The Nightmares of a Toddler

[Larry_OHF]

Poor little MaryBeth has been having nightmares I think. She will be three in June. Almost every night, she screams out and kicks the post of her bed as she suddenly awakes, and I am usually here or in bed, so I try to go calm her down as quickly as possible. Sometimes, it is not so severe as to need me, and so she returns to sleep on her own. If her mom goes...then MaryBeth will wanna be held and rocked, and that could go on for a good hour! With me, I just have to tuck her in and pet her head until she falls asleep again (3 mintutes). Some of the most severe cases brings her outta the bed and running to find us. Half the time she will come to our bed (in which she gets taken right back to her own...none of this sleeping with mommy & daddy stuff!) or she will open the door and just stand there. She is mostly still sleepy enough to not even know where she is, I think. I just pick her up and take her back to her room.
This is only once a night. I do not remember it happening twice in a night before.

Any ideas? What can I do to help her sleep more?

FYI>>>She does not require a night-light. She has never needed one, nor will we ever spoil her into having one. We also never let her suck her thumb or attach herself to the need of a pacifier. She never wanted one. So we never encouraged it. I truelly have a miraculous child. She does not fit the stereotypical toddler, nor ever has. She's my little girl.

[ 05-20-2003, 01:27 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[LordKathen]

Hey Larry, hows it goin? I have a 2 year old boy turning 3 July 7th. About a month ago he went through about 6 or 7 nights of this same behavior. I don't think there is much you can do, except moniter what she watches before bed, and comfort her when she wakes up. A good thing to do is read her a good childs book of her choice before she goes to sleep. Regarding the diferance you noted between you and her mom, I believe thats pretty normal. Me and Amber (Lady Aberdene) have the same diferance of effect on our children. Anyway, she will most likely get through this. Be consistant and caring. All will be fine. [img]smile.gif[/img]
BTW, here is my family,

[Stormymystic]

my soon to be 3 year old...october 11, has them too, I think it is a phase all go through, I disagree about the lights and sleeping with us, it comforts me as much as her to know she needs me enough to let me hold her while she sleeps, my other 2 will let me hold them for a little while, but that is it, and I leave a light on down the hall, so they all can see if they wake up, think about it, if you are having a bad dream and wake up in more darkness are you going to be scared? not trying to say you are wrong, just my opinion on it, i have to have a light on, since my son was a baby we always had tohave one in case he stopped breathing, easier to see if he is blue, a little far off what you are going through though, but sometimes it helps if daddy holds her a little while whle she falls back to sleep, then carry her back to bed, when my husband goes to work Skyler wakes up crying, as if in her sleep she knows he is gone, and she always comes to bed with me, I sometimes make her go backto her bed, but toddlers tend to become afraid of boogie men at about 2 1/2 to 3 years old, that is when they start to understand concepets of right and wrong, normal and abnormal, scary and funny, so try the new night lights they have out, they are real pale and like blue or pink some yellows, colored lights help create moods and atmosphers, just a suggestion [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Epona]

Larry - important information for you.

It sounds to me as if your little girl is suffering from Night Terrors. It is very common in toddlers, and the vast majority of kids grow out of it after a few years.

I have had them all my life (one of the unlucky tiny minority who didn't grow out of it - bah) and they happen just as you wake up, and can go on for about 5 minutes. They are confusing and terrifying, but are usually forgotten by morning. If your little girl is getting night terrors she will be very scared, far worse than a nightmare, and confused for a while (which is why she sometimes doesn't seem to know where she is). All you can do is comfort her - and it sounds as if you are doing that - but only give her a cuddle when she's ready because in some kids being touched during the night terror can increase the panic, talking softly and soothingly until she wants a cuddle is the best way to deal with it.

Don't worry, they don't cause any harm, and there's nothing wrong with her - this happens to a lot of kids. She will be fine.

They can be triggered by eating too late at night, being too hot at night, or ear infections, or being too tired at bedtime, but can also just occur randomly with no trigger.

Give her a hug from me Larry. [img]smile.gif[/img]

EDIT: to say the link I posted is mostly for adults like me who continued to suffer from them after childhood, and talks mostly about adult's experiences. There is a message board there, and there are I'm sure loads of parents on there who are going through similar experiences with their little ones.

[ 05-20-2003, 07:00 AM: Message edited by: Epona ]

[Sir Taliesin]

I think epona is right. My first one had night terrors. It happened about the same time every night. We found that it usually happened when she was real tired and had played hard all day. We solved it by getting her in bed a little bit earlier. Seems like maybe 30 minutes earlier. Usually a book was all it took to get her to go to sleep. She really had no clue that she was getting in bed earlier that way as well. Might give it a try.

[Dreamer128]

Although I do not have anything constructive to add, I just wanted to give your daughter my best Larry. I really do hope she'll recover [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

Wow! Thanks all! This is alot of good information.