Weird sleeping patterns

[ecvmeyer]

I have a two year old son, he runs around all day but will not take a nap. He sleeps through the night but a few times a week he will be dead asleep but will be yelling in his sleep. Not sure what is wrong with him or if he is just being a two year old. Anyone else has this kind of problem or any advice?

[fallon]

that's my son as well. Once in a while I'll hear him crying or talking in his sleep.

[Trina]

Could be Night Terrors. My son had them at that age. They usually happened if our routine was thrown off for whatever reason. I found this article at Baby Center dot com.

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What are night terrors?

Night terrors are sleep disturbances in which a child may suddenly bolt upright in bed, cry, scream, moan, mumble, and thrash about with his eyes wide open, but without being truly awake. Because he's caught in a sort of a twilight zone between being asleep and being awake, he's unaware of your presence and isn't likely to respond to anything you say or do. In fact, researchers think of night terrors as mysterious glitches in the usually smooth transitions we make each night between sleep stages. As many as 15 percent of children have night terrors, typically beginning in the toddler and preschool years but sometimes starting later and continuing up to adolescence. An episode can last anywhere from two to 40 minutes, and when it's over your child falls back to sleep abruptly with no memory of the incident.
How are night terrors different from nightmares?

Unlike a night terror, a nightmare leaves your child truly awake — he can remember his dream and sometimes talk about it, and he'll seek out and feel comforted by your presence. Also, kids have nightmares during dream (REM) sleep, often in the early morning hours between 2 and 6 a.m. They commonly have night terrors, on the other hand, in the first few hours of the night, during deep non-dream (non-REM) sleep.

The easiest way to tell the difference between a night terror and a nightmare, according to BabyCenter sleep expert Jodi A. Mindell, author of Sleeping Through the Night, is to ask yourself who's more upset about it the next morning. "If your child is more agitated, he had a nightmare. If you're the one who's disturbed, he probably had a night terror." Rest assured, the "terror" of a night terror lingers far longer in the parent who watched it than in the child who lived it.

What should I do if my child has a night terror?

Don't try to wake him. And expect that your efforts to comfort him will be rebuffed — a child having a night terror really can't be calmed down, and if you try to hold him it may make him wilder. Unless he's in danger of hurting himself, don't attempt to physically comfort him. Just speak calmly, put yourself between him and anything dangerous (the headboard of his bed, for instance), and wait for the storm to pass. Before you go to bed, take the same precautions you would for a sleepwalker, since children in the grip of a night terror often stumble out of bed: Pick up any toys or objects on the floor that he could trip on, fasten a gate at the top of the stairs, and make sure windows and outside doors are locked.

What causes night terrors, and can they be prevented?

There's no definitive way to prevent night terrors because no one knows exactly what causes them. What is known is that night terrors, on their own, do not mean a child has a psychological problem or is even upset about something. Night terrors can result from an erratic or insufficient sleep schedule or any type of sleep deprivation. Solving any other sleep problems your child has (such as getting up in the middle of the night) and making sure he has a regular bedtime with a calming routine and gets enough hours of sleep can help ward off night terrors. In certain cases, night terrors can be triggered by sleep apnea, a serious but correctable disorder in which enlarged tonsils and adenoids (normal tissue in the throat) block airway passages during sleep, making it difficult to breathe and prompting a child to partially awaken.

[ecvmeyer]

Thank you for the article i thought he probally was having night terrors but i can say he has a basic bedtime routine that we always stick too its just he doesnt want to take a nap during the day so he is in his room for a couple hours a day to take a nap but he never does, he just sits in there playing quietly but not napping. I have tried alot to try and get him to nap but he still doesnt. He runs around all day more then the enegizer bunny but still wont take a nap, he would most likely stay up all night if i let him.......lol Gonna keep track of it for about another week or so before taking him in to the doctor for it. Thank you

[Father_0f_7]

he yells in his sleep? or talks in his sleep. Talking in your sleep isnt too uncommon I dont think, I talk in my sleep.

Have you ever told him he yells in his sleep and ask him why? I know he's only 2 but i'm a big fan of talking.

[ecvmeyer]

He yells in his sleep. The next morning we ask him why he was yelling but never answers just shrugs and runs off to play. We talk to him so much but he still is a little slow at talking to where we can understand him more.

[ecvmeyer]

Probally justy keep an eye on him for now

[Xero]

Eli has occasionally had a night terror. But I can always tell the difference between a night terror, and him just crying out or yelling/talking in his sleep. It will be just one or two words, only last for a second and (since he sleeps with me) the minute I touch him or console him he goes right back to sleep. But a night terror can last for quite a bit of time at once, and he is inconsolable. Its like they can't wake up, and they can't tell you're there. Its very scary.

But yeah, otherwise sounds pretty normal. Eli just turned two and he quit his naps a little while ago. I know its pretty young, but he seemed ready for it and he went from 11hrs at night and 3hrs during the day down to 13hrs straight at night and no nap during the day, and he seems a lot happier this way. So I'd say just because a kid is only 2, doesn't mean they still HAVE to have a nap. Every kid is different.

Since I sleep with Eli, I know everything he does at night. He occasionally will cry for what seems to be no reason, but all I have to do is touch him or hand him his cup and he goes back to being content. And sometimes he'll yell something randomly lol and its usually pretty funny. Just... maybe he's dreaming or something. That's all. The other night he woke me up saying "ride tractor?? Ride tractor??" but his eyes were closed hahaha.

[ecvmeyer]

He stays in his bed but the yells and screams last for about 10 minutes and happens a few times a week. Me and his dad move around in bed so much he wouldnt be able to sleep in our bed or we would hurt him or he would push us out of bed lol. He moves around in his sleep just as much as both of us put together, will lay him on his back and he will end up backwards and butt up in the air with his pillow draped over his back lol

[Xero]

LOL yeah mine is kind of a roller too, just like his father. I am a pretty still sleeper, thankfully. We do okay. I don't really think any of your boy's problems have anything to do with where he sleeps, I was just providing my personal experience. Eli has been on and off in his own bed throughout his life. I don't find anything wrong with either way, I personally have just always found it so much easier to have him in my bed.

10 minutes does sound a little more like a night terror. When Eli would have them, he would start screaming in such a scary way, crying so hard, and I would pick him up and hold him and even try to wake him up and it was like I didn't even exist. He would just continue to cry and I would wait and it could last anywhere from 5-15 minutes. He always ended up just fine, but it always scared the spit out of me. He hasn't actually had one in a long time. I don't know if that has anything to do with the fact that he sleeps with me or not. I can only recall him having the night terrors when he was in his own bed, but it also usually involved a day where his sleep schedule got really messed up on accident, so I really think that has a lot to do with it.

Do you go in and see if you can calm him down? What does he do if so?