about 30% of children have had at least one.

Babies can have them, too. They are less common in this age group, and the prevalence is unknown due to a lack of research specific to babies.

Night terrors are not the same as nightmares. However, some people use the term to describe anything that causes a baby to seem afraid at night.

Babies with night terrors may seem to be in a state of panic or fear. They may not respond to the adults around them and may also seem very confused.

During a night terror, a baby may scream, cry, or have a rapid heart rate. Afterward, the baby may show no signs of distress.

Night terrors do not indicate that the baby has had a bad dream. They do not tend to occur during the stages of sleep when dreaming takes place.

Learn about night terrors in toddlers here.

Night terrors almost always occur in the first third of a baby’s sleeping cycle. During a night terror, a baby may:

• sit up in bed and seem very afraid but not awake
• be unable to respond
• scream, cry, shout, or flail
• be difficult or impossible to awaken
• walk or crawl aimlessly

Night terrors can be brief, but some may last 45–90 minutes. Afterward, a baby may show no signs of remembering the terror. They may be calm or return to sleeping peacefully.

If a baby seems afraid after fully waking up, the issue might be something else, such as something scary in the room or a memory of a nightmare.

Doctors do not know what causes night terrors. No research has found a link between night terrors and brain chemistry or structural differences.

Children who sleepwalk are more likely to have night terrors. Babies with night terrors may eventually sleepwalk.

Night terrors most often happen between stages of sleep, such as non-rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and REM sleep. The brain’s electrical patterns change between these stages, which may lead to night terrors.

Also, children may be more likely to have night terrors when they have a fever, are under stress, are not sleeping enough, or are very physically active.

Some researchers believe that there is a genetic component to night terrors, though they have not identified a specific gene or combination of genes involved.

A night terror does not stem from a health condition, though some babies with night terrors have other sleep issues, such as insomnia.

There is no treatment that can end night terrors, but most babies grow out of them. To help manage the issue, try:

• soothing the baby
• adjusting the baby’s bedtime routine to reduce any stress
• modifying the baby’s diet to see whether any foods are triggers
• addressing sources of stress within the family
• making sure that the baby cannot flail and fall or hit their head while asleep

Sharing a room with the baby may also help, though it is not a good idea to share a bed.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents and babies share a room, but not a bed, for at least the first 6 months, and preferably the first year, of life.

In adults, antianxiety medication may help ease night terrors, but these are not recommended for babies.

Night terrors can be scary, but they are not a sign of a health problem.

While doctors sometimes recommend sleep studies for people with other sleep disorders, these tend to be of little help for people with night terrors.

Night terrors usually go away on their own. However, let the pediatrician know about the issue. They should ensure that the baby is not experiencing a different problem.

Also, let a doctor know if a baby seems very agitated or afraid during the day. If a toddler walks in their sleep, it is important to report this, too.

No strategy has been scientifically proven to prevent night terrors. Some people find that keeping a log of their baby’s night terrors helps them identify triggers, such as stressors, fatigue, or certain foods.

It may also help to:

• Establish a soothing nighttime routine.
• Put the baby to bed at the same time each night to prevent exhaustion.
• Avoid giving the baby anything that has caffeine in it.

Night terrors can be very disruptive and scary for everyone involved. However, they are not dangerous, and they usually go away on their own.

Anyone who thinks that their baby is experiencing this should notify a pediatrician, who can diagnose the issue and identify any changes that may help.

Night terrors in children - "BabySleep" article about nightmares and frights in children

Anna Bondarenko

Anna Bondarenko

Child and family psychologist-psychotherapist

Adult son and schoolgirl daughter

You will probably be surprised to learn that night terrors and nightmares are different phenomena. What is the difference? nine0003

Child's crisis calendar

Night terrors:

• Usually occur in the first 2 hours after falling asleep, last 5–10 minutes.
• Characteristic at the age of 2-4 years, as well as in the period of 6-12 years.

Night fears look like this: the child screams in a dream, the parents find the baby sitting in bed with his eyes open, with an expression of fright on his face, trembling or sweating. He does not answer questions addressed, after waking up he remains disoriented for some time, thinking is confused (usually the child does not wake up at all). nine0003

The child is often aggressive when trying to hold him or wake him up. Usually in the morning the child does not remember this episode.

Do not wake up the child, he will calm down by himself. Just be there and make sure that the child is not injured while throwing. This was not a “bad dream”, but an altered state, often caused by severe stress, chronic disruption of the regime, long trips.

Night terrors also occur when the body temperature rises.

How to help :

Early bedtime recommended, longer sleep duration. Night terrors go away with age.

Night terrors:

• Occur in the second half of the night.
• The peak of nightmares falls on periods of age crises: 4-5, 7-8, 12-14, 17 years.

The child dreams of monsters or the pursuit of him, the experiences are very realistic. The child wakes up crying or screaming. The child is frightened, sometimes it is difficult to calm him down. It is especially difficult to convince him that he has nothing to fear. nine0003

It is worth waking up the child and calming him down. There is no need to persuade him that dreaming monsters do not exist, for children they are quite real.

How to help :

• Use of "bad dream traps", charms, etc. is recommended From an empty box, you can build a "snovisor". Buttons and switches can be drawn or made from buttons. During the ritual of going to bed, the child will order dreams with the help of this “machine”. If on the previous night he had a nightmare, before the next bedtime, the “snovisor” must be “switched”. nine0030
• It is effective to use the “defender toy”, which the child or parents choose for this role.
• Frightening daytime experiences should be kept to a minimum. Television programs, scary books, music that is unpleasant for the child, frightening events and domestic quarrels - all this affects the child's sleep.

In both cases, it is recommended to avoid overwork and emotional overload, to ensure that the child gets enough sleep, and to provide him with the opportunity to properly relax before bedtime. It is recommended to minimize TV and electronic gadgets, especially in the evening. nine0003

#sleepy at night

Elena Muradova

Founder of BabySleep, the first sleep consultant in Russia and the CIS

Nightmares in a child: how to help him

Childhood nightmares and fears are an experience that many families go through. "Monsters" appear at night and scare not only the child: at such moments everyone is worried. But if you understand the nature of nightmares, then it will be quite possible to help the baby calm down and improve sleep. Anna Borodkina, a child analytical psychotherapist and clinical psychologist, talks about how to overcome fear together. nine0085