grandparents and night terrors

The experience for anyone seeing a child go through a night terror is frightening. Our granddaughter Mae is 5 and has night terrors. About 15% of children today have this problem. Here are brief symptoms and some ideas to help them.

SYMPTOMS
* uncontrollable crying---no, i mean "screaming", and this is not just the normal screaming
this is Rosemary's Baby screaming----the movie with the possessed child
* ridged sitting up in bed with violent stiff legs
* writhing body---the only difference in what you will see and Rosemary's Baby is the head does not spin around. But all the rest is very similar
* total blank stare,,,they absolutely are not awake and their eyes are open,,but you can see they are almost trance like

AND THE SCREAMING CONTINUES---
Here are some ideas they may help

* be very sure the child's bladder is completely empty---even if they dont have to go ask them to please squeeze out a few drops---research shows that one of the reasons for night terrors is that the child has to go to the bathroom
* here is the BIG ONE----WAKE THE CHILD AFTER SHE IS SLEEPING FOR ABOUT
15--20 MINUTES. Wake her completely , until she sees you clearly and focuses on you . Ask her if she has to go to the bathroom and get an answer. The best thing is to get her up and go , but at least be VERY SURE she is awake.
* now snuggle her back and tell her she is SAFE.
We have found this works almost every time . If this is working just decrease it over time

This is rough, especially on grandparents who have no idea what is going on. If your child is experiencing night terrors be sure to inform all your baby sitters. It is a good idea to put her through the prevent steps above before you go out.

Grammie

grandparents, Rephrase Your Requests

Grammie and Grampy, that's me and Sharen, are reducing confusion and delays with our grandkids. Mae,5 and Colton 3 are becoming real people. They require more conversaton and communication than a few years ago. I read this article from the February issue of Parents magazine and thought it was worth passing some suggestions for you to consider.
Rephrase Your Requests
instead of
"you look tired -aren't you ready for your nap?
say
" it's time for your nap now"
instead of
"are you ready for mommy to leave now?"
say
"mommy is leaving now, we will have lots of fun together"
instead of
"would you put on your sneakers"? we're late"
say
"your sneakers need to be put on. we're late"
ALSO, the article discusses CHOICES, CHOICES. "The most effective way to get your child to cooperate is to give her two choices--both of which you will be happy with. When you say,"Do you want to wear your blue jacket or the green sweatshirt with the hood?" It'll be a win-win situation.You give your child a sense of control, and he'll be ready to go out one way or the other."
Little do these experts know, it is not always this EASY!!
Have Fun
Grammie

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good folks good things