# Night Terrors In Kids - Link: https://stayathomemum.com.au/family/kids/night-terrors-in-kids/ - Published: 2013-05-07T14:27:45+10:00 - Author: Clare Whitfield ## _It’s midnight and everyone in the house is fast asleep when all of a sudden you hear a howling coming from your child’s room._ You rush in and notice he is laying in the bed, screaming, kicking and tantruming. Is he asleep? Is he awake? Is he hurt? What in the heck in going on? And what do you do? What you are witnessing is a[ night terror](https://stayathomemum.com.au/family/kids/night-terrors-in-kids/ https://stayathomemum.com.au/my-kids/sleeping/night-terrors-in-kids/) or a sleep disorder. Night terrors affect around 5% of children and usually occur between the ages of 3 to 7. [⌊Nightterrorinkids 1⌉⌊Nightterrorinkids 1⌉[ However, these terrors can start in children as young as 18 months. Night terrors are often experienced by boys rather than girls and although they can be triggered by a number of things, they are considered part of normal development. They can be very traumatising for parents but the good news is most children do not remember having them. Night terrors occur during the slow wave sleep when the child is in a deep sleep. Essentially, your child may be having a tantrum, kicking, screaming, punching, hitting, crying, but they are not awake. They differ from nightmares as your child will not remember having them. Nightmares occur during a light phase of sleep and most children wake up when they are having a nightmare. During a night terror, however, your child may remain still asleep. Night terrors usually occur in the first three hours of sleep and your child will go back to sleep and not remember they ever happened. ## **What Causes Night Terrors?󠀁[⌊Child experiencing night terrors crying and covering eyes⌉](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/49fd5687ce462964e5276822bea656561648bf05.jpg?quality=89&ssl=1)󠁿**   ## 1. Genetics If you or your partner had sleep problems, then there is a higher chance that your child will have them as well. Ask your parents whether you experienced night terrors, sleep walking or other sleep disturbances and you may be surprised to find out you did. ## 2. Stress Children that are emotionally stressed can also experience night terrors which are usually linked to a lack of sleep or too much daytime activities. ## 3. Lack of Sleep and Over stimulation Night terrors occur due to increased brain activity. The brain is awake while the body is not. This is often caused by overstimulation during the day. ## 4. Illness Sometimes, your child will experience night terrors when they are unwell or have a fever. [⌊Child crying with teddy bear during night terror episode⌉⌊Child crying with teddy bear during night terror episode⌉[ ## **How to Handle Night Terrors** It can be extremely stressful watching your child act like�they are�in such distress. The best thing to do is to let them�do their thing, do not wake�them up or try to interfere with the night terror but rather be there and keep a close eye on�them so that�they don’t�hurt�themselves. There is no need to comfort or cuddle your child as this may wake�them up.   A night terror will typically last only a few minutes. There is no point in talking about it the next day as�they won’t remember it happening. You can try to prevent the night terror from happening by setting an alarm and waking your child up around 15 minutes before the night terrors usually begins. [⌊Child in striped pajamas holding teddy bear during bedtime⌉⌊Child in striped pajamas holding teddy bear during bedtime⌉[ For example, if your child goes to bed at 7pm and usually has a terror around 9: 30pm, then you can try to wake them up at 9:15pm and hopefully, this will prevent that deep cycle and night terror from happening. ## _While night terrors can be scary to go through, remember that they are just a stage and nothing to worry about._ ![author avatar](https://i0.wp.com/stayathomemum.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/ 12/clare_whitfield_profile.webp?quality=80&ssl=1) Clare Whitfield Chief Editor Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work. [See Full Bio](https://stayathomemum.com.au/author/clare_whitfield/) [ ](https://stayathomemum.com.au/author/clare_whitfield/) ## Comments ### By: deb xo - Link: https://stayathomemum.com.au/family/kids/night-terrors-in-kids/#comment-70639 - Published: 2013-10-17T22:04:00+11:00 My daughter suffers from night terrors. She appeared to have finally grown out of them but then one random night we were awoken by a piercing scream. That was about 3 weeks ago and we haven’t had another one since – my heart is still recovering… it was horrendous at the height of the problem, every night for months she would scream the house down – wake up everyone – only to roll over and go back to sleep and remember nothing the next day. It gets better eventually though. ### By: Nat - Link: https://stayathomemum.com.au/family/kids/night-terrors-in-kids/#comment-83563 - Published: 2014-01-27T11:18:00+11:00 Both my children have suffered with night terrors. My daughter started at 2 and they continued til she was about 9-10, with the frequency of them occurring varying from every night to once or twice a month. My son didn’t get them as bad, but when he did they were awful. Both my kids were very mobile during night terrors, up and over furniture like Olympic athletes. Since both of them seem to have outgrown them, we now have two sleep walkers and sleep talkers that disturb just about every night. It’s rare we get a full, solid night’s sleep without someone shouting or wandering around.