What Causes Night Terrors?
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Night terrors generally occur in children who are three to 12. A lot of parents are introduced to night terrors during the toddler years and this can be very stressful and upsetting for the whole family. Night terrors are different from nightmares in that they are so much more intense and recurrent. It can also be disconcerting because when your child begins screaming from a night terror they are not completely awake, so you cannot get them to talk to you and you may actually find that the more you talk to them the more fearful they get.
The Cause of Your Toddler’s Night Terrors
Night terrors can be difficult to deal with and many parents are left scratching their heads asking, “What is causing this to happen?” It is very stressful when your child is in the throes of a night terror but there are some distinct things that have been connected to night terrors that may help you limit the recurrence of these upsetting nighttime awakenings for the whole family.
Some of the most common causes of a toddler’s night terrors include:
- ∙ Medications
- ∙ Sleep deprivation
- ∙ Changes in day to day life
- ∙ Stress
- ∙ Fever
Knowing the causes of night terrors can help you help your child avoid them in the future. They tend to run in families and may be associated with other sleep disorders so you may not be able to eliminate them entirely, but you can help. Make sure that your child is getting enough sleep. If you change the sleep cycle or your child stays up late, they are more likely to have night terrors during the first 1/3 of the sleep time. Also, try to eliminate fever before a child goes to bed, as fever has been linked closely to night terrors.
Medications that affect the central nervous system are known to cause night terrors. You may want to talk with your child’s doctor about changing the dosage or the time when you are giving them the medication to see if you can reduce the reoccurrence rate in your child. You may not be successful, but it may help the whole family rest easier, too!
Stress and changes in day to day life are part of life, but try to ease your child into new situations. When you do this they will be less likely to experience night terrors and if they are already experiencing them you may be able to help limit the number of nights per week that you are waking up to a screaming child! Many times just trying to keep a schedule when new things are occurring in the life of a child will help to limit the number of night terrors, but it really is a process of trial and error for each family.
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