Thursday, February 24, 2011

Oh No!

I was really hoping my son wouldn’t get my sleeping issues. I have sleep parasomnia. I have self-diagnosed myself with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

I like to call what I have action dreams, in that I play out the scenes running through my brain as I sleep.

I have been known to clear off dressers in search of missing items, walk throughout the house searching, in late, for my son who has disappeared and hold conversations with whoever likes to listen.

The worst is the terror. I have these realistic dreams, which cause me to shoot out of bed and when I eventually wake, my heart is racing. I figure one of these days, my poor heart is going to stop.

So I had hoped, even though I know these issues are hereditary, that my son would not experience the fear.

It’s awful.

But Monday night, I heard my two-year-old call out to me through the monitor. I came into his room and he was pointing to his stuffed animal in his crib saying ‘No Cosmo. No Cosmo in bed.’ I reassured him Cosmo, the kitten, was not in his bed as Cosmo was sleeping with me.

But the damage was down. It took me three hours to settle my guy back down and convince him he needed to sleep again.

I gave him the advice that, sometimes, works for me – think happy thoughts and tell yourself no bad dreams tonight.

Tuesday night, he was again up for several hours and a hour last night, but I think it was association rather than bad dreams.

For me, these terrors are worse when I am tired (a known trigger). My guy had a shorter nap Monday so I will be doing what I can to ensure he gets enough sleep so his dreams are peaceful.

4 comments:

CoconutPalmDesigns said...

Damn! I was really hoping it wasn't hereditary and it was just a natural two year old thing. Maybe like you suggested for Matthew he needs a dreamcatcher too! Give him some hugs and kisses for me!

Cheers :-)
- CoconutPalmDesigns

Unknown said...

Don't be too quick to diagnose E with what you have. It is perfectly normal and common for kids his age to start having more frequent vivid dreams, night terrors and bad dreams. My two both did it, and it's a sign that their brains are developing more. You are right about the lack of sleep part, sometimes putting them to bed earlier can help tremendously. Sometimes kids can appear to be awake and scared, and really they are still in a state of REM sleep. Sometimes, as heart-breaking as it is, there is nothing you can do to calm them but just leave them to it. You can stay close by and make sure that they don't get hurt, but a lot of time they don't even know you are there. And they won't remember the next day either. It could be a tiring few months for you, so be careful driving!

Lady Mama said...

That is scary. You know though, both of my sons went through night terror phases right around the age of two, and it turned out to be a phase that passed. Hopefully that will happen with your son too and not turn into anything more serious.

Mz-Cellaneous said...

ugh.. that sounds awful.
My youngest is a sleepwalker, but not that bad. Sometimes I worry that he'll do something super crazy, but he's almost 17 now - hopefully the worst is over.