To watch a child wake up screaming can induce a lot of stress in a parent. Whether the behavior is triggered by the child's memory of a frightful dream or night terror, the experience is just as terrifying for the parents. The good news is that these conditions are benign and do not cause any psychological harm to the child. Knowing why they happen and what to do can also minimize the psychological damage to parents.

Beware of the Dark Side

Many toddlers resist going to bed on their own because they are afraid of the dark. Even though this is typically the age when they start to assert their independence, this is also the age when they start to develop a fanciful imagination. All sorts of demons and monsters may haunt their creative minds, especially once the lights go out.

You can remedy the situation by leaving a night light on. Avoid watching scary television programs or movies before going to bed. Spend the time after dinner quietly doing some relaxing and nonstimulating activities. If it helps your child to go through the entire room checking for monsters, you can incorporate the ritual as a part of the bedtime routine. Reassure your child that there is no monster under the bed or in the closet. It is generally not worth the time to reason with a toddler that there is no such thing as a monster or boogie man. Going through a long discussion about these scary things may further heighten the anxiety of your toddler.

Night Terrors

Night terrors are not as familiar to parents as nightmares, and these two conditions are completely different and unrelated. Even though your child may react similarly to them, what you should do for your child when she has an episode of night terror is very different from what you would for a nightmare.

Night terrors occur at a stage of deep sleep. Your child is not fully conscious during these episodes. Typically what happens during night terror is that your child starts screaming at the top of her lungs in the middle of the night. This usually happens several hours after she has fallen asleep. She stares blankly into space and does not respond to you. It can be very disconcerting for parents to witness such an event.

The best thing to do is to lay your child back down and pat her to calm her down. It is not a good idea to wake her up. Stay with her until the screaming stops. She'll usually fall back to sleep spontaneously. Unfortunately, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to more than an hour. The most important thing to keep in mind is that this condition is harmless, despite its frightening appearance. Your child will not remember any incident of night terror the following morning. There is no need to bring up the subject and force your child to remember anything that happened the night before.