Last night was rough. We have had some nights like this before and thankfully they are few and far between. We did our regular routine of having supper, giving Luke a bath, and putting him to bed around 8:30 P.M. I got to bed around 11 P.M. as usual, and couldn't get right to sleep. About 11:30, Luke starts to cry.
At first it's a soft cry, then it gets louder and stronger. Rachel gets to him first and tries to comfort him. I walk in to see him sitting bolt upright in his crib. His eyes are wide open and his mouth is open, consistently inhaling just to get air for the next scream. We rub his back and try to lay him down to go back to sleep. He resists. Not only does he resist, he literally acts like we're huge monsters out to eat him!
He's terrified and screams louder. We pick him up and he thrashes around like a fish on a hook, trying his best to get free, like his life depended on it! We try giving him water. It works at first. He drinks deeply. Then he slowly lowers the cup and realizes that he's still captive and begins to howl and thrash again. It was like he was possessed by a demon. His pupils are dilated, he won't make eye contact, and he's strong, VERY strong.
We take him into the living room and get him settled down. I go to bed since I have to wake up the next day and work. Spectacular, patient, wonderful Rachel stays up with him and comforts him, finally returning to bed about an hour later. 2:30 A.M. : SCREAMS! We get up again. "Do we need to go to the hospital?" Rachel asks. "I don't know."
He's worse this time, but we put on a video for him and give him pretzels and water. After he calms down a bit, I get online and search for [toddler awakes crying uncontrollably] which brings up a bunch of info concerning "night terrors". All of the characteristics are right on the money from what we can tell at 3 A.M. The worst part is the fact that you can't do anything to stop it or help your child. You just have to let it run its course.
If you touch them, talk to them, or try to pick them up, it only gets much worse, as we discovered. In any case, it's apparently normal for toddlers Luke's age as long as it doesn't happen every night and several times a night. Fortunately, he has not had an episode like this in a while and this is the worst so far. It's a hard thing to watch your sweet little child suffer alone, trapped in a place between our waking world and the dream world. Everything is real, but nothing is real or make sense in that world.
It terrifies me to be stuck like that. I can't imagine what it must be like for such a little boy. Y'all say a prayer for him, please. It was really scary for all of us. He's much better now, but stress brings on night terrors, so it could definitely happen again. Hopefully, it won't be like last night.
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18 comments:
Yikes! Scary stuff. I can't imagine having to watch your child be that freaked out and be able to do nothing about it.
One little thing, and this is for everyone (and not just picking on sip). Add some double spaces into your writting often. Its just easier to read if things are broken up.
Blog writing is different than say writing a novel. On a computer screen we need shorter blocks of sentences and then spaces between them.
You can even space in the middle of a cohesive thought, just like I did. It doesn't really hurt the paragraph.
Good grief Sipper you’re giving the kid water and pretzels after screaming for several minutes, how about some nice milk or something to soften the palette. Hey I’m a little boy and I’m scared, now I’m eating and that’s ok but not all the water in my mouth is getting sucked up, it must be the monsters.
I’m only kidding because Isaac has passed through these episodes a few years back. It’s very scary and very stressful. They would start out stressing me terribly and then I would reach a point where all I wanted to do was hold the little man in my arms and never let him go. There is no real advice I can give other than doing what you’re doing. Isaac loves chocolate milk and we use that as a comfort food when he’s really upset. It’s something that he could connect to instantly outwardly and the taste quenched and filled him up inside. Good luck and remember that it’ll pass.
When did Brew become such a freaking blog nazi...
I'll try to keep that in mind, Brew. Sorry, but when I start writing, it just sort of flows out and I don't really think about formating.
Thanks for the encouragement, guys. We try not to give Luke too much milk at night since it's really bad about rotting teeth. He likes water and pretzels. Different kids, different likes and dislikes.
These episodes don't happen very often. In fact, this is the first one I can remember in a while. One thing we're definitely going to do is back-off on the potty training.
We just need to bring his stress level down a bit and then ease him back into it later. Anyway, it is scary and tough. Just wanted to share. Thanks, guys!
holy cow i about cried reading that. I love little luke like... well, like the baby of a best friend.... Ill pray for him, but i am sure it will pass...
and by the way, thank God for the internet... well, parts of it anyway
Yeah, having that information at our fingertips was invaluable and very comforting. More comforting were the prayers we could say to God. He's cooler than the internet! But, yeah, the web really helped, a lot!
when isaac was around 2 he had to go into the hospital because he had the virus that causes cold sores. after we brought him home, his "night terrors" started.
all i can say is we finally had to just let it "run its course" kinda like the internet said. he would get so upset and be fighting against us so strongly that we would just put him on the floor away from anything that could hurt him and just let him work thru it.
eventually he would calm down and let one of us pick him up and hold him. but during his "fits" it would be like he didn't even recognize us...such a scary thing.
i can remember crying right along with him, wishing i could make it stop. matt would get frustrated and threaten him with spankings and stuff. but that just made it worse. like he said in his comment
he would loose patience but eventually get worn down.
josh and rach, all i can say is love him, hold him as much as he will allow, and know that this too shall pass...i love you all sooo much and know you will get thru it
Thanks, Julianna. We REALLY appreciate the advice from a couple of folks who've been through this. It's just like that, too. We are both trying to protect him and soothe him, but he doesn't know us. Putting in a DVD really calms him down, thanfully. We just hope he won't have any more of these for a while, if at all. At least now we know what it is and how to handle it. We'll try just leaving him alone like you said. That seems to be some of the best advice. Some other advice also said to hold him if he reaches for us or seems to calm down if we hold him. I guess we'll just have to feel this one out. Love you, and THANKS!
OK, I divided it up for readability. Most of you've already read it anyway, but here you go!
No problem, Brew! I want this to be a good blog. Who knows what it could become later? We're all getting our chops, now. We just have to get them busted sometimes.
Last night was MUCH better. Luke slept right through with no problems. Thanks for the advice and prayers, my friends!
Luke thanks all of you, too!
I think most of the spanking threats were before we found out he was so sick with that virus because Isaac spent days crying and barely eating. When ever we would try and hold the kid he would thrash wildly his doc said that we just needed to make sure he was safe. If he started hitting his head then obviously stop him but he also assured that it would run its course. What was tough was the road to finding out Isaac had the virus because everyone thought it was a really bad sore throat or something like that, it might have actually come on the heals of strep, I really can’t remember. After seeing your son in a hospital it changes you. After hearing his doctor say that his illness is probably the most painful experience of his life it really changes you.
Poor little guy. I'll say a prayer for him and you all. I'll also mention the whole thing to one of my teachers. They may know something that can help.
Man, I don't even want to see Luke in the hospital. I used to think I could handle something like that, but it's harder than I ever imagined to see my child hurting in any way. I feel the same way about Rachel. Watching her hurt during labor (before the epidural) was awful! I cried because my wife was hurting and there was nothing I could do to help. It was much easier for us all after the epidural was inserted. Anyway, thanks for the prayers and stuff!
Let me give you a brief description in two words to one of the most horrific experiences of my fatherly life when Isaac was in the hospital, spinal tap.
These two lovely nurses took him into a room and suggested I leave so that he will feel that much more reassured when they are done and Daddy gets him. For the next ten minutes I had to listen to a quiet and scared whimper turn into one sustained scream while they prepped and tapped his little spine for fluid. Once I was holding my boy in my arms again he gave it all up giving in to exhaustion. Now not only did we have to wait on the results but we had to wait and see if there was going to an adverse reaction to the procedure.
AWFUL! Indeed, watching someone you love so much hurting, is horrid. I pray more for the health of children now than I used to. When you have a child, you begin to realize even more just how precious they are. I wish I'd had more of an idea of this when I was younger. It's so hard to really appreciate the beauty of a child when you still are one.
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