Night Terrors

Some studies estimate that as many as 15% of children suffer from night terrors at one time or another. They can happen at any age but are most usual in children aged between two and six. In rarer cases, they can last up to adolescence.

Babysitters are more likely to encounter a child having night terrors than nightmares. This is because nightmares usually happen in the early hours of the morning, whereas night terrors most often occur during the first four hours of sleep – typically 15 minutes to one hour after the child falls asleep. The major triggers are being overtired and a change of routine.

Up to 18% of children who suffer from regular night terrors also sleepwalk, so it’s important to keep them safe. Put a safety gate at the top of the stairs and don’t have the child sleeping in a bunk bed.

If you know that the child is prone to night terrors, it can help to gently wake them for a moment, shortly after they have fallen asleep and then let them go straight back to sleep. If done each night, this is often enough to break the cycle and the child will sleep through the night.

Blood curdling screams…

Although it can be very alarming to witness a child’s night terrors, it may help to know that they very rarely recall anything about the experience.

In a classic night terror, the child will wake up ‘early’ in the night, sit ‘bolt upright’, have their eyes open and often scream in a terrified way. They will be inconsolable and may appear convinced that there are spiders, snakes, monsters or people in the room.

They may also be sweating and can hyperventilate. It may seem as if they are awake but they are most often still fast asleep.

The initial reaction for the onlooker is to wake them up out of their fear but waking a child from a night terror can make them more frightened and upset. It is better to put your arms gently but firmly around the child and lay them down, speaking quietly to them, all the time, until they settle down.

Classic night terrors can last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes and following the incident the child will most often go peacefully back to sleep…leaving you a nervous wreck!

Avoid the bedtime battles - Super Babysitting makes it quick and easy to get babysitting advice and tips. To get your free babysitters handbook and first aid book visit the Super Babysitting web site right now!

Technorati tags ... babysitting, childcare, Parenting, Family, babycare, baby sitting


Technorati Profile

I wish they’d go to sleep!

Bedtime can be a battleground for babysitters. The kids may have been well behaved and reasonably easy to control all evening but as soon as bedtime is mentioned chaos can ensue!
You need to establish why the suggestion of bedtime is creating such resistance. It may just be that theyve had such a great evening with you that they dont want it to end. In which case good job! If this is the reason, a little bribery comes in handy.

Offering to read a bedtime story and therefore to prolong the fun a little longer - can often get them into their pyjamas and into bed. Make the story as long as you can and read it in a quiet, soothing, fairly monotonous voice. Were aiming to calm them down here so forget interactive or over-stimulating stories.

Last one into bed is a ...

If more than one child is involved in the bedtime rebellion, it is tempting to try and turn it into a race, just to get the little darlings under the covers. But this can backfire. The last child into bed may be upset to be last and the first one in will get horribly overexcited.

A calmer way to achieve the same outcome is to offer to read a story once all the children are in their pyjamas with their teeth brushed. That way, they are more likely to encourage and help each other rather than fight to be the winner.

Whats the routine?

This is where doing your background preparation really pays off. Hopefully, you are babysitting for kids who do have a usual bedtime routine which you will have previously asked Mom or Dad to explain, in detail.

If you look at it from the childs point of view, they have already had a very different evening to their usual so they are probably expecting bedtime to be different too. If you know their routine, well done! Now its just a case of following it and being fairly firm.

If there is no usual routine, which is becoming more common, it will be harder to convince them that it really is bedtime. Again, be gently firm and consistent until they realise theyre not going to win this one.

I want Mommy ...

Bedtime is often the point when the child realises that Mom and Dad really are out for the night and they may become scared or tearful. Reassure them that Mom and Dad are just out having a nice time and they will be back very soon. Again, with smaller children, a little gentle bribery often works.

Help the child to imagine how proud Mom and Dad will be that they went to bed without a fuss and were so good and well behaved. You could make a simple star chart on a piece of paper and for each thing the child does well throughout the evening, put a sticky gold star on the page. The child gets to keep the chart to proudly show Mom and Dad.

Avoid the bedtime battles - Super Babysitting makes it quick and easy to get babysitting advice and tips. To get your free babysitters handbook and first aid book visit the Super Babysitting web site right now!


Technorati tags ... babysitting, childcare, Parenting, Family, babycare, baby sitting.