night terrors

Poor Squirt has night terrors. For almost a week now she has "woken" in combative hysterics several times a night. She would scream and sob and aggressively push me away when I tried to soothe her. It seemed like my attempts to comfort her - soothing words, snuggling, nursing, or giving her the pacifier - only heightened her hysteria. I couldn't figure it out and it broke my heart. I thought that it might be teething pain, since she went through a similar phase when her two pearly whites poked through. But it wasn't THIS bad. Finally, Daddy did some research and figured out that she's having night terrors, which are akin to sleep walking. She's having very scary dreams and waking up, but not fully waking up, terrified. And, because she's not fully awake, she doesn't understand what's happening, so she perceives everything as part of her dream. So her binkie is really an angry, snarling badger, and mommy is actually a giant monster trying to tear her in half... or whatever it is little beans are afraid of... It's terrible, though. Nobody is sleeping. Heck, with the pitch of some of her wails, I'm sure most of the block isn't sleeping. I'm trying to figure out what could be causing, or at least contributing to, this problem. I can't change Daddy's work schedule or make the motorcycles stop tearing past the house. I can control her bedtime routine (as much as she lets me) and the environment in her crib. So, we're starting a new routine. I will take her into her room and talk quietly as I change her into her jammies and lightly massage her little legs with a chamomile-infused oil. Once that's done (and there will be screaming involved, because she HATES getting changed), we will sit, snuggle, and rock in our chair. I initially hoped to sit and read to her quietly as she wound down from her day, but, at least lately, that seems to only further excite her. She loves the books and wants to play with them and flip through the pages... so we'll have to reintroduce reading a bit later... We have only just started our routine, so it's not truly "routine." I hope it helps. I miss the nights when Squirt would sleep like a baby.

Sweet dreams (hopefully).