My son has Night Terrors. What are they and how can I help

[karicher]

Hi,

My 4 year old son has had Night terrors ever since I can remember. He wakes up screaming and yelling things out all the time. I am sure he must never get a decent nights sleep. Because he is little he can never seem to tell me anything about them or what he is dreaming about. Does anyone know if these are dreams, nightmares, night terrors (are they the same thing) or spirits? Is there anything I can do about them to help stop them and help him have a more relaxed sleep. He has them every night.

Thanks,

Melissa

[Varzandeh]

Hi,

My son is 21 as he says when he was 4-5 he had always dreams of fleeing from tigers and hidden people also he dreamt of being lost.
WHen he was at that age I had a very bad and complicated situation with many hidden enemies around.
In dream books of islamic interpretation is said that dreams of immatured children is about their parents and boys to their father.So his father has a special situation.Of course most terror dreams and horrible dreams have a good meaning at last.
Good luck.

[karicher]

Thank you for your reply.

So are you saying that the reason he might have night terrors is because I have enemy's? That is very interesting if that is the case as I have a lot of jelous people around me.

Also, what did you mean by him having a special situation with his father?

Thanks heaps, I appreciate your feedback,

Melissa

[DrEamYogi]

As a child growing up, my best friend had night terrors. He wouldn't be able to wake up and basically dreamt with eyes open but unaware of the people around him. It was rather scary because i would sleep over and he would wake up screaming at the top of his lungs. But I know my best friends parents just comforted him even though he was unaware of them doing this, and basically they just held him(if possible) until it ended and put him to bed again. They tried counselling and eventually he started recalling scary characters etc. that were in the dream, and i think it was rather scarier for him to recall these characters after not knowing that they even really existed in his dreams. But he grew out of them and they did stop. He had the most "normal" upbringing, no divorce or traumatic events in his life that you might think would cause this sort of psychological disorder(if thats what it even is). They also removed alot of random objests from his room that triggered(my friend felt)like his curtains that had bright balloons on it. I don't think you can really stop them and i think his parents said its best to let them play themselves out however traumatic it is for the parents to see. A few times he actually ran away from them thinking they were not his parents and they just said Leigh its mom and dad etc. over and over and eventually he was able to lay in there arms and just dream it out. Sorry I don't know if this helps but I though that it might be some input and i remember how very scary it would be to see him like that. Good luck with this and hopefully it will improve over time.. Take Care and hope all goes well. P.S I wish i knew a deeper meaning to this strange occurence, but i don't ...

[karicher]

Thank you for telling me about your friend. They can be quite scary. He does the same thing where he looks like he is wide awake but is totally in a dream. Very strange.

Thanks for sharing your story with me, I hope he grows out of them soon,

Melissa

[Varzandeh]

Hi,
No, his father has a bad situation and bad lucks.
Good luck.

[mwekenmann]

My half brother is 5 and had something similar. I dont necessarily think its something you can help. Im nto expert and there may be things you can do to help but Ive known alot of kids to wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying. My two cousins did when they were little, they are 12 and 14 now. And my 5 year old brother has had it too. It may be just because he is really tired and not getting enough sleep. Many people even children experience stress due to lack of sleep and this can cause lots of dreaming or nightmares. Ive personally never slept very well and when im very tired and stressed i noticed i dream alot. Im not sure if this helps but I think the night terrors may go away eventually.

[ioana]

Hopefully what I did, will work for you too. but le me start with the beginning.

My son since he was born until 1 yr and half, he was very agitated, and used to wake up everynight screaming. I breastfed him until 8 months old, and I thought he will stop waking up at night after a while. but he didn;t so i went to lots of doctors who said he misses the breastfeeding. but he will forget soon, and sleep through the night. time passed by, and he still wake up everynight around 3 am, screaming and kicking. his eyes were open, but he wouldn't react to any of us. we were trying to confort him, to sing, to play, we tryied everything. still I took him to doctors, they even did an ENCEPHALOGRAM - where they put lots of wires connected to a machine, and check the waves in the brain while he sleeps. everything came out normal. blood tests, tried it all. until one doctor gave me a paper with a method. so, here it is: by now you should know about what time your child wakes up at night. SO, WAKE HIM UP 10-15 MINUTES BEFORE IT HAPPENS. KEEP HIM FULLY AWAKE FOR 10-15 MINUTES. AND THEN PUT HIM BACK TO SLEEP. IN THAT TIME, DO NOT PLAY RUFF. KEEP HIM CLOSE TO YOU, PLAY WITH TOYS, TALK SOFTLY, MAYBE SING A LULLABY, TELL HIM SOMETHING NICE, IN A VERY CALM VOICE. then help him go back to sleep. DO THIS FOR 7 NIGHTS STRAIGHT. IF YOU STOP, IT WILL DO NO GOOD. SO, 7 NIGHTS!!
I did that and it was a blessing he didn;t wake up anymore at night. after almost 2 months, he started waking up again. so I did this method again for 7 nights. and that was it. right now he is 3 and nothing yet.

one more thing, I would like to mention! in my house, there was a spirit. when my son was able to talk, he told me about this man. in the beginning he was affriad of him, but later he started playing with him. my son told me this one night: "firefighter, water, fire, ouch, Jay" I went and found out about the house we live in, that 20 years ago, the house was burned down, and a guy died in it. i brought the priest in the house, and all that. I asked my neighbors about anything strange happening in their houses, and I was surprised to hear that in one house, the light turns on everynight on the stairs at 3 am, one she hears steps at 3-4 am, hear voices, about the same time... so... you decide what action you take for your son. I would say, try to talk to him, to ask him in the daytime about what he "sees" at night.

good luck!

[karicher]

Thanks everyone.

Do you think/believe that Spirits follow you from house to house? We have had 3 different houses with my son and he has had the same Night Terrors in every house.

He does not seem to wake up at roughly the same time every night. He wakes up many times, all through the night. From 2-3 hours after falling asleep to the wee hours of the morning. He is quite often very tired in the day and winges a lot. I think because he never has that really good night sleep that we all need.

It would be hard for me to wake him up at a time before he usually has them as they happen many times each night always at different times.

A friend of mine believes it is Spirits gaurding over him. I am wondering if there is a way to rid Spirits of your house.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for your advice. I am finding it all very helpful and interesting. keep it coming!

Thanks,

Melissa

[Varzandeh]

Hi,
If you think so about an spirit thing, It is not bad to whisper these prayers by him and let me know the result.

(The dawn)
In the name of God, the beneficent, the Merciful.

1. Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn.
2. From the evil of what He has created,
3. And from the evil of the utterly dark night when he comes,
4. And from the evil of those who blow on knots,
5. And from the evil of the envious when he envies.


(The men)
In the name of God, the beneficent, the Merciful.
1. Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of men,
2. The king of men,
3. The God of men,
4. From the evil of the whisperings of the slinking (Satan),
5. Who whispers into the hearts of men,
6. From among the jinn and the men.