Our daughter did not experience night terrors until several months after travel. I was taken aback when I saw my normally easy going daughter thrashing around her crib. After many sleepless nights, I began researching night terrors on many of my go to boards for international adoption. After a bit of research, I was able to come up with a somewhat comprehensive list of characteristics distinguishing night terrors from other sleep disturbances.
• Protect your child from hurting themselves by removing toys from their bed.
• Night terrors typically do not occur after the first third of the night. Children fall into their deepest sleep during the first hour, transitioning into REM sleep. It is during this shift between light sleep and heavy sleep that children have night terrors.
• Parents typically find their child is sweaty with an increased heart rate and rapid breathing.
• When a child is having a night terror, it is best to let it run its course. Meaning, stand beside their bed or crib but avoid picking them up. A child will fall back asleep without help. It is the obvious inclination of parents to sooth their child, but the child can typically overcome the situation without intervention. Of course, you should try to sooth them and wait until it is over.
• Children typically have no recollection of the event.
• Night terrors occur more frequently when a child’s regular sleep pattern is disturbed or a child has experienced anxiety. Night terrors also occur in adopted children who have had medication which affects their central nervous system, meaning anesthesia.
Other simple causes include eating too much prior to laying down.
• Nightmares are different than night terrors. Nightmares occur during the REM cycle of sleep. Only about 1-6% of children have true night terrors.
• Parents who are experiencing nights long episodes can try to prevent them by waking up their child after about a half an hour of sleep. This will break the sleep cycle, so the episode might be avoided.
• Parents of international adoption will also find the following article helpful in better understanding night terrors.
http://www.chinesechildren.org/Newsletter/Professional%20Corner%5CPC_04_2007.pdf
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