I've always enjoyed dreaming and used to look forward to bedtime because there was a fantastic adventure to be experienced in my sleep. Unfortunately, Aaron's sleep doesn't seem to be as inviting.
He's always been a noisy sleeper and often makes crying and whimpering sounds in his sleep. These few weeks, he's had several nights of screaming while completely asleep. Sometimes his body is limp, his eyes closed but his mouth wide open and screaming louder than in the daytime. All attempts to feed, in order to calm him, fail. Sometimes he throws his body around if I try to carry him. Its incredibly disturbing to watch and I've found that he cannot be roused from this. It usually lasts about 5-10 mins. Sometimes he 'gets up' but other times, he manages to latch on and continues sleeping.
I thought these episodes were nightmares (bad dreams), but after doing a little bit of reading, they sound more like night terrors. Night terrors aren't dreams at all and happen during the non-REM (non-dream) phase of sleep. According to several websites, the child may cry, whimper or flail and the parent will be unable to soothe him/her. Sounds like whats happening to us.
I'm not too worried about it at this stage because they only last a short while and have not been happening in any particularly routine manner. Perhaps it is just his learning new skills with each new day, or maybe it was over-tireness, or maybe some other distressing episode like us not giving him something.
Not worried here but still heart breaking to watch my little baby be so scared of something and not be able to comfort him.
6 comments:
Jang in there give him time, have a great weekend
Some of us are just not comfortable sleepers.
Aaron is thinking too much
My own son, Aaron had night terrors throughout his childhood. They generally manifested themselves when he was feverish. They can be pretty disturbing for an observing parent as there doesn't seem to be much that you can do.
Aaron would often appear to be awake--eyes wide open, scared, talking nonsense--but he was asleep and couldn't be awaken. Even as a young teen, the best thing seemed to be to hold him, talk calmly to him, lay down with him until he was sleeping soundly--usually only a few minutes.
John, thanks for leaving a comment. Gives me an idea of what I could be in for in the future.
Great name for your son! ;)
Amanda,
If Aaron is teething, he may be running a low fever. It took us a little while to make the connection for our son. If that's the case, a small dose of tylenol may help.
Post a Comment