Good morning mamas...my question is really several questions in one...so please bare with me!!
How often do you check on your kids when they wake at night? Some parents I know let their kids naturally fall back asleep after having a nightmare/night terror/etc. Some parents will check on their kids every time they hear them wake, call for Mom, etc (this is me...LOL...I'm a light sleeper and they share a room RIGHT next to ours)....What do you do? Let them come to you? What happens if they are yelling for you?
If your kids sleep on a different level than you (you downstairs, them upstairs) - how do you handle the same situations?
For kids that SHARE A ROOM....If one wakes up yelling and screaming...do you let them ride it out in their room? Or move them until they calm down?
Do you/have your kids woken at night from what appears to be a nightmare of some sort and are just plain MAD...my kids both do this from time to time. They are AWAKE...so it's not a night terror. But they are mad....yelling at Dad and I...nasty tones, etc. The next day they do not know WHY they were so upset but do remember these outbursts. What have you done that worked to calm them down? So far just letting them scream hasn't worked....moving them to a different room so they do not wake their sibling works after like 15 minutes...not talking to them definitely does not work...hugging them tightly (incase they are scared) does not work for my son but have not tried with my daughter.
Overall my kids sleep great....but about 2x a month they each have these horrible fits/night wakings and are inconsolable.
Also they currently share a bedroom next to hubby and I but we are putting a bedroom in the basement (egree window too) this summer...so they will be further away when they wake at night!
Thanks in advance!!!
I only check on my son when he is crying, that obvious "I need my Mommy" cry. I only have one, but I think if I had two I would let them work it out unless it was obvious I was needed, like with the "I need my Mommy" cry.
Regarding the random night rages ... does the doc know about this? Have you thought about recording them so everyone knows the severity of the situation?
If my DD wakes up enough to call for me or get out of bed, I snuggle her, calm her, whatever she needs. Last night I held her for a bit til the nightmare images went away and put her back to bed. She asked if I'd stay and I did for about 5 minutes - all she needed to feel reassured and go back to sleep. She doesn't share a room, but she does share a wall with SD if SD is home. SD uses a fan for white noise.
It sounds like your kids have night terrors. DD acts very differently when she has a night terror but I can tell she is not awake. For us, it often helps to try to wake her, but how varies. Sometimes a touch or a voice just becomes part of the dream and is scary. I usually try singing her lullaby - which is comforting to her and usually helps her snap out of it. Your kids might also sleepwalk and have NO IDEA what they did or said. If you think they are likely to sleepwalk and get hurt, put up gates for stairs and things.
Mine are only 1 and 2. If either cries (usually the 2 year old doesn't) and it lasts more than a few seconds I will go calm them down. They share a room.
What you describe is a night terror.
They look awake , but aren't really , they are kind of trapped in their dream.
My daughter will periodically do what I can only describe as throw these tantrums in the middle of the night. Nothing will work to stop it while it's happening. Just hold them tight so they don't hurt themselves or someone else and ride it out. It usually happens when my daughter is over tired when she goes to bed.
Other than that I do go see what is up because I know I won't beable to get back to sleep until they are. My son will get really upset because he's not sleeping. and he will grunt and mumble and sometimes scream about it. I never know if something is really wrong like two nights ago he was up all night with an ear ache and if I hadn't gotten up to see I'd have never been able to help him. I always go see what's wrong. They know they can depend on me to help.
