Understanding and Coping With Night Terrors in Children

As a parent, you likely have spent many hours and nights worrying and planning your kid’s sleep. In the newborn days, those hours are often spent praying for more than two consecutive hours of sleep. In the toddler years, those hours may be spent juggling the mental gymnastics of scheduling naps around various other tasks and activities.

While both of those seasons are incredibly difficult and exhausting, navigating scary sleep disturbances with your child can be immensely stressful and heartbreaking to tackle. If you are in this season, know that there is help and you are not alone. This article may provide you some insight and suggestions of where to start regarding night terrors in children.

Sleep Cycles

In a nutshell, a sleep cycle refers to the pattern of sleep phases you move through as you sleep. It is the way you shift from slumber to alertness and vice versa. The cycle consists of two alternating phases – rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep.

As you leave one phase and enter the next, you experience changes in brain wave activity as well as physical changes such as breathing and heart rate. Typically, your body goes through four to six of these cycles a night.

REM sleep is the lightest form of sleep and you can be easily awakened during this phase. In REM sleep your eyes rapidly move back and forth, your brain becomes more active, and you can have vivid dreams. Non-REM sleep is where you enter deep sleep, and it becomes more difficult for external noises or disturbances to wake you up.

It is this phase of sleep that provides quality rest for your body and mind. You do not dream in the non-REM phase, nor are there any eye movements. Non-REM sleep is the phase during which night terrors and sleepwalking can occur.

What is a night terror?

A night terror is a sudden reaction of fear that disrupts your child’s sleep and that can last anywhere from a few seconds to fifteen minutes or longer. The child screams and sits upright with their eyes wide open and a look of fear or panic on their face. They may thrash, kick, mumble incoherently, or even get out of bed and walk or run around. Then as suddenly as the episode began, he or she falls back into a peaceful sleep.

Watching a child have a night terror can be super scary to a parent or caregiver, but it is harmless to the child, and despite the intensity of the episode, he or she will not remember it upon waking the next morning.

Night terrors in children are not caused by psychological issues. Rather, they are sleep disturbances resulting from difficulty transitioning between the two alternating cycles of rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and deep, non-REM sleep. The child is unable to go through the sleep cycle properly, gets stuck in the non-REM deep sleep cycle, and a series of neural emissions ensue causing him or her to experience an intense flight or fight sensation.

Night terrors are most common in children between the ages of two and five, and usually disappear before puberty as the child’s nervous system develops and matures.

Differences Between Night Terrors and Nightmares

When they happen

Night terrors occur within two to three hours after falling asleep, during the deep non-REM sleep cycle. Nightmares, on the other hand, happen later in the night during the lighter REM sleep cycle.

The way they present themselves

Nightmares are scary dreams that wake the child up and make him or her afraid to go back to sleep. During night terrors the child is not dreaming. He or she is experiencing a sudden reaction of fear during the transition from one sleep cycle to another, and when it is over, he or she will settle back to quiet sleep.

Memory of the episode

Children often remember their nightmares, but night terrors happen while the child is in a deep sleep, so he or she has no mental image to recall and will have no memory of it afterward.

Possible Causes of Night Terrors in Children

Inability to transition through the sleep cycle

Night terrors are caused by over-arousal of the central nervous system during sleep when the child is unable to transition through the sleep cycles properly.

Sleep deprivation

Studies indicate that sleep deprivation is one of the main triggers of night terrors in children. An overtired child will fall into deep sleep quickly, and then when it’s time for the sleep cycle to change from non-REM to REM, part of the child’s brain wants to remain in deep sleep mode. This struggle between the sleep cycles is what causes the feelings of panic and fear that are exhibited as night terror.

Genetics

Night terrors tend to run in families. Studies have shown that there seems to be a genetic component, and children having parents or other family members who have had night terrors are more likely to experience them as well.

Sleep disorders

Night terrors can sometimes be a symptom of other sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.

Caffeine

Consuming foods and snacks high in caffeine such as chocolate or sodas can trigger night terrors.

Fever

Night terrors may be triggered by sickness and fever.

Medications

Certain medications may trigger night terrors.

An erratic sleep schedule

An erratic sleep schedule can disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation, making the child more vulnerable to night terrors.

Common Characteristics Of Night Terrors In Children

• Suddenly sitting bolt upright in bed.
• Uncontrollable crying.
• Thrashing around, screaming, kicking.
• Talking gibberish.
• Sleepwaking.
• Acting upset and scared.
• Being inconsolable.
• Terrified, glassy-eyed look.
• Not seeing you even though their eyes are wide open.
• Looking confused or dazed, and saying things that don’t make sense.
• Rapid breathing and heart rate.
• Flushed skin, dilated pupils, muscle tension.
• No memory of the episode in the morning.
• Being aggressive if attempts are made to block or restrain him or her.

Dos and Don’ts If Your Child Has A Night Terror

• Stay calm.
• Make sure your child cannot hurt him or herself.
• Ensure that the child’s room is a safe space by removing any potentially dangerous items that could cause them to get hurt such as toys on the floor they could trip over. Make sure windows and doors are secured and that stairways are blocked by a safety gate in case the child gets up and starts walking or running around.
• Don’t let the child sleep in a bunk bed.
• Don’t try to wake your child up. Trying to wake up a child during a sleep terror episode may make it last longer or provoke a physical response that can cause accidental injury to you or the child.
• Don’t shake the child or yell at him or her.
• If the child talks, don’t argue or disagree with him or her.
• If he or she is resistant to being touched, back off and let the episode run its course.
• Do not discuss the terror with your child or share your distress with him or her.
• Pray for God to protect your child and help him or her calm down.

How To Minimize Night Terrors

• If your child has night terrors around the same time every night, try waking him or her up 15-30 minutes before then and keeping him or her awake and out of bed for five minutes. This might alter your child’s sleep pattern enough to prevent the night terror from happening.
• Reduce your child’s stress.
• Make sure your child goes to the bathroom before going to bed.
• Stick to a regular sleep schedule of getting up and going to bed at the same time each day.
• Keep your child from getting overtired and add an afternoon nap if needed.
• Create a relaxing bedtime routine and stick to it.
• Keep your child’s consumption of caffeinated foods or snacks such as chocolate or soda to a minimum.
• Speak to your child’s pediatrician if the night terrors continue.

If you have questions or would like to discuss this subject at greater length with me or another Christian counselor in McKinney, Texas, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at Texas Christian Counseling, McKinney.