Chase has had a hard time readjusting to life in China. The time change really zapped her. Last night was the first night that we slept through the night in over a month.
Chase has had a really tough time getting to bed recently; she has actually started throwing tantrums - and then, an hour after she has fallen asleep, she wakes up screaming (even though she's not really awake).
Night terrors are one of the strangest, scarriest things I've encountered in child rearing. Our little darling isn't awake (we can't actually wake her no matter how hard we try). Her eyes are open but she doesn't see us.
It's like a scary movie, but worse, it's real. She's somewhere else and we can't seem to reach her or help her. The good news is that she settles down after about five minutes, but during that time we are so helpless. All we can do is hold her close and whisper "it's okay, you're okay, wake up, wake up...." We've tried turning on the lights, and using a cold, wet washcloth on her face. Nothing works.
I just can't imagine what is so big and bad and scary - what terrifies her beyond reason. What could possibly be so bad? She has never, ever, cried like that while awake.
So I read a book about night terrors. It recommended waking the child 15 minutes before the night terrors begin. But Chase's don't happen at the same time every night, so there is no way for me to do this.
Any tips? Anyone?
1 comment:
Here's one that works every time but has it's price: just take her into bed with you.
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