Sleep terrors or night terrors are not harmful but can be disturbing for parents/carers to watch.
A sleep terror can happen at anytime from the age of 12 months and up.
Children begin suddenly screaming, shouting or crying and either be asleep, or have their eyes open but still in a dream state. Some children may get out of bed distressed and start walking around confused.
I always get asked this question; ‘is it ok to use a dummy?’
The answer depends on the age of the child and when the dummy is used.
Recently some studies have suggested that dummies can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in babies of 6 months and under.
Research has also shown that sucking on a dummy can have a calming and soothing effect on a baby.
Other studies however, state that dummies can have a negative effect as they mask infant feeding cues when breast feeding and lead to early weaning off the breast.
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Many parents ask me if their baby should be sleeping through the night.
Some parents are worried that their friends babies are sleeping through and feel that there may be a problem with their own child’s sleep pattern.
My first comment to this is that all children are different and some need more sleep than others.
Most importantly I always ask if a child is breast fed or formula fed?
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