Any advice on what to do when your child has a bad dream? Sleep researcher Richard Ferber says that although nightmares occur during sleep, they reflect the emotional conflicts that take place during the day. For a young child, this could be separation from you, potty-training or recently getting lost in a store. He also says that nightmares are a normal part of growing up and will usually decrease in frequency by age 5 or 6. Of course, this is little comfort to those of us dealing with 2 and 3 year olds who frequently wake up crying in the middle of the night!
There is a difference between nightmares and "night terrors". Nightmares occur in the second half of the night when deep REM sleep occurs. The child wakes after the dream is over, is aware of and comforted by your presence and may have a hard time going back to sleep. Night terrors usually occur 1 to 4 hours after falling asleep. The child screams and thrashes while it is occuring, is not aware of your presence and is difficult to comfort. Although the child is obviously scared and upset, he may resist you. Afterwards though, he is calm and goes back to sleep.
I remember my brother having terrible nightmares. My mother put some water in a spray bottle and called it "Magic Monsters-go-away Potion". Everynight before bed, they would spray it around the house, especially his room and closet. Then he would keep it by his bed all night just in case. This actually worked! It did wonders for the house plants too.
So ladies...any other suggestions for the desparate and tired among us? Any little thing might help. Thanks Moms!
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I'm loving the blog Adrienne! Thanks so much for all your hard work and thinking of it. :-) I had a nephew who had night terrors and I'm very glad we aren't experiencing that. Simon had his first big nightmare a few weeks ago. He gave us the call around 3am and told about a scary voice in his dream. We talked it through, talked about the book about nightmares that we have read VERY often, (Berenstain Bears) and then I told him about dream catchers and hung one over his bed. He seemed happy with that but still was unable to settle back down to sleep. at the 3:30 visit I realized we hadn't quite addressed the issue when he told me that he was afraid that the voice in his room would start talking again. I rubbed his back and he fell back asleep, but he has been waking up a few night since then and we have to review the shadows in his room, or just visit. He seems to like the dream catcher and makes sure it is there every night, but I would love to hear some other things people have done in case we need more options. I love the magic potion idea, and have a spray bottle ready.
Has anyone ever read the indian legend about dreamcatchers? I read it aloud to my second grade class many years ago, but can't remember the author or title. Whenever I think to check on it at the library, I have no luck. If you go the dreamcatcher route it is a great book to have! Thanks again Adrienne, and anyone else who had nightmare advice to give. P
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