Nightmares my 9 year old is having... what to do?

[Big Cuddly Bear]

Thanks all.

Well, last night she went to bed and had no issues. I had not addressed it with her prior to bed. I asked about it this morning, and she said she was fine... we'll see.

 

[grafxgirl]

This is what I was going to say.

When my kids were little, they had the night terrors (they couldn't tell me why they were scared or what they were dreaming). Each went through it around the same age. I bought a dream catcher, explained what it was and what it did, and they never had another one.

Is school starting soon? Perhaps something's bothering her about that?

Best wishes.

Night terrors are way different from nightmares. Both my kids have had night terrors since they were little. Usually a night terror will happen sometime within the first 2 hours of falling asleep. They will wake up screaming, kicking, or even running around the room. I tend to find my daughter sitting in a corner of her room yelling. Their eyes are wide open, but they are still sleeping. You can't wake them up. All you can do is be there until they calm down and make sure they don't get hurt. Our most recent event, our daughter actually ran out of the house, up the driveway and into the road in front of our house. She remembers nothing about it. We discovered, with the help of the pediatrician that keeping them in a regular bedtime routine, same bedtime, same routine as in getting dressed, reading, or whatever one does each night, and making sure they get enough sleep is the key to preventing both our kids' night terrors. He told us they will start to grow out of them by the time they are 10. Also with night terrors, kids don't remember anything the next day, but with nightmares they remember their dreams.