Advice by Pediatric Conditions: Night Terrors

Night terrors are characterized by episodes of awakening from sleep, screaming, crying and acting terrorized. It is usually very difficult to calm the terrorized child. Once the child calms and falls back asleep they generally have no further terrors that night and no memory of the episode the next day.

However, night terrors are a recurring problem, and in fact can be so regular that they occur like clockwork. If your child has clockwork night terror episodes, you can awaken your child 10 to 15 minutes before the terror is due to start. That will usually prevent the night terror on that night. Continue to do this each night for about 2 weeks and that will usually end the night terror episodes. If the terrors return after this 2 week program, try the awakening program for another 2 weeks.

If your child’s night terrors are not predictable there’s not much you can do beyond ensuring there’s enough light in your child’s room so they can recognize their surroundings and offering reassurance when the terrors recur.

There’s not much reason to see the doctor for night terrors. There’s nothing that we can do to help. However, if you think your child has an illness or behavior disorder, then an office appointment is reasonable.