[flowergal]

My ten year old son has been having night terrors on and off for the past year or so, which we got a handle on, or so I thought.

He tells me he is afraid of bears (we live in apt. complex in a decent sized town, so no bears nearby) because of a camping trip he went on with his father recently. Now he is waking up screaming, NO... NO... don't!!! NO, STOP.... except he is NOT awake, and has no memory of any of this come morning. He is wanting a night light again and to crawl in bed with momma, if he does happen to wake up at some point in the night.

The screaming NO.. is scaring me half to death. I jump up out of bed and run into his room, even though I know he is fine! I need to figure out why he is doing this, and how to help him sleep through the night, so we can BOTH get our rest. Any thoughts?
Thank you

[medkev13]

This doesn't sound like night terrors, just lightly recurring nightmares. Actually, come to think of it, this sounds like PTSD. Perhaps he can talk to a therapist? If this is trauma based (and trauma can be something seemingly trivial and harmless to the common eye) talking with a therapist and getting to the heart of the matter might be what it takes to get through the nightmares.

For during the nightmares, talk to him while he's there. Physical contact (gentle, non-waking type), and reassuring words can ease him through the nightmare. I've used this with my 4 yr old AND my wife (MandaMay) before.