What do you do when your child has a nightmare or night terror? It turns out how you react should depend on which one they’re experiencing.

One parent recently took to Reddit to share her eight-year-old daughter had been waking up in the middle of the night “shaking, saying she’s scared and that her tummy hurts”.

The parent noted it usually happened on Monday nights, after swimming, and said recently her daughter woke her up and said: “Mommy, please stay with me, I’m scared. I need a half of the thing.”

The parent recalled: “This is when I realised she was sleep talking because it didn’t make sense. I held her close while she was shaking, she eventually looked back at me, told me her tummy hurt and went to the restroom.

“She only peed, all while still shaking, then asked if we could come to the living room together. I gathered our blankets and pillows, came out to the living room couch, and her shaking instantly stopped. She said she felt better and now she’s back to sleep peacefully.”

The parent continued: “What the heck is this? She said she had a dream that a ‘horse thing’ was chasing her. We haven’t had any new changes at home recently.”

The difference between nightmares and night terrors

It’s totally normal for kids to experience either of these – although the NHS notes night terrors are most common in children between the ages of three and eight.

Therapist and Counselling Directory member Andrew Fleming told HuffPost UK: “While........

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