My Daughter Has Night Terrors: This Is The One Remedy That Actually Works

For anyone who has ever experienced night terrors in their children, you’ll know that they’re pretty horrific. Stuck somewhere between sleep and being awake, often children become erratic, very upset and can’t be reasoned with.

What happens during a night terror?

In our experience with three-year-old Eva, it starts with a cry out for myself or my husband, and once we enter the room she is inconsolable, visibly half asleep, and unresponsive to reason.

I’m peppered with requests for “MY DRINK BOTTLE”, “MEDICINE” or “MY DADDY”, all of which are met with howling once delivered. It’s like trying to negotiate with an angry, overtired chimpanzee.

It can be incredibly scary for parents. The first time it happened to us, we almost took her to emergency, as we thought she was really unwell.

How can you get children back to sleep during a night terror?

In terms of getting her to re-settle, it was almost impossible. She would be so upset that she just couldn’t relax and fall back to sleep. My friends suggested things like:

• Never, ever waking her
• A wet wash cloth to the face
• Ensuring she has a sleep during the day to prevent overtiredness
• Ensuring she wasn’t too hot (as this, as well as overtiredness, can spark night terrors)
• Putting the TV on, to snap her out of the state she was in and focus on something else
  
  

And while all these things were good, and we try not to let her get tired or overheat as a rule, nothing else seemed to snap her out of her state and calm down.

We found the fix!

However, there is one thing that I discovered from a friend two weeks ago that does seem to help - not only every time she wakes with a night terror - but also to put her to sleep.

Now, this is an honest hack, we are in no way affiliated with Moshi, but their Sleepy Paws video, which runs for 15 minutes, will send Eva off to sleep each night and if she wakes with a night terror, the Spotify version (just audio) will calm her down and teamed with gentle patting, will get her back to sleep.

It has SAVED US. It is basically a little koala laying down under a tree, and a woman with the calmest voice tells a story about Sleepy Paws’ journey to sleepy land, and it is so soothing I think I’m going to start listening to it myself!

I'm sure they have other bedtime story videos that would work just as well, but with over 18 million views on Youtube, I'm pretty sure this one works the best!