Night Terrors

I feel like I’ve been neglecting my blog lately! Really, I just have so much that I want to write about but can’t seem to get it down on “paper.” I haven’t had much time because my little guy has been having a rough week. As of Monday night, he’s had a cold; mostly just congestion, no fever. Tuesday, we had his 4 month well check and he received his second round of shots. He did much better coping after these shots were administered compared to the first at his two month appointment, as did I. I was so proud of him! He only cried for 30-60 seconds. I’m sure that’s some sort of record. It also doesn’t hurt when mommy’s monster boob is coming toward you to calm you down by nursing! I can tell you that I was a little pissed when the nurses came in and said “Oh, E is a BOY?” Um, excuse me, yes HE is. She excused herself and had to get different band aids. Anyways, we stayed home all day on Tuesday and he still had a rough night. Wednesday, we ran a few errands and he seemed to have a better night. His congestion also started clearing up. So, yesterday we went to Target in the morning, nothing major but I can’t help but wonder if we should have stayed home.

He was great, as usual, but didn’t sleep like he normally does in the BabyBjorn while we were there. He slept for about 15 minutes in his car seat on the way home and then I fed him, thinking he would fall right back to sleep. I wasn’t so lucky. He then proceeded to fight sleep the entire afternoon and nothing would soothe him. I tried everything, our bed, the Moby wrap, his crib, my arms but nothing got him to sleep. He wasn’t crying the whole time, mostly just fussy with red eyes that he kept rubbing. I’m sure all moms can relate to the post vaccination ickies, but it gets worse. I decided to give him a little Tylenol because he seemed uncomfortable and not like himself, placed him his swing and started to cook dinner. He played for about 30 minutes and then Spongebob came on the TV. I was frantic cutting up raw chicken. I wanted to change the channel so he didn’t get ADD or something like that study preached about. When I looked up, he was asleep! Praise Spngebob! I’m starting to like this guy. After 30 minutes though, he was awake in a manner I was all too familiar.

Now, my son has done this many times before but not lately. The doctor’s haven’t really offered us an explanation except that it’s part of his sleep cycle. Awesome. You’ll agree once I explain. It almost always happens after about 20 minutes or 2 hours of sleep. He will be sound asleep and in the blink of an eye, he will immediately start crying. This cry isn’t the normal cry though, he is screaming crying. His eyes are open but he doesn’t see you. It’s almost like he can’t even hear you. Nothing will bring him down, nothing. It’s excruciating and frustrating at the same time. My mom and sister have witnessed it before but had never seen anything like this before.

As you can imagine, I thought to myself DAMN, 30 minutes, really? I considered letting him fuss himself back to sleep but soon realized that he hadn’t just woken up, he was having an episode. This time the episode lasted 15 minutes. I finally got him to calm down by stripping him into just his diaper and laying him down on the cold changing mat. He was soon calm enough and started playing. Once he was fussy again, I decided it was time for bed. I knew he wouldn’t fight it then.

After his nightly routine and bottle with rice cereal, he went right to sleep. Poor thing, he was just so tired. I didn’t dare put him down for the fear that he would wake up. Once my husband got home, I got a break and was able to eat dinner. Then, baby woke up. The episode lasted 5 minutes. When he stopped screaming, he was asleep! What the!? Did he ever even really wake up? About 20 minutes later, it happened again. When he stopped, again he was sound asleep, like he never made a peep. My son also rubs his right ear when he’s almost asleep. I’m always worrying about it, but according to the doctor nothing is wrong. At this point, I’m convinced something is seriously wrong with my baby. This is not normal. Are we doing something we shouldn’t be? Is this my punishment for co-sleeping, shouldn’t he be happy in our room? If not, what is the point? I can’t stop crying. My husband swears our baby is having night terrors. I refuse to believe that my happy, healthy baby boy can have night terrors at this young age. I feel hopeless and I advise my husband to do the unthinkable, research on-line. If you know me, you know that I rarely ever do this. I feel that if you aren’t worried about something before, you will be once you Google it, but I need reassurance.

Sure enough, he finds posts on Yahoo from moms just noting how different each one of their children are from one another. This is enough to ease his mind. Not me. I do searches on Babycenter and find that my husband is right. Our son is having night terrors. They say that these are often caused by lack of sleep, but the majority of children who have them are toddlers. One point they make is to not wake them up. What?! We always try to wake him up! Oh great, have I just been making it worse? I find out that I’m just supposed to let it run its course and make sure he isn’t in danger or harming himself. When I hear that I need to make sure he isn’t harming himself, the only thing that comes to mind is an exorcism. I know it could be worse but this is terrible! I try coming to terms that this may not ever go away. I can’t find any other possibilities though. As I’ve mentioned before, my husband suffered from night terrors as a child. He’s asked his mom before and she doesn’t’ recall him having any issues until he was older. After reading the on-line articles, I’m kind of relieved because I’m not alone. My son isn’t the first and now I know what to ask my doctor about. Has anyone else out there dealt with this? Any suggestions on how to cope?