What are sleep terrors?
Sleep terrors, also called night terrors, are partial awakenings
from sleep in which your child’s eyes may be open and accompanied by such
behaviors as screaming, crying, mumbling, thrashing, kicking, or sleep walking.
Your child may appear panicked, dazed and confused, or very frightened or
agitated. These terrors can be very distressing for parents or other observer to
watch, but they are harmless to your child, as he or she will fall back to sleep
when the episode ends.
What causes sleep terrors?
Physicians and researchers are not sure what causes sleep
terrors. They do know the phenomena to be fairly common in children ages 3
through about 12 years and usually diminish in adolescence. Sleep researchers
have found that sleep terrors may "run" in families. Certain situations also
make sleep terrors more likely to occur and they include:
- Insufficient sleep time (sleep deprivation) or erratic schedule
- Fever and/or illness
- Certain medications (e.g. some sedatives)
- Sleeping in a noisy or unfamiliar environment such as after a move
- Sleeping with a full bladder
- Psychosocial stress
What should I do about my child’s sleep terrors?
Protect your child from injury. The most important step a
parent or guardian can take if your child has sleep terrors is to protect him or
her from injury. Most often the child stays in bed and appears terrified but
sometimes they may get out of bed and hurt themselves. To guard against these
problems, put up door gates, stair gates, and secure windows. You may simply
hang bells on door knobs or purchase other inexpensive motion alarms and
detectors for placement in key spots in and around the house to alert you that
your child is out of the room.
Return your child back to bed with as little interference as
possible. Don’t try to wake up your child during the sleep terror. This may
worsen or prolong the episode. In addition, there is no need to make soothing
comments unless it seems to help your child. Usually, such efforts will
irritate your child. Do, however, intervene to keep your child out of harm’s
way, and try to gently steer your child back to bed.
Maintain a regular sleep schedule. Since sleep terrors can
be triggered by not getting enough sleep or a change in sleep schedule, try to
make sure that your child is not sleep deprived or not going to bed at a
different time than usual.