Sleep Terrors

It's been an interesting week here at the Oxenford Ranch...On Thursday night, Sophie had what we think was her first "sleep terror." If you're not familiar with sleep terrors, they are pretty common in kids and differ from nightmares in that you can't wake the person experiencing them. On Thursday Sophie did not have a nap so needless to say she was very very tired by the time we got her to sleep (probably around 8:30 or so). An hour after she fell asleep she woke up crying but a very weird cry like we had never heard from her before. She was thrashing about back and forth in her crib and her eyes were closed. She had flushed cheeks and was obviously very upset but inconsolable. We didn't know what we were dealing with so we picked her up and tried to comfort her. When she wasn't consolable, we took her temperature (normal) and checked her diaper (no issues there either) and even gave her some tylenol but she continued to make this weird cry and kind of say "no, no, no, no" and was very restless and distubured. Finally, we put her down on our bed and after some thrashing about she settled herself and went back to sleep. It was so bizarre. We didn't know what to do so we let her sleep and settle herself and then moved her back into her crib. It was very upsetting and we felt so helpless since nothing we did would console her. We were somewhat familiar with night terrors because our godson, Isaac, had them (very extreme, waking up screaming and inconsolable) but he was much older. We were not sure if night terrors could happen with kids her age but indeed after some research we found out that they sure do happen, usually in kids between 1-8 years old.

We had been hoping that she wouldn't have another and maybe it was an isolated event but then she had another one Friday night, too. Just like the previous night she woke up almost exactly an hour after falling asleep, screaming and thrashing about. This time we went up and tried to comfort her in her room and keep her in her crib and after about ten minutes or so she settled herself and fell back asleep. Poor kid. We really wanted to try and help her not have these because both times she woke up the next day with puffy eyes and obviously very tired and not rested. Thankfully, yesterday she had a nice long nap in her crib (not in the car) and we even adjusted her bedtime routine a bit and she slept like a rock and did not wake up with any night terrors so we are much relieved today. Not sure they won't happen again at this point but at least she got a little break from them and we might have a sense of how to prevent them (keep her from getting overtired).

Bedtime routines overall have been pretty wonky lately. She has been taking sometimes up to an hour to get to sleep at night and talks and reads and plays with her belly button and obviously is restless and not ready for sleeping as she had been. We have been attributing a lot of this to her massive developmental changes - she wants to do EVERYTHING herself now and is really asserting her toddler independence any way possible. So we'll see... Things are obviously in a state of flux when it comes to sleep but we are all adjusting and will hope we get into a new sleep groove soon. Probably just in time for Emily's arrival and the total disruption that her presence will bring into our family but we'll figure that out, too I'm sure.