Why is my son waking up screaming almost every night?? Help please!!!!

[maddiecodysmom]

My son will be 2 on May 1st. He has always been kind of a rough sleeper but he slept. Now for the past 3 months I can hardly get him to go to sleep and/or stay asleep.  He constantly wants "mama's bed" and I admit I have been letting him in.  But I didn't at first and have never until now let my kids sleep in my bed.  But it is not just my bed. He will go to sleep anywhere I am.  Usually the couch.  My husband works second shift so when he comes home he takes him up to around12:00am.  Then he sleeps in his bed until somewhere between 2:00 and 5:00 and then wakes up screaming  totally hysterical!  I can calm him down but then he clings to me and does not want to be away from me. He cries and asks for mama and mama's bed.  I started letting him stay instead of fighting him every night for two reasons    1. I was exhausted, I have total of 4 children-3 under 2, I am a foster mom.

                                      2.  He really seems terrified!!!!!  Totally upset and scared!!!!

 

PLEASE HELP!!!!!! ANY ADVICE WILL BE APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[Georgie0502]

Night Terrors. He is actually still asleep even though it doesn't seem like it. It's a phase and it will pass, but I know it's hard. I would suggest going to parents.com and whattoexpect.com and look up their info on night terrors.

For us, we would just check on Kendall to make sure she was okay, then we would go back to bed. If we actually picked her up or anything, she actually woke up and then she would be up for hours. But if we just checked to make sure she was okay, she would stop shortly and go back to "sleep"

And he's most likely falling asleep wherever you are because he's afraid of it. I wouldn't encourage it if you don't want him to end up sleeping with you on a permanent basis, because it will become a habit. And it's a hard habit to break. A night light worked wonders for us with that.

Good luck

[Davina7672]

Could be he's having nightmares--hate to say it ma ma, but he's growing an imagination;)  But, I would start working with him to get him back into his own bed if you're able to--we started letting bethie sleep with us when she started teh same stuff and after a week or two, I noticed that she was CONSTANTLY in our bed. I wa spregnant with my daughter Jayne at the time and really had no energy to work with bethie and john was as bad off as I was--he's a light sleeper and bethie tends to kick alot in her sleep, thus keeping him awake.

So, when the baby was born, my mom came and stayed with us and worked with bethie for a month!  It came down to the fact that we put her in her big girl bed a little too soon (thus why Jayne is still in her crib) despite the fact tha she could get out of her crib  we should've gotten a different kind of crib and kept her in one (now, keep in mind it was the drop side crib back then--that has been replaced because that crib was recalled! now we have a solid, no drop crib--and love it!).  Mom just worked on her security issues. She sat up with her alot, telling her what the noises were.  When I sat with her (after mom left) I would read her good night moon, then after that I started saying good night to everything just like it does in the book.  Then I would get quiet, rock in my rocking chair while bethie just snuggled down with her buddies and went to sleep (her buddies being her stuffed animals;) ).

Maybe it's a security issue for your little guy--try figuring out which toy helps him feel secure--if he doesn't have a bond with one, see which one is his favorite soft cuddly toy and maybe letting him sleep with that and see if it helps?

Dunno what else to tell ya mama, but I hope I helped you out at least a little--don't feel bad--this is a phse and it will pass.  Bethie sleeps in her big girl bed every night now, but sometimes when she's had a nightmare we let her get in with us for a littel while before tucking her back in.

Take care and good luck.

Dawn T

[HnJsMommie]

Haylie will be 2 in Sept. and she was doing the same thing. I asked her doctor about it and he said it's night terrors, just to leave her be, make sure she wont hurt herself because she is asleep and if you wake them up it could scare them even more. He said (and the info I looked up) that they dont remember night terrors like the do nightmares. So he could prolly be having either or. Haylie's night terrors have been few and far between recently, and looking on here and other boards it seems fairly common for this age.

[armyjellybean]

mine has night terrors every time she gets any kind of pain medicine i know this is hard but ya gotta ignore it cause they are still asleep when thier screaming i have to watch in horror when my lil girl does it cause she is in a toddler bed now and she only gets pain meds when she gets her shots so its not that often for me but when it happens it sucks!!