My youngest son began having night terrors around age 5. He’d wake up in the middle of the night shrieking, with his eyes wide open. As I tried to comfort him he became combative. Sound familiar? Knowing how to differentiate nightmares from night terrors is important as they are handled differently.

Let’s look closer:

NIGHTMARES:

• Occur towards the end of the night
• Child has a bad dream to report
• Child recognizes you
• The little guy seeks comfort
• Your LO is awake when she cries out
• Cry is familiar
• Child is coherent but agitated
• Child is aware of the bad dream
• Child calls out after a nightmare
• Child is reluctant to go back to bed

NIGHT TERRORS:

✔️Occur within the first few hours of sleep

✔️Child has no bad dream to report

✔️Child doesn’t seem to recognize you

✔️Child resists comfort

✔️The little guy isn’t totally awake when he cries out

✔️Cry may sound weird

✔️Child behaves strangely

✔️Child has no recall of events

✔️Child cries out during the night terror

✔️Child returns to sleep

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