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Terror in the Night
By Carma Haley
A child's scream breaks the silence of the night. As the parent runs into the room and attempts to comfort the child, the child begins to fight the parent off -- kicking, screaming, yelling and biting.
This horrific picture occurs in about 200,000 homes in the United States each night. What is it that makes these children act out in such a manner? It is a common sleeping disorder called "sleep terrors." According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 38 percent of all children will experience a period in which sleep terrors occur. But why? And what can a parent do?
According to Mosby's Medical, Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary, sleep terrors are "characterized by repeated episodes of abrupt awakening, usually with a panicky scream, accompanied by intense anxiety, confusion, agitation, disorientation, unresponsiveness, marked motor movements and total amnesia concerning the event."
The disorder is most usually seen in children between the ages of 2 and 12, is more common in boys than girls and has a wide variable of frequency.
"The child with sleep terror will suddenly and abruptly wake up with a shriek, scream or yell," says Dr. Stephen Sheldon, director of the sleep medicine center at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "The child's actions will only get worse if the parent tries to soothe them. The child may be mumbling and speaking bizarrely or may seem in an absolute panic. Their heart will be beating faster, they will be breathing faster and may be sweating. The event usually last for a minute or two and then the child will go back to sleep, never remembering the event. These are called sleep terrors only because they terrify the parents. The children are really not dreaming; they are in a very deep sleep."
Brette Sember's 8-year-old daughter had sleep terrors between the ages of 3 and 6.
