A relaxing and predictable bedtime routine can help ward off nightmares — try a warm bath, an uplifting story, a song, and end with a night-light.
Some 5- to 8-year-olds are comforted by feeling they have control of a scary situation. Though not all kids are consoled by methods like these , here are a few nighttime tricks to try:. If you suspect anxiety or stress is behind the bad dreams, try talking to your child about what might be bothering her during the calmer daylight hours.
If the nightmares persist and she's extremely afraid of going to bed or fearful during the day, bring it up with her doctor — the dreams could signal an emotional issue that needs addressing.
Jenny Des Jarlais is the associate director of digital content strategy at the University of California, San Francisco. Previously, she was a senior editor and managing editor at BabyCenter, as well as a health researcher, writer, and editor. Join now to personalize. Photo credit: iStock. How to know if it's a nightmare Why nightmares happen How to help your child after a nightmare Preventing nightmares.
How to know if it's a nightmare If your child wakes up crying or fearful and has trouble getting back to sleep, chances are she's had a nightmare. Why nightmares happen Most kids have nightmares once in a while, but 5- to 8-year-olds, with their rapidly expanding grasp of real-life perils like car accidents, violence, and death , may be especially affected.
How to help your child after a nightmare Go to your child when she cries out. Preventing nightmares First, minimize overall stress by making sure your child gets enough sleep. Was this article helpful? Yes No. Anis Rehman Endocrinologist MD. McNamara, P. Psychology Today. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Leung, A. Journal of the National Medical Association, 85 3 , — Simard, V. Sleep, 31 1 , 62— Horn, N.
Night Terrors. Kushnir, J. Assessment of brief interventions for nighttime fears in preschool children. European Journal of Pediatrics, 1 , 67— Kennedy-Moore, E. How to Help Kids with Nightmares.
PBS Kids for Parents. Moturi, S. Assessment and treatment of common pediatric sleep disorders. Psychiatry Edgmont , 7 6 , 24— Learn more about Nightmares.
Nightmares By Eric Suni June 24, There's no better time to start the journey to improving your sleep. Get helpful tips, expert information, videos, and more delivered to your inbox.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. However you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent. Close Privacy Overview This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Children often wake tearful and upset after a nightmare. Young children can find it hard to tell the difference between dreams and reality. But they still need comfort from you after a nightmare.
Try these ideas if your child has a lot of nightmares, or is dreaming about the same thing over and over again:. It can be a good idea to seek professional advice if your child is having nightmares and is also having a lot of anxiety during the day. Also seek help if your child has nightmares after going through a traumatic event — for example, a natural disaster like a bushfire, a car accident, a school lockdown and so on.
Children with vivid imaginations might have nightmares more often than other children. Children who sleepwalk or have night terrors are also more likely to have nightmares. But if your child is having a recurrent nightmare, or particularly bad dreams, your child might be experiencing some kind of stress during the day.
The point is, the more she thinks about or sees the thing that scares her, the less scary it will become. Huebner suggests explaining that it's like chewing a piece of gum: At first, the flavor is very strong, but if you keep chewing it the flavor disappears. Spend 15 minutes a day focusing on dolls, dogs, or whatever her nightmare theme is. She could print out a picture of a doll and cut it into a puzzle, have a tea party with her dolls, and read a book about dolls.
That said, you shouldn't expose your child to new images that could frighten her and definitely not in the evening. Having CNN or a violent movie on can affect your child even if you don't think she's watching. Retrain your child's brain.
Bad dreams can simply become his mind's habit. After a nightmare or at bedtime, he should think about something happy and fun. You can also help him learn to distinguish between fantasy and reality and approach the issue in a more logical way. If you look under the bed and say, "There are no monsters under here," you can actually make your child even more sure that they're real, says Dr. Instead, take out the calculator and count the total number of nights he's slept in his house, and then ask him, "How many times has a robber broken in?
Practice your family's fire escape plan, for example, and change the batteries in the smoke alarms together. The next step is to encourage him to come up with a new ending to his bad dream that's silly, magical, or empowering. Perhaps the bad guy falls into a bathtub full of spaghetti or your child pushes the monster off a cliff. Jane decided that the scary doll in her dream would turn into chocolate and she'd eat it. Consider outside help. If none of these strategies work after a few weeks—or your child's nightmares are making her scared during the day and interfering with her normal life—she could benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy.
Sometimes there is no easy solution to bad dreams, and a child will just grow out of them, says Dr. That's what happened with one of her sons. I am a kid looking for them to stop, this wasn't way too helpful and i am scared something is wrong with me. Author says "70 percent of the kids said that their dreams were about something they'd seen on TV" and "Having CNN or a violent movie on can affect your child even if you don't think she's watching.
We made our grandson age 4 a foam pillow with a section removed for the nestling of the top and sides of the head.
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