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Thank you all so much for your stories - some funny, some not quite so funny .  It really does put my mind at rest and realise I am not alone.  Night terrors are really hard to deal with - so confusing and frustrating.  The most bizarre thing is one minute he is screaming and the next he is asking for milk.  Fortunately he will be sharing a pod with James so he won't wake alone, but then having said that he ends up in our bed every night at home anyway (A habit we have yet to break but that's a whole other story!!!!!!!!)

Thanks again, I'll let you know how we get on when we get back

Wish I had asked this question before we cancelled because youngest was having really bad night terrors.  They had happened constantly for a few nights and out of consideration for other campers we cancelled.  I get very concerned about the noise that our children make.  The screaming our youngest was making was really loud and long!!

Hope you don't cancel like we did, you'll probably end up regretting you did.

My 5 yr old only has them when he is camping.fortunately, we sleep in the same pod as him so i can normally calm him down.

The strange thing is he loves sleeping in the same room as us. He thinks the best idea in the world is to have his bed next to ours and his room will be a toyroom !

wow exide dm, must have been tough on your parents when you were 18, its hard enough with a 3yr old, can't have been good for you either - glad you're over it now though.  afbowman I'm so sorry to hear your cancelled.  It did cross my mind for a very short while, but the responses I have had on this site have reassured me no end, and I am now going to look forward to my hol.  I hope next time you won't cancel either.  They do get loud though don't they

Wow, i didn't realise this sort of thing was so common in kids, when our daughter was young she used to wake up with what i would say are night terrors, she would scream and imagine spiders crawling all over her bedroom wall, she looked genuinly terrified

We found out it was caused by colourings in food, sweets and drink, these were artificial colourings listed on the label as E102 and E110, one of them was known as sunset yellow, many companies no longer use artficial colorings now and use natural colourings (carotene) but it still crops up in some food, sweets or drinks, (yellows and oranges)

We erradicated the terrors by making sure non of these colourings were given to my daughter, not sure if it would work with all kiddies but it's worth a try, get checking those labels

Hi Rach,

The most important thing is to not worry about it (easier said than done I know) but they do pick up on anxieties and I can honestly say that I would prefer to be woken by childrens noises than drunken selfish people. I dont even mind the odd loud snoring that just makes me giggle. I would say 95% of people will probably be looking at you with sympathy more than anything else if you all did happen to suffer from a childs nightmare. Your child will probably be flat out, as people have said, but If music does calm your child it would be a good idea to take an ipod (or the like) & headphones & then no-one else will be disturbed & they can go to sleep with some quiet tracks playing - it used to help me sleep when I was in my teens.

Hope you have a great time.  Karen xx

Quote: Originally posted by caster on 27/8/2007

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Wow, i didn't realise this sort of thing was so common in kids, when our daughter was young she used to wake up with what i would say are night terrors, she would scream and imagine spiders crawling all over her bedroom wall, she looked genuinly terrified

We found out it was caused by colourings in food, sweets and drink, these were artificial colourings listed on the label as E102 and E110, one of them was known as sunset yellow, many companies no longer use artficial colorings now and use natural colourings (carotene) but it still crops up in some food, sweets or drinks, (yellows and oranges)

We erradicated the terrors by making sure non of these colourings were given to my daughter, not sure if it would work with all kiddies but it's worth a try, get checking those labels

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I'm allergic to e numbers, don't give me night terrors,  but they make me irritable and 'naughty'.  Was a bugger when I was little, had to carry a list with which ones I couldn't have.  Was still hyperactive even without them, but they just fueled it.

Not so bad now, but they do still effect me.  I can never sit still and talk and talk without taking a breath.

If I got woken by some kid crying, it wouldn't bother me at all, these things happen, and even if you haven't got kids like me, you can understand them.  I mean, I don't get them, but sometimes - cos I'm scared of the dark...(slowly getting better!)...- i can throw a wobbly and just break down crying because I'm positive there is something there waiting for me.  Most people will have gone through something like this in their lives.  If they complain, you just have to explain, as long as the kids ok, that's all the matters.

Hi!  One of our boys used to have night terrors, I totally sympathise with you. 

We found that by lifting him, a hard task I know, and taking him out into the garden, with a change in air temperature, used to snap him out of it.

All parents seem to muck in and support each other when you are camping - calpol, bringing abandoned bikes back, etc

Enjoy your time away!!

Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 26/8/2007

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Children wake up crying or screaming at night on campsites. It`s just a fact of life. Anyone who`s had kids themselves will not bat an eyelid. They`ll just be glad it`s not their turn to get up, lol. And of the rest, it`s a rare person who`ll start sucking their teeth at you.,.....and they should have gone to an adult only campsite, no?

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