Hora junior seems to have them alot. No matter what you do hes screaming, running around and kicking. Usually starts about 2am with him calling for his mum. Then screams for say upto 2hours. Last night utterly wore me out.

Is there anything at all that we can do to lessen these whilst he is in the midst of it?

How do we discern whether its a tantrum or night terror? Sometimes if I take too long getting him he kicks off (hence I think sometimes its a tantrum?)

Hes just turned two.

Slightly off topic, but when did nightmares or bad dreams start being called 'night-terrors' ??

seems a bit...sensationalist really.

around about 1900

Does he have any kind of mobiles/toys about his bed? I seem to remember my brother used to get something similar, we took them away and they pretty much stopped overnight.

Sympathise with this, having 3 under 5 I know what 2 hours sleep a night for a week can do. Do you mean you can't wake him, or is he awake? Will he take milk or anything? It may well be wind or indigestion or something he just can't communicate it.

One of ours went through a seperation anxiety thing where we basically had to watch her fall asleep and be asleep for an hour or so before we could leave the room.

The good news is he will more than likely grow out of it at some stage.

Oh yeah and mtfu....

have you not got a shed you can put him in?

I sympathise. My youngest had night-terrors, and yes VERY differnt from nightmares. Seemingly wide awake, but petrified, looking past you at 'something' he was visualising- almost like he was possessed! Very worrying at the time, ours didn't last as long as two hours though. We just kept him in bed and talked to him, reassuring him until he woke up and immediately went back to sleep. They typically started around an hour after he'd gone to sleep. This was a phase, it lasted around a year iirc. I suggest you look around online for techniques on how to deal with them, I did and was reassured at the time.

Best to warn babysitters as well..

Yep. He throws the milk aside. Runs to where the milk usually is or just plonks face down on the floor screaming.

The babysitter found this out on Sat.....


Oh and mumsnet? I don't need to read about anal, fella leaving or fella seeing someone behind 'my' back

Our 3 year old has them occasionally - usually just the sound of one of our voices is enough to bring him back to normality. He doesn't usually remember a thing about it.

My youngest (almost 2) is playing at this game.. Disco time appears to be from 1-3am or 2-4am.. Its bloody tiring.. We have let him cry it out a couple of times, and then after this he goes back to sleeping thru the night for a few weeks until he gets ill again. (upset tum last night) - this will then screw us for another week.

The problem is that with us both working (and I do the night shift) its easy to give up bring him in where he a)falls alseep in moments with a content (I got my own way again.. FU), or b) decided to dance around in the bed. When I say 'thats it Drew, back in your cot', he dives on the bed and tries to lie still.. Its quite amusing.

Personally its not night terrors, he just wants in with us, which we have given into before and he knows this. I do go in every 10/20 mins or so, and always check hes not had an accident (nappy fail) etc.

hes just wee ste, but we know it will pass, so just roll with it really. Even though at 9:30 the ste cock blocked me last night..

So, try controlled crying.. for us it works, its hard.. but it does work, and you get a sense of (shallow) victory when then give up and go back to sleep after an hour..