Скачать или смотреть How can I help my child with night terrors?

A lot of parents have questions about night terrors. And if you have a child who has ever had one, it can be so scary as a parent when you watch them thrash around, and scream, and yell, and you try to wake them up, they don't wake up, and then maybe 10 to 15 minutes later they just go back to sleep, and it leaves you wondering "What was that?". And of course, if it's happening on a regular basis, you want to know what you can do to stop it. Night terrors can affect children as young as 18 months old all the way up to 12 years of age, and it has something to do with the developing brain and the different stages of sleep.

So when you go to sleep at night, you go through different stages, and between deep non-REM sleep and lighter REM sleep - and REM sleep is where you dream and you have nightmares, and during this deep non-REM sleep, children's central nervous system can become over-stimulated. Sometimes this is because they're overly tired, or it's due to stress or a change in routine, and if parents had it, then children are more likely to have it, so there may be a genetic component too. But for whatever reason, a child may just start to scream out suddenly, and it usually happens 2 to 3 hours after they've gone to sleep, which is when they're switching over from the deep non-REM to the REM sleep.

If and when this happens to your child, the number one thing for you to remember is that they're fine. They won't remember this, and in fact, if you talk to them about it the next morning, they won't have any recollection of it, and they'll wonder why you're so freaked out by it. And so they're totally fine. Your responsibility as a apparent is just to be patient while they're going through it, and to make sure that they're safe, if they're thrashing around, that they're not going to hurt themselves in the episode. And in fact, if you try to wake them up, they'll probably just be more disoriented, wonder what's going on, and have a harder time going back to sleep.

Now if it's happening on a super regular basis, and it's affecting your ability to sleep or the dynamics in your home, or you notice that your child is unusually tired during the day, or there are behavioral issues during the day, talk with your pediatrician, and they'll work through it with you and decide if further investigation or treatment is necessary. If you have more questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at   / intermountainmoms  , and recommend us to your friends and family too.