Night terrors are common in young children. These children often wake up crying and screaming, eyes wide open, with a look of fear and panic. Although it will seem like they are awake, the children will be inconsolable and might not recognize you. Parents are usually very disturbed and alarmed by the episodes.

Typical night terrors last about 5 to 30 minutes and afterwards, children usually return back to sleep. If you are able to wake your child up during a night terror, he is likely to become scared and agitated, mostly because of your own reaction to the night terror, especially if you were shaking or yelling at him to wake up. Instead of trying to wake up a child having a night terror, it is usually better to just make sure he is safe, comfort him if you can, and help him return to sleep once it is over.

The child often cannot recall the event and unlike nightmares, sleep terrors are not associated with vivid dreams or nightmares that are remembered upon awakening.