On Nightmares and Night Terrors
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Everybody thinks that because our twins look and are genetically identical, that they are also identical in all things. They couldn’t be more wrong. As mom, I notice all the little differences but there are big differences as well.
Take nightmares and night terrors, for example. I always thought that bad dreams and nightmares are one and the same and that’s all there is to it. Until about a year ago - when my boys started having sleep disturbances which manifested in two different ways.
R would wake up in the middle of the night and come to our bed complaining of bad dreams. I’d snuggle with him till he falls asleep again. Now it’s more dramatic in F’s case. He’d sit up in bed screaming, with eyes wide open, swatting away a monster we can’t see although he is asleep. No matter what we do, he’d refuse to wake up, just cry “Mommy! Papa!” for 5 whole minutes. Then he would lie back on his pillow, close his eyes and go back to sleep and not remember anything in the morning. During those screaming episodes, I’d feel so helpless and all I could do is hold him even though he doesn’t respond So I did a bit of research on this topic and here is what I found out:
Nightmares
According to WebMD, nightmares commonly occurs in children aged 3 to 6 years old, when pre-schoolers start to have fears and active imaginations. They are bad dreams about scary things and incidents. Nightmares usually occur in the middle of the night or early dawn during the rapid-eye-movement (REM) phase of sleep. Once the child wakes up, he or she can remember the dream partially or completely.
Night terrors
Also according to WebMD,
Night terrors in children are distinctly different from nightmares. The symptoms are
- intense crying and terrorr while asleep
- sweating
- disorientation and confusion
- wide-open eyes with dilated pupils that do not respond to stimuli
- difficulty in waking up the child
- happens approximately 90 minuets after the child has fallen asleep
- no recollection of the incident in the morning
About 1 to 6% of children aged 3 to 12 years old have night terrors which can occur once a month or as often as once a week.
Night terrors and nightmares are supposedly linked to stressful life events, fever, medications, and an overactive imagination. Normally, parents shouldn’t be too concerned (as I was) when their kids have recurring nightmares or night terrors every now and then. The frequency decreases as the kids grow older and they usually outgrow these sleep disturbances at puberty. However, if the frequency is more than normal and the child shows signs of sleep deprivation that interferes with his or her day activities, then a visit to the paediatrician is advisable.
I don’t know why my two boys who have theoretically the same daily experiences have different manifestations of bad dreams at night. And these episodes rarely coincide - thank heavens - on the same night. I am just glad it’s nothing serious.
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