Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Terrifying Night Terrors

Know what night terrors are? We do. Chloe has experienced them for the past two nights and if you've been through it you know they are terrifying!

We awoke Tuesday morning around 12:30 to Chloe screaming hysterically, running around upstairs. She was trembling, sweaty and incoherent. There was nothing we could do to calm her until I realized she needed to potty. Once she did that, she laid down and went right back to sleep.

This morning, it was 1:30 and she was sitting up in her bed screaming. Her light was on so we know she had gotten out of bed but she was totally incoherent again. I was able to get her calmed back down pretty quickly and she dozed off. It was a very scary experience. I laid awake in bed wondering if I needed to have my house exorcised and praying for god to protect her from whatever seemed to be tormenting her.

I've heard of night terrors before but I thought it only happened to toddlers. After doing a little research today, I learned that kids can experience them into adolescence. Chloe's episodes are textbook. She doesn't remember a thing about either episode (thankfully).

Stress (like the stress of a move perhaps?) and lack of sleep are thought to be causes. Both kids have been really out of their bedtime routine since I haven't been working full time. We'll have to work on getting back to it, especially since I'll be going back to work in a couple of weeks.

My little lady took a nap today - first one in weeks. Hopefully that will help too. If she has another episode, we will be visiting the doctor to get her checked out. I might need therapy too :(

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