Night terrors

Nightmares should be distinguished from night terrors. Night terrors are sleep disturbances that occur in the very early morning, shortly after the child fell asleep. They may be frightened not only the baby, but adults who are watching. The child begins to mutter, shriek in horror, randomly toss on his bed, he was sweating, his heart beating strongly. When parents approach him, he did not know.

Night terror attack begins with a frightened cry or scream when the child wakes up, then he starts to move actively, as if trying to escape from danger. It is still not clear, whether the child is sleeping at this moment or awake. Although he does not react to the presence of adults, called him asleep at this point is also impossible. Most likely, this is some sort of transitional state from sleep to awakening. At the moment of awakening he experiences the symptoms of this fear - it raises blood pressure and quickens the heartbeat, dilates pupils of the eyes.

At this point, should not bother the kid, figuring out what he dreamed, as this will only hurt him in a natural way to move into a phase restful sleep. The child simply does not need consolation: in spite of the fact that there are all symptoms of fear, this fear (as in a nightmare), he does not feel. It is better to put him to bed, pat on the head, ukachayte, and the child falls asleep easily. It is possible that the baby immediately plunged into a deep sleep, and in the morning and not remember what had happened.

Night terrors are many children, but healthy they arise infrequently. If fears continue for many nights in a row - it is an occasion to visit a doctor. Cause of fears can be anxiety, separation, troubled family relationships, but often they are not associated with psychological problems. Nor should we think that the night terrors - a sign of epilepsy. It is noticed that the night terrors, like somnambulism, yalyayutsya hereditary disease. In 96% of them suffered and his or her parents.

Bouts of night terrors often occur after undergoing a serious illness accompanied by fever, as well as during a neurotic older. Is it possible to prevent the emergence of night terrors, and whether to treat them. It turns out that prevention of nocturnal fears possible. It consists in ensuring that children receive adequate time for sleep. If the child is sleeping as much as expected, his dream becomes calmer, smoother, and night terrors are virtually absent. If night terrors occur very rapidly, the physician may prescribe drug therapy.

This is usually done only when the sleep disruption caused by any disease - epilepsy, mental disorder, brain tumor, etc. But in this case is treated disease, which causes night terrors. For a healthy child is the best prevention is to create a family atmosphere of peace and love. Pass is not much time, and he "outgrow" all my night terrors.

How to deal with night terrors?

Here are some tips how to put your baby to bed to sleep it was quiet and he was not tormented by night terrors and nightmares. First of all, take care of the silence in the house. When a child goes to bed in an apartment should not be too noisy. Reduce the volume of the TV or VCR, do not talk loud. Before going to bed to calm a child's psyche: romps and laughter are not allowed. Take it with toys, viewing pictures, drawing or tell him some good fairy tale. If your baby has a brother or sister, they must learn not to interfere with each other to sleep. In an extreme case, try to stack them in different rooms.

Should create such conditions that the child was comfortable and pleasant sleep. The room should not be stuffy and too warm. Install a night-light so that the child himself may turn on the light without getting up from bed. The bed should be large enough and not too soft, too soft promotes the development of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). The child usually fall asleep faster, if he goes to bed not once, but in the company of their favorite toys. You can not let him ever to fall asleep in your bed, and then transfer it to another bed.

It is worth recalling also that, to poor sleep and, consequently, to the appearance of nightmares can cause stomach and crowded. Therefore, do not overfeed the child at night, a light dinner for 2 hours before bedtime is enough. To maintain good sleep can be recommended to observe a certain "ritual". Talk to your child, tell him a story that necessarily a good thing ends, sing lullabies, tell me that you love him. Thus, the baby calms down, and the subject of this "ritual" of going to sleep every day is very fast asleep, and sleep while it remains calm.

When the child reaches the age of 3-4 years, it is often at the mercy of irrational fears. The kid is afraid to stay in the dark, afraid to fall asleep, because he thinks in his sleep he will be an certainly a monster, requires that in his bedroom was one of the adults. He may start crying every time he only hears the word "sleep." How could act in this case? Not necessary to prove the child that his fears are unrealistic, it still did not understand from your explanation. It is better to try to help him look for that so it scares the other, more optimistic side. Firmly tell the child that with him nothing bad can not happen. If he is afraid of the dark, leave a lit light. If you think that bright light interferes with the baby to sleep, including a small night light.

Sometimes, after the baby falls asleep, he experiences a phenomenon called hypnagogic illusions. The child leads to unpleasant and disturbing physical sensations. He feels that he falls into the void, or that he had been attacked by a monster, etc. In this case, it is very startled. Such illusions occur in semi-conscious and have a negative impact, as remain in the memory, and the next day the kid is afraid to go to bed, because it seems to him that the horrors sure to be repeated. Talking about their fears, the kid does not separate the imaginary from reality. If he is afraid of monsters, do not pretend that you killed them, because otherwise, you just acknowledge the reality of his fears. Better, not denying that his fears are true, soften the dramatic situation: tell him that in order that he is safe, and you're around and be sure to come for help if anything happens.