Bit was just diagnosed with having night terrors, although she hasn't had a traditional night terror since we did sleep training. I didn't realize at the time that they were night terrors, starting around 8 or 9 months old. When she would wake in the night, we went to her, as we were "trained" to when she was a newborn, except nothing we did seemed to comfort her. Often it seemed to make it worse. After many difficult months, we finally found the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. This book helped us let go and use the "elimination" method of sleep training (aka cry it out). It more or less worked like a charm. Within 3 days, our nights were much more peaceful.
Bit often cries out during sleep transitions, but it's usually no more than single cry or short series of whimpers. The form her night terror general takes is what I call "nap terrors". Technically I believe it is "sleep inertia" (which is briefly mentioned in Weissbluth's book) or "confusional arousal" (this term brings up more articles on a google search). But according to our doctor, it all falls under night terrors, like so many medical definitions (morning sickness for example) it's a misnomer. Unfortunately I'm not sure when Bit had her first "nap terror" but I think it was between 13 and 15 months. It may have been closer to 15 months, when we took away the bottle (though she seemed fine with that transition) and we were house hunting and preparing to move.
During a nap terror, she wakes from her nap after a good amount of time 90 min-2+ hours, but she immediately starts crying. If you go to her and try to pick her up or soothe her, it gets worse: she arches her back, flails, screams more, hits and generally throws a huge tantrum for no discernable reason. If left in the crib, she kicks at the slats. It almost seems like she is in pain or very angry/distressed. She won't respond to her name and she doesn't call for mom or dad. It's just a "fit" generally lasting 15 min or up to an hour. The more you try to interact with her and soothe her, the longer it lasts. Nothing helps, except time. Her brain needs time to adjust to the wakeful state. According to her doctor she gets "stuck" in Stage 4 of sleep; she isn't truly awake.
It definitely took her a couple weeks to adjust to our new home (a very different home, two level townhouse vs. apartment). We had some rough mornings and I think that some of them were due to "sleep inertia". As far as I know this behavior didn't happen at daycare until recently. I was informed almost daily for the first 2 weeks of July that she was having disrupted sleep and crying inconsolably. I didn't know what to make of the reports as her napping at home was normal. Then last week I was informed that she had been "weaned" off the pacifier at naptime. The doctor and I believe this may have triggered the recent episodes since she is used to having a paci at sleeptimes. Having a pacifier doesn't guarantee that she won't have a "fit" but it may help prevent it.
The doctor also recommends that we try to do more quiet play with her before her nap and work to avoid her getting overtired. If she continues to have the episodes and it is too disruptive to the other children, she may have to be moved to a new daycare where she can be isolated during naptime. We hope it doesn't come to that.
There is also a chance that since she has difficulty with sleep transitions she could have sleepwalking episodes when she's older or true night terrors (crying out in the middle of the night, inconsolable...especially since I think that happened when she was younger). But at least we know what it is now and we know how to handle it. As well as how to maybe prevent it.
Family History: I know I had a couple instances of sleepwalking as a kid, but it was not a chronic problem. I also had severe nightmares, but those are different from night terrors in that terrors are usually not remembered and they aren't really dreams. My cousin has been known to sleepwalk as well and my husband's grandmother (who Bit was named for) also has had sleepwalking episodes.
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