This past week, Annabel has been waking up randomly in the night screaming to high heaven. No amount of consolation could stop her, and we ended up taking hours rocking her back to sleep.
I talked to the doctor after night three of this, and she told me it's night terrors, which are surprisingly common in young children (although a bit usual in an 11 month old). Turns it it has to do with how an immature CNS handles deep, non-REM sleep -- sometimes, the kids just act out through screaming and flailing, yet are fully asleep and have no recollection of it in the morning.
The best prevention is to make sure Annabel gets enough sleep during the day; tired babies are more susceptible than well-rested ones. So, she now gets two long naps in the day. So far, it's working. We're crossing our fingers she can move through this phase, because her screams are downright blood-curdling, and I'm afraid the cops are going to come knocking at our door one night out of suspicion we're bludgeoning cats to death for our Satanic rituals.
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My stepson had regular night terrors from about 7 to about 10 years of age, including running, screaming, shaking, getting out to the front lawn (one time), etc.
I hope yours go more quickly than did ours. It wasn't fun getting ready for the 50% chance he'd get out of his room and start running around in terror about an hour after going to bed.
And yes, I lived in fear of the cops for a while - especially after the front lawn incident (a 10-year old running around on the front lawn in his underwear screaming, alternatively, "Mommy!" and "No!" would seem to merit a call to the cops to me, but apparently our neighbors were more blase than I).
Posted by: M1EK | March 8, 2005 06:29 AM
