Annita Townsley
Each night in the US, about 200,000 households are awakened by the terrified cries of a child. When parents race to offer comfort, they find that their little one seems awake, frightened and oblivious to her surroundings. This is not a typical childhood nightmare, but a night terror.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 38% of all children will experience periods of night terrors. They occur most often in children between the ages of two and five. But what are night terrors and how are they different from nightmares?
Dr. William King, of Temple University Children's Medical Center in Philadelphia, says that they occur during different sleep stages. "Nightmares occur during dream sleep or REM sleep and can often be remembered later." Dr. King says that night terrors are "quite dramatic, but innocent episodes that occur usually during the transition between light and deep sleep." They are rarely recalled by children upon awakening.
To a worried parent, night terrors are just that, terrifying. The child appears so scared that it is hard to believe that she isn't experiencing genuine fear, but Dr. King assures us that, "The child appears to be scared, but when children are sleep studied during night terrors, they don't show any of the signs of fear (like elevated blood pressure or stress hormone levels)."
The medical term for a night terror is "parasomnia." While that sounds dramatic, it is used to describe many sleep disorders including sleep walking and sleep talking. In fact, night terrors could be thought of as a child's version of sleep talking. Dr. King explains, "We believe that night terrors are similar to sleep talking and just as adults who talk in their sleep often use common phrases, young children with night terrors are just using their most common behaviors, crying and yelling."
So, what is a parent to do? The first instinct is to comfort and reassure ‚ but that is exactly what you should not do. Since the child is actually still asleep and is not really frightened, the best response is to do nothing. The episodes usually last only a few seconds, and then the child will settle down and have no memory of the event in the morning.
Well-meaning family members or friends sometimes recommend a dose of the antihistamine diphenhyrdamine (Benadryl and others) or a similar drug before bedtime to prevent night terrors, but Dr. King warns against it. "Benadryl has appropriately been in the news for the dangers of its use as a sedative. Since night terrors are benign to the child, they should be given nothing to prevent them."
Benadryl can be very harmful when given to babies and young children. They need to wake themselves easily to prevent dangers like choking, and the sedating effect of Benadryl interferes with the child's natural waking mechanism.
Children usually outgrow night terrors by the time they are five or six years old. If your child is still having these episodes more than once a month beyond age six, Dr. King suggests seeing your child's physician to set your mind at ease. The doctor will do a physical exam and gather a detailed history. If the problem is severe, the child may be referred to a sleep specialist so that a sleep study can be performed. In rare cases, an EEG may be ordered to rule out seizures.
Although night terrors can be very upsetting to parents, they are completely harmless. The child rarely remembers them and suffers no ill effects. Best of all, they are soon outgrown, and then the whole family can sleep peacefully!
Annita Townsley is a professional freelance writer who focuses on parenting and children's health issues.
May not be reproduced in any format without written permission.
