what age do night terrors start

Night terrors typically start in children between the ages of 2 and 4, but they can happen in children up to 12 years old. Most children outgrow night terrors by the time they reach puberty. Night terrors usually occur about 2-3 hours after a child falls asleep, during the non-REM stages of sleep. They are most common in toddlers and preschoolers and take place during the deepest stages of sleep, which is usually early in the night. Night terrors are less common than nightmares, occurring in about 3 to 6 percent of kids. If a child is having regular night terrors around the same time each night, gently waking the child briefly about half an hour before the usual night terror time and resettling them may help.