Night Terrors vs Nightmares: How to Tell the Difference

A child who screams, yells, or cries in their sleep or upon waking up can be quite overwhelming. As parents, you might assume your child just had a bad dream, but between night terrors and nightmares, how can you tell the difference?

CONTENTS:

• Night terrors: these unwelcome nighttime visitors
• What to do when your baby experiences a night terror?
• Nightmares: when your baby's imagination runs wild
• Preventing nightmares for peaceful sleep
• Night terrors vs. nightmares: a comparison table for parents

Night terrors: these unwelcome nighttime visitors 

Often, night terrors begin around 18 months old, sometimes a bit earlier, rarely after age 5, and disappear before adolescence. They belong to the larger family of parasomnias, like sleepwalking, and are harmless for those who experience them.

How can you recognize this common sleep disorder in children? 

A child experiencing a night terror can be found in bed sweating, their heart rate accelerated, sometimes speaking incoherently, yelling, crying, screaming, thrashing, acting aggressively, getting out of bed, making sudden movements, and, throughout the episode, keeping their eyes open before going back to sleep as if nothing happened.

A child having a night terror without waking up is not aware of their parents’ presence around them. If woken by the episode, they might feel anxious and disoriented, before falling back asleep.

Typically, night terrors last only a few minutes, and the next day, the child will have no memory of the event. If the episodes last longer, become more regular or more intense, don't hesitate to consult a healthcare professional.

It’s worth noting that night terrors can—though rarely—occur in adults, with the same symptoms. If the episodes are frequent or intense, it is recommended to consult a neurologist or a clinic specializing in sleep disorders.

Sometimes mysterious causes behind these frightening episodes 

Night terrors may reveal real anxiety (changing schools, moving, changes within the family...), but they are most often caused by excessive fatigue.

As daytime naps get shorter (toward the end of preschool or when starting elementary school), or your child is sick or has a fever... at bedtime, your child might fall directly into deep sleep, which contributes to their occurrence.

Did you experience night terrors as a child? If so, it’s very possible your own child will too at some point. Just like sleepwalking, since night terrors are deep slow wave sleep disorders, they are hereditary.

When do night terrors occur?

You’ll recognize your baby’s night terrors because they always happen early in the night, at the end of the first sleep cycle, generally before midnight and often within the two hours following falling asleep.

What to do when your baby experiences a night terror?

Although night terrors usually leave no trace, these episodes of high anxiety are tiring for the body and disrupt the restorative sleep that young children need.

To try to ease them and reduce their frequency, adjust your baby's sleep schedule so they can go to bed earlier and less fatigued. Also, reduce stimulation in the evening and reinvent or introduce a soothing bedtime ritual with lullabies, a story, a massage…

• If your child is asleep, even if very agitated, do not wake them up.
• Stay by their side while the episode lasts, but do not pick them up; contact could prolong it.
• Speak gently to offer comfort.
• If they wake up, reassure them that nothing serious happened.
• The next day, since your child won’t remember anything, avoid bringing up the night terror to prevent creating bedtime anxiety.

Nightmares: when your baby's imagination runs wild

Although babies start dreaming earlier, the first signs of nightmares rarely appear before 18 to 24 months and usually occur in the second half of the night, during REM sleep phases.

So, when your child has a nightmare, they scream, call you because they are scared, even after they are awake. In fact, this is the main difference between night terrors and nightmares: your child’s state of awareness.

Triggers: from a lost blankie to the monster under the bed

At night, your child relives their day and any stress that came with it. Too much stimulation (watching age-inappropriate TV, being somewhere noisy, being in a crowd, hearing a heated discussion...), a recent change at home, at daycare, in class, a missing comfort object, an incident at the caregiver’s or school, a reaction from the teacher or a classmate… all can leave a mark.

And because older children are able to describe their dreams, we know the most anxiety-provoking ones are full of evil creatures or animals hiding in closets and under the bed, endless chases, abandonment or kidnapping, loneliness, or natural disasters.

You shouldn’t worry about your child’s nightmares—these are a natural physiological response to psychological stress. However, if they become too intense or too frequent, don’t hesitate to talk to your doctor.

Preventing nightmares for peaceful sleep

Young children can’t yet consciously remember their day. So only the most emotionally charged moments come back to them, sometimes amplified and transformed into scary dreams.

Behind every monster hides a very real situation, a fear or a worry experienced during the day. To counteract or lessen this, you can support your child.

• Magical rituals like sharing the best moments of the day, cuddling, singing a song, playing lullabies, using a familiar background noise, turning on a nightlight, leaving the bedroom door slightly open, or setting up a baby monitor to keep a direct connection… all help make the night gentler for your child.
• A reassuring environment with a bedroom free of dark corners or objects that could appear frightening in the dark (a coat rack, a giant stuffed animal…), keeping the temperature comfortable, calm surroundings and soft colors can also help soothe your baby.
• Engage in natural conversations to explain the concept of nightmares, talk through fears, and comfort your child without downplaying their anxiety.
• Sleep delays should be as rare as possible during your child’s early years.
• You can leave their training cup filled with fresh water on their bedside table. Drinking always helps after a big emotion.
• Monster stories at bedtime, scary movies and violent video games (even if your child isn’t watching directly), and of course Halloween movies, are also best avoided for a while!

Night terrors vs. nightmares: a comparison table for parents

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