A few days a go my 2 year old son had a night terror. Around midnight we heard him crying loudly. Heidi and I were not sleeping yet, so we both run to his room to see what was wrong. We found Maarten was not awake, but crying loudly as if he was very scared and hurting.
Even though I knew that trying to sooth him was useless it was very hard not to do so. Heidi took him to our bed, trying to sooth him. It took several minutes before Maarten woke up, crying uncontrollably, all the time. Once awake he immediately stopped crying, pushed away my wife and run back to his own bed, and within minutes he was sleeping comfortably again. It was a very ungrateful experience for Heidi.
Night terrors are probably quite similar to the sleep walking you may see in elder children. In both cases one should not wake the child but just make sure that it doesn't hurt itself. Soothing, even calling their name may prolong the night terror, so following your instinct achieves the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish.
