NIGHT FRIGHTS and NIGHT TERRORS
by Tizzie Hall

It is not unusual for a child to enter a stage of activity whilst they are sleeping.  Often worrying for parents, activities such as sleep walking, sleep talking, nightmares and night terrors are usually harmless (when some common sense precautions are taken).  Identifying the type of activity that is taking place is the first step toward properly dealing with your child’s night fright.  Sleep walking and sleep talking are both easily identified however, nightmares and night terrors present with similar characteristics, but are two very different things.  It is important you work out which one of these your child is suffering from before you decide how you are going to help them.

Nightmares

Nightmares are common and most children experience them at some stage.  They normally occur in the last two thirds of the night, after midnight and before 7am.  They are more common in families who have a history of nightmares.  Nightmares are unlikely to be linked with any emotional problems and they will normally go away without any help needed.  If you have a child who is having nightmares, the first thing I would advise would be to stop your child from watching nearly all television.  Quite often television can be the trigger of nightmares.
Nightmares are very different to night terrors.  Nightmares can happen in children as young as two and happen equally in as many girls as boys.  Whereas night terrors rarely happen to girls and normally occur in boys from age 6, to 12 years old.
Sometimes nightmares can be a learnt attention seeking behaviour.  One night your child did have had a nightmare but got so much attention for it, they decide to pretend to have more.  Banning television and explaining to your child that it is because it is giving them nightmares, can often change your child’s mind about pretending to have them (whilst also cutting out the likely trigger).
Sometimes children wake up screaming, repeating phrases like ‘go away’, ‘no’, as if they are recalling something that has happened during the day.  If this happens, you can try to wake your child up gently, to reassure him as much as possible.  If he can remember the dream, you may have to give him a lot of comfort and reassurance, before he will return to sleep.  Be careful not to suggest ideas or scenes, by saying something like ‘did you see a scary monster’ or ‘was it the bad man again?’  Often parents do this trying to reassure their child, but are actually making things worse.
You need to reassure him that although his fears seem real, his dreams are not.  You can help him to learn the difference.  Your confidence in his ability to cope with the nightmares will help him enormously.  If you can’t ban television altogether, try to keep tabs on what your child is watching, reading in books or seeing on his computer – avoid things that will compound his fears.

Night Terrors

Despite this being a very frightening experience to witness, a child who suffers from a night terror is not aware of it happening and will not remember it in the morning.  Your child will make a piercing scream and he will be wide eyed, anxious and his pupils will be dilated.  He will probably have sweat running down his forehead and if you go to pick him up or comfort him, you will notice his heart is pounding.  You may feel as though an evil spirit is trying to get out of your child.  Your child will seem as though he is awake but will actually be asleep.  The night terror can last from 5 to 15 minutes.  It is not advised to try and wake your child while the night terror is happening, but to just sit and comfort him.
Night terrors usually happen more to boys than girls and start between 6 and 12 years of age. On the very odd occasion a child as young as 4 years old may have one.  From my experience they normally occur in the overtired child who is out of routine, due to school holidays, friends or relatives visiting or some other disruption.

Bringing your child’s bedtime forward by half an hour can cause the night terrors to stop.

Night terrors always happen in the first third of your child’s sleep, so this would be before midnight.

They normally happen at the exact same stage of sleep each night, so I advise parents to stay with their child and note exactly what time they fall asleep.  Then look at the time the night terror starts.  The next night you wake your child up before the night terror is due to start.  For example, if your child went to bed at 7:00pm, but fell asleep at 7:21pm and the night terror started at 10:14pm you would know the night terror started 2 hours and 53 minutes into sleep.  So the next night you would sit with your child until he falls asleep and then wake him 2 hours and 40 minutes after falling asleep.  If you do this for four nights running you will usually break the night terror pattern and they will disappear.  When waking your child, do it slowly and talk to them, making sure they are fully awake.  Your child will not be aware of the night terrors so they will not be sure why you are waking them.  You will have to come up with a good story, one that just can’t wait until the morning.

Sleep-walking

Sleep walking is more common in boys than girls and often runs in families.  Children who sleep walk are usually between the ages of six and sixteen.  Sleep-walking episodes normally happen in the first third of sleep so again before midnight.  Children who sleep-walk may walk around the house for up to thirty minutes.  As well as walking, a sleep walker may get dressed, open the fridge or even the front door.  With this in mind it is very important to make the environment safe where the sleep walking is taking place.  You should have the front door locked so that a child sleep walking can not open it but so you can if you are in an emergency.

Most sleep-walking children are unaware of what they are doing and won’t remember anything about it in the morning.  It is usually more worrying for the parents than the child when they discover their child trotting around.
Sleep-walking is caused by the movement centre in the brain remaining still active during sleep.  Most sleep-walkers eventually stop on their own, although there are many adults who still wander around the house wearing pyjamas and a glazed expression!

Sleep-talking

Sleep talking happens to children between three and ten years and again in the first third of the night so before midnight.  It is impossible to hold a conversation with a sleep talker.  They tend to be talking to themselves and if you ask them a question you will only get a one syllable answer.  Children tend to just be repeating the same thing while they talk in their sleep.  They say things like ‘its mine’ or ‘get down’ as if they are going over something that happened in their day. Like sleep walking children do not remember it in the morning and tend to grow out of it.

* Tizzie Hall has worked for 15 years as a private sleep consultant through her business Save Our Sleep (SOS).  She can be contacted at www.saveoursleep.com.