Claire Holt's Late-Night Panic Google

Sleep Issues

Claire Holt shares her concerns about distinguishing between nightmares and night terrors in her children, particularly her son James. Emily Oster explains that nightmares and night terrors are distinct phenomena, with night terrors being more alarming for parents. Night terrors occur when a child is in a deep sleep and may involve screaming or sitting up without being fully awake, whereas nightmares involve waking up and recalling a bad dream 1 2.

Night terrors are a thing where they're asleep. It's like they get roused from the deepest part of sleep. And they're still effectively asleep.

--- Emily Oster

Oster notes that children typically outgrow night terrors by adolescence, although they may still experience sleepwalking or other deep sleep disturbances 3.

   

Parental Response

Emily Oster advises parents on how to respond to their children's night terrors and nightmares. She emphasizes that night terrors are not behavioral issues and children often don't remember them, so parents should focus on ensuring safety rather than waking the child 2.

He doesn't know if you're there, you're not there. Like, you just, like, put a pillow. You could just put a pillow on your head and try to drown it out.

--- Emily Oster

Claire Holt humorously suggests a series on whether parents are "bad" for their responses, highlighting common parental anxieties 3.