Re: baby screaming
Asked by jab

Question:

just wondering my 5 mth old is screaming in her sleep this is just nightmares? Even turning on the light she dpoesn't wake.  HELP

My Advice:
 

I take it

you have ruled out all possible needs such as comfort, dry nappy, feedgin, possible medical problems (colic, hernia, digestive problems, etc)? 

If this is only happening through night sleep time and your "mothers' instinct" is that it is soemthing other than the above, this may or many not be what is happening ....

There is a syndrom called Night Terrors.  My son started screaming and arching his back occasionally when he was 5 or 6 months old.  It scared the hell out of me and I knew I had gone through the checklist of possible reasons and my gut feeling was that it was not life threatening but something I couldn't put my finger on.  so I discussed it with my GP and explained in detail what the episodes were like.

It was as though he was trying to wake but couldn't.  His eyes seemed to stare wide eyed into space and normally he would respond to me with eye contact, but during these episodes he was like a zombie.  A peadiatrician agreed with my GP that it sounded like night terrors.

Night terrors (I feel) is a horrible term as it conjurs up thoughts of nightmares and really scary images in the childs' head - but this is not the case.

It has been found through sleep studies, that people who sleep walk have this condition.  What it means is that when they are startled for any reason (dog barking, loud noise outside, car horn) from deep sleep, the brain only partially awakes.  In those of us who don't usffer this condition, anything that startles us will result in either (a) not waking, but the brain recognising the noise is non threatening or (b) waking fully, processing what we have heard (even if only momentary) then going back to sleep.

We found with our son that the episodes increased with time, and from memory, the peak of it was around ages 4-8, but they have now subsided and he only has one every 4 or 5 months.  He is now 14.

It is recommended NOT to try and wake the person having the episode, but just hold them and speak quietly in a soothing voice until it passes.  This can be difficult as the longest one I recall with my son went for an hour!  he was about 6 at the time and I followed him as he wandered aimlessly around the house, muttering jibberish, telling me he loved me and I was a great Mum, but being unable to respond to me or acknowledge that he even knew I was there.  I started to get worried and in the end I actually gave him a little smack on the leg which seemed to snap him out of it.  He instantly smiled at me and said "Hi Mum, what's going on?  Why am I out of bed?"  He had no recollection of the incident the next day, nor did he remember my smack on the leg. 

Most people do grow out of Night Terrors, but a small percentage do not.  We were fortunate that our son just wandered and rambled, but sometimes he would apear quite distressed for no reason and could not tell us what was going on in his head.  we never had to put extra locks on doors leading to external areas, and when he had an episode, he would usually start if by appearing like a little ghost beside my bed, then wandering off.  Sometimes taking him to the toilet was enough to settle him, sometimes not.

So this may or may not be the case with your bub, but speak to your GP about it and do some research on the internet and you may find that is what is happening.

I hope this helps.