My nephew has some very bad nightmares, he wakes up scared, shaking, and he says that he wants the sun to come up, but in the morning he doesn't remember what he was dreaming... What can this be?

These are known as night terrors. This is very commn in kids and toddlers, and needs no treatment. Kids eventually grow out of them. According to the NIH, these are the symptoms:

Night terrors are most common during the first third of the night, often between midnight and 2 a.m.
Children often scream and are very frightened and confused. They thrash around violently and are often not aware of their surroundings.
You may be unable to talk to, comfort, or fully awaken a child who is having a night terror.
The child may be sweating, breathing very fast (hyperventilating), have a fast heart rate, and dilated pupils.
The spell may last 10 – 20 minutes, then normal sleep returns.
Most children are unable to explain what happened the next morning. There is often no memory of the event when they awaken the next day.

I believe that some pediatricians suggest waking the child before the terrors occur so as to disrupt the sleep-wake cycle.

My son also has a vivid imagination and has as he describes them “like real life” dreams. He does remember most of them, which is scary for him. We ask him to always tell them to us, so we can point out how they aren’t real.

I had a cousin who suffered night terrors with sleepwalking. Her family finally had to install a lock at the top of their door that she couldn’t reach while sleeping. She once walked blocks away from home, near the RR tracks.

If your nephew tends to rise when dreaming, your family may need to consider further safety measures in the home to keep him safe.

I hope this is not the case for you however my sister had nightmares and wet the bed for years. It wasn’t until she was in 7th grade that we learned she had been molested & that was the cause of it.

I know exactly how he feels :( Poor little guy! I have Nyctophobia and am currently being treated for it. I am 21 years old and have suffered from nightmares my entire life. Have always hated the dark and been terrified at night.

Doctors strongly suggest that you seek out immediate treatment when they are young (I had to explain over and over to my parents that I don’t blame them.) The longer it is left the worse it will get. It started out as sleeping with a night light and having nightmares for me and has now turned into this.

I ask that you please take this very seriously and bring him to a therapist; you need to act now in order to save him from possible years of fear and torture.

I wish him all the best of luck fighting his fears. I know it has been the hardest thing I have ever done; but I was left for WAY to long.

Edit: I’m so upset that I’m crying right now, I feel for this little Sweetheart so much :(

Its Night terrors. Find out what he his scared of, his fears.. and him forgetting his nightmares is very common in almost everyone, you only remember a dream when your pupils are awkwardly moving as your sleeping, it’s the motion of you focusing on a dream or nightmare.

But if he forgets his nightmare, he forgets what happened, which in a way is good cause he can actually forget the fear if you find out what it is, if he does it often, listen to his speech if he is screaming help, because there can most often be a clue.

Google has many articles by actual patients, MD’s and Stephen King

Hell, im older and still can’t remember what the hell i was dreaming about when i wake up so that wouldn’t be the issue, the issue would be what everyone stated above, it is more than likely Night Terrors…

@ElleBee In adults, maybe. In kids, night terrors go away and require no treatment.

@shilolo No, in children they CAN go away but this is not always the case. I have been suffering with this for over 14 years. If they are not looked at and treated at a young age it can lead to be debilitating when they are older. He needs to be taken to a therapist to see if it is just simple night terrors or something much more. A phobia can be formed or be present.

Btw, i thought Night Terrors was when you wake and can’t move? That has happened to me several times through out my life..

@OutOfTheBlue Night-Terror, but night terror is usually used as a more broad term. This little boy might be having night-terrors; but it could also be much more serious.

@ElleBee I thank truly thank you for sharing. My son has a terrifically vivid imagination when he’s awake and asleep. Due to his dreams he refuses to sleep alone. I have had to wake him prior to a dream, and have had to keep bright lights on for him when he is sleeping alone.

He is able to recall some of his dreams, other times when he hasn’t he just cries, because he says “It was just so bad!”. He’s four and hearing that breaks my heart. I certainly would rather he didn’t suffer.

If I were the adult of a child (Not for another at least 7 years) I would request treatment, even if you didn’t need it because it ‘Goes away’.

I rarely have Dreams, and I can only remember having one nightmare ever. The reason I would request treatment for my child is because that is like torture, being in your own fears.

if you don’t know what something is, you can’t be scared of it in your sleep, Your mind can only process images remembered and sighted before – Radio Station

I forget what Radio station, but I was interested in listening to Night terrors.

Ok Straight out of my MedCare™ Textbook and Wikipedia:

Night terrors are commonly triggered by being very drowsy, sometimes no treatment is necessary except for a bedtime schedule that ensures proper sleep. If the night terrors are more frequent, though, it has been requested that the sufferer should be awakened from sleep just before the time when the terrors occur Usually when Sufferer begins an act of fear you then irritate the sleeper to interrupt the sleep cycle.

Hey Resistka, How can I be sure when to wake the sleeper if He/she shows no sign of fear outside the body? Well it has been known to occur with in the first hour of sleep, you could wake up the sleep 1–2 time(s) through a hour, and keep doing so for a safe amount of times to be at least 90% you could have woken the sleeper during a night terror. This has been KNOWN to work, and has been reviewed

Night terrors usually occur 3–5 Minutes at a time, but can last up to 3 hours! This can have a great effect on asthma because during a night terror, the sleeper’s Heart rate may race, FAST! Also important not to put to much stress on children, that can cause a first Nught terror to occur, and that really sucks.

Idea 2
Exorcism, Nobody mentioned this, I am religious I believe in Heaven and the son of god, and doing so I have to accept the fact that Satan also exsists, and fallen angels (Also Known as Ghosts, or Spirits) take control of a body… this is uncommon and I have never witnessed a Exorcism just Read about them.

Holy Water

@OutOfTheBlue I think what you mentioned are nothing more that Unrelaxed muscles, it is quite common in Adults, It isn’t medical besides the Chiropractor if you choose to visit one. Your Unrelaxed Muscles then lock. But on this one Im not really sure what they are called, or if I was even describing the right thing.. I’m pretty sure thats right :)

@SpatzieLover You are so very welcome <3 I can relate to your son 100% My imagination is terribly and beautifully vivid. It’s a gift and torture all at the same time. I have cut out all “negative” TV shows, pictures movies and things that could stimulate the “nightmare” in my head. As I have gotten older it has begun to get worse because I am more aware of stimulants in the world that can affect me in a negative way.

I watch cartoons right before bed (SpongeBob is my favorite) and have this cool little glowy light show that dazzles my ceiling in my room all night. It’s LED so it doesn’t get hot and is a great way to make my room happy and brighter at night.

Since I have begun to see my therapist it has gotten better and I am on the “road to recovery” ^_^ If you are concerned about your son you should bring him to see a professional. They will be able to help him develop the tools to turn things around and enjoy the fantastic benefits of a vivid-imagination. Reading is beautiful bliss :D

Ok, this is kind of a Question, Question thing, Could listening to Bands like Marlyn Manson, Slipknot, and bands of those sorts effect night terrors. I listen to that stuff while I sleep and I don’t want it to effect me in a negative way.

Tho Night terrors can’t grow on me, It is very possible for ANYONE to get nightmares at anytime due to surroundings and the frame of thought.

Its just to bad for everyone here who has Night terrors, Im sorry and your in my prayers. I hope all of you find your way of getting rid of it. A couple of ways to get rid of it is in one of my posts above this post.

@OutOfTheBlue that’s called sleep paralysis.

The thing that’s scariest for the kids is at that age they can’t tell the difference between dreaming and real life….
Maybe you could establish some “magic” routine at night? Kids don’t question “magic,” really. (Then watch him become OCD!!) My grandson was scared to death of our cellar, because his dufas 13 year old Aunt (my daughter) convinced him there were monsters in the cellar. She was talking to me when she started blathering about it, but Ryan was sitting next to me. My daughter felt really bad, and we were all standing in front of the cellar door wondering what to do about the monsters (My daughter was saying Helpful Things like, “Don’t worry Ryan. They can’t get out.” Oh brother) Anyway, we hit on a plan to put up a “magic curtain” over the door which guaranteed that that couldn’t get out. My daughter and I were adamant about it! It pretty much did the trick.
However, your situation is very different, of course. But maybe you could come up with some…song or….he could drink blue water before going to bed, or….something and you can tell him it should help (You don’t want to promise, of course, which is why this situation is different than mine. I had no problem promising Ryan the monsters couldn’t get past the curtian!) Or….hang a dream catcher above his bed?

@ccrow What ever it is, i hate it, it freaks me out when it happens, im like half awake and can’t move, i stay like that sometimes for over a minute, it’s kind of scary…

@OutOfTheBlue Is it possible to go back to sleep and wake up again? When it happened to me, I was able to go back to sleep, and when I woke up again a few seconds later I was fine.

@Val123 Yeah, i have no problems going back to sleep, it just freaks me out when it happens, can’t move my body but i can see and hear everything, i can’t even talk or yell, ive tried to yell for help before because i couldn’t move, my mouth would not move, it’s scary when it happens..

@OutOfTheBlue Yeah, I remember. It was freaky! But…I was more intrigued than anything (I think I was, maybe 12 at the time.) I went back to sleep, woke up, I could move, wanted to see if it would happen again so I could examine it more closely, so I went back to sleep, woke up, couldn’t move. I felt my self all along my body with my mind just to experience it! I don’t know why it didn’t scare me…...

@Val123 Trying not to get to off topic here, but the first time it happened was the scariest, after that i was more intrigued also, it hasn’t happened in a long time though.

Thats good maybe you have over come it

@OutOfTheBlue How old were you? I wonder if that might have something to do with it…

Shoot i dunno, the first time i remember, i was probably around 16 or 17, it’s happened since then though, id say it happened more often than not in the 25 to 26yr old range…

Hmm!