"My seven year old boy sometimes awakens screaming in the middle of the night. When we go into his room he is sitting straight up in bed, staring straight ahead. We try to calm him down but he isn't even aware that we are in his room. After a few minutes, he goes back to sleep. If we awaken him, he doesn't even know why we're there, as he remembers nothing about his dream."
A. The reason that he cannot remember what he was dreaming about, is that he was not dreaming! What you are describing is a classic case of night terrors.
When we first fall asleep, we enter stage one sleep. We then progress through stages two and three until, after about an hour and a half, we enter our the deepest sleep, stage four. Scientists can recognise these stages by our brain-wave (EEG) patterns.
What is surprising is that we don't dream during the four stages. If someone awakens during them, the most they can say is that they were "thinking".
After stage four we then suddenly shift into a completely different mode of sleep called "rapid eye movement" (REM) sleep. This is when all the dreaming occurs. If you watch someone in this stage, you will see their eyes darting from side to side. We dream for about 45 minutes, and then we go back into non-REM sleep for another hour or so. This pattern continues through the night, with the non-REM stages becoming increasingly lighter. Hence the saying "an hour before midnight is worth two after".
If we have nightmares, they occur while we are dreaming. They can be full blown horror movie experiences and very frightening.
Night terrors are something different altogether. They happen in stage four of sleep. Sleepwalkers and talkers are active during this stage as well. No one knows what causes night terrors, but fortunately most children do outgrow them. Sometimes stress seems to amplify them.
Of course they are very disturbing to the parents and siblings, but they really don't harm the child. It's actually best if you can stand to, to just leave him alone. You even said yourself that he goes back to sleep in a short while. As for sleepwalking, the same advice applies. You do, however, want to make sure he's safe from falling down the stairs or out of a window.
Night terrors are common in children aged 3 to 6, and may continue even beyond then. They do not indicate that there is anything seriously wrong with your child. Hard though it may be at the time, the best tactic really is to ignore them, and to try to get some sleep yourself.
Dr. Noel Swanson writes frequently for Yes Parenting website and also has a free newsletter with heaps of expert parenting advice. You are welcome to reprint this article - but get your own unique content version here.
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