Yes, and you have my sympathy and a big hug. My daughter started having NT's around the same age. I don't recall if she had a fever around the time, and that may just be a coincidence. Back them, she would be put to bed about 8pm, and like clockwork at approx 10pm to 11pm, she would be shrieking/thrashing in her room. I went to a talk about children and sleep patterns, and the child psychiatrist said that NT happened in a certain phase of sleep (I can't remember what phase) where the child's brain couldn't move from one to another. Apparently, it was near the same phase as when a person dreams. His idea was to gently "almost" wake up the child right before that phase would start. So, after three months of my DD having those NTs, we would partially wake her up, and she didn't have them. Of course, that is not the end of the story. Once she started school at age 5, she began sleepwalking during times of stress (ie, start of school year, the day before her birthday, Christmas, etc). She's now 10, and school starts next week, so we'll see what happens. Our pediatrician told me kids that have NT are often sleepwalkers. Definitely get some tips from your pediatrician. Good luck and good sleeping to your family!

Had them all my life. I don't sleepwalk but have vivid dreams and also nightmares and vivid NTs during stressful times .... and yes .... sometimes I can appear to be very awake .... but I'm not ....

I remember reading somewhere that those kinds of dreams meant that I was very creative and that my brain was wired for creative wide-ranging thinking .....

lately -- before settling in for bed -- I like to read something calming or watch something calming on my TV (like a DVD) for a few minutes so that my brain "rests" Also -- I do have to eat just before bed (like a banana or cereal) ..... and sometimes a warm bath helps too ...

Jan

Jan...I hope that NT is linked to creativity. My DD that sleepwalks IS very creative. Maybe that's the silver lining to this.

Oy. I hope we're not dealing with this permanently. I really, REALLY feel for both of you.

I cannot stop thinking about this and have found several resources naming fever as a trigger of NTs. Not a cause, per se, which is what scares me. It's like the fever triggers something in the brain that had been dormant prior to. The neurological (is that the right word?) aspect of this really scares me, although I've read that the NTs are supposed to relatively harmless.

I'm having a hard time believing that.

When I read your post I got the chills. We experienced the same thing with our DS. Sorry I can't remember what triggered it, but it was before the age of three and he eventually outgrew it. We did pretty much the same as you and the other posters -- comforted him and helped him readjust. Sometimes he remembered, sometimes he didn't. I feel for you and your son as it is not an easy thing to watch/endure. Maybe there is something to the creative mind working overtime theory. As it turns out, our son has been identified as gifted. (((Hugs))) to you. This too shall (hopefully) pass.

My grandson turned 4 in April. He started the NT exactly as you described around 3. He seemed to have more episodes when he spent the night at our house than he did at his own. One thing I noticed (since I had him sleep in my bed with me and I am a light sleeper) he always started out by snuffling his nose as if he couldn't get air, then the thrashing, then the screaming. I was convinced it was a breathing issue, although Oprah had an entire show on it and it is supposedly just a brain thing. They said on the show that you should not try to wake them up, just keep them from hurting themselves and wait it out. They don't remember it and it is NOT from a nightmare. It occurs in the stage when you are not yet dreaming.
I understand how scary it is when it happens but my grandson seems to have outgrown it too. I remember thinking if I didn't know he had a good life i would think he was being abused or something. He just spent the night lately and he snuffled and thrashed a few times but never did the whole screaming thing.
His mother (my daughter) has always been a sleep walker and talker. We had a heck of a time waking her up sometimes.
(another bizarre thing on Oprah that day, was Sleep Eaters! People actually get up , raid the kitchen and have no memory of it-not kidding-they filmed them and they were mortified)
Hang in there, but you might have a while to put up with it.

DS2 had night terrors at about the same age. We ended up letting him sleep in our room for a few months. DH decided that this was not a good solution.(put a cramp on marital relations) He then slept in DS1's room on a trundle bed for nearly a year. DS1 was a huge help during this time period.

DD2 had them. She also sleepwalked for years. Her NT frightened me so badly, I'd cry along with her because I couldn't get her to wake up, and I'd just have to comfort her until she either woke up, with no recollection of what happened, or she fell into deeper sleep.

We had to make sure to put a chain lock on the door, out of her reach because she once tried to open the door "to go out to play with the bunnies." Luckily my sister was sleeping on the sofa at the time and stopped her from going out.

As she got older (maybe 6 or 7), she'd sleep talk. She'd sit up and start a conversation with you, but you could see in her eyes that she wasn't awake. One time, early puberty, she fell asleep in front of the TV. We shook her and shook her till she roused, looked me straight in the eye and said she was going to bed. Then she started climbing the stairs. Only problem was, she was still standing in front of the TV, not on the stairs. I kept trying to wake her and she just yelled at me saying "I AM going to bed". After nearly a minute she woke and realized what she was doing.

She also slept very deeply...nothing would wake her. She didn't have NT's or sleep walking every night, but it was pretty frequent. She started sleeping normally once she hit puberty.

She's a VERY creative person, so I don't doubt they're all related.

DS2 was getting them around 2yrs of age. We would get him partially awake and just hold him firmly until it subsided or if he was too violent to hold just remove anything where he might injure himself and wait it out beside him then hold him.

So far (knock on wood) it hasn't happened for the past 6 months and it was very scary the first few times but after talking w/ people once we calmed down about it, he was able to calm down faster and go right back to sleep as though nothing had happened.

Good luck!

Thank you, all. I really needed to be talked through this.

We had a NT-free night last night, which was a HUGE relief. I must have fallen asleep a bit earlier than usual, and when I heard C on his monitor, my heart sank. But then I realized it was 2:00 and he was calling for me, clearly. I got in there and sure enough, he was very obviously awake. He stayed awake for maybe ten minutes and then went back to sleep for the night, without incident.

In my original post I forgot to mention that my older son had some similar episodes when he was about two, after having had a fever. Maybe in their cases this is something that is just brought on by fever? THAT I could handle. I don't know how you've all done it for years. This is one of the most stressful things I've been through and it only lasted two nights!

Well, we'll see how tonight goes. Thanks again!

My son also started having NT around that age. They are awful. His would only happen occasionally, and they seem to have gone away now that he is school age. He still sleepwalks from time to time though. I feel for you, it is a terrible thing for a parent to observe. We couldn't really do anything for him because we never were successful at waking him up while he was having these episodes. He never once remembered having them when he woke up either, which actually made me feel better. My kids are not really deep sleepers, and although he is very intelligent, I would not classify him as being terribly creative or imaginative. He is a facts and figures kind of kid and can remember almost any bit of information that has ever come his way. Maybe his poor brain was on overload. I really can't claim to know much about NT, except that I can feel your pain.