What a week! Last night was the first night since last Thursday that Colin and I were able to get a good night's sleep. We were up with Addison Friday-Sunday night trying to get her fever down since it kept shooting up to 104 and 105 degrees. Her fever finally broke on Monday and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or, so we thought!
Monday night, Addison woke up around 11:30 screaming hysterically. We tried to pick her up and comfort her, but nothing worked. She acted like she didn't want us to hold her even though she kept crying "mama" over and over again and when we would put her down--she would scream even louder. She was kicking, flailing her arms, arching her back and I was convinced that the antibiotic that the doctor gave us was cramping her stomach. She seemed to be awake, but nothing seemed to calm her down. After about 15-20 minutes, she finally calmed down and we were able to put her back to sleep even though she cried out a few times through the night.
Tuesday night, she woke up around 10:15 and was hysterical once again. This episode lasted close to 30 minutes. I gave her gas drops and that didn't seem to help. Colin and I were so upset worrying that she was in pain and not knowing what to do for her and were seconds away from taking her to the ER to see what was going on. I started praying and suddenly it dawned on both Colin and me that she might be having night terrors. Colin did some research online and it seemed to describe what we were going through perfectly. Even though Addison seemed awake, she really wasn't...rather she was in a state of half-sleep confusion that was causing her to panic and us trying to hold and restrain her just made things worse. As a mother, I have never experienced anything this intense before, but I was comforted to know that children her age can often have these episodes when they are extremely exhausted, especially after an illness. A lot of parents provided tips online and reassured other parents that the child has no recollection of these episodes once they wake up.
I called our pediatrician's office yesterday and the nurse provided some advice similar to what we had already read. We made sure she had a good nap yesterday so that she wouldn't be overtired at bedtime, we used her bedtime bath to help soothe and relax her, gave her a massage with lotion at bedtime and made sure it wasn't too hot or cold in her room and she slept all night long without a single whimper! What a relief for both her and mama and daddy! I think we all were in desperate need of a good night's sleep. I am hoping that the night terrors were an isolated event and a result from getting over the rosceola, but if not, at least we will be better prepared next time.
1 comment:
grace started having night terrors at about her age, and had them consistently until 3 yrs old. she still does occasionally. hers were so bad we were referred to a neurologist and had a sleep study done. they are terrible and we found that honestly nothing helped once she was in one, we'd either put her in bed with us or one of us us would lay beside her til she came out of it. if you ever need anyone to talk to about it, i'm here!
-sarah
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