Sleep issues are nothing new in our household. If any of you follow How to Have it All on facebook you already know that my 4 year old, Capt. M, has been dealing with nightmares. A few nights ago he woke up crying, sweating and shaking from a nightmare. It took over an hour to calm him down and get him back to sleep. The next morning he told me all about his dream- monsters were everywhere.
Several facebook followers gave suggestions for dealing with “monsters”. I thought it might be helpful for some of you too!
- Come up with a monster spray. Fill a squirt bottle with water and a bit of soap. The soap will give the water a scent so the child can smell the monster spray. What I did was use a can of air freshener like Oust. I have several cans I have gotten for free at CVS a few months back. Capt. M and I spray his room and closet before bed.
- Talk about happy events and read happy books before bed.
- There is no rationalizing with a 4 year old (or any young child). You can tell them there is no such thing as monsters but in there mind they are real. Capt. M can see the monsters in his dream and therefore he thinks they are real. Instead of arguing with the child, let them know you are there to protect them. We are constantly reminding him that mommy, daddy, the dogs and the monster spray are going to keep him safe.
- Lot’s of hugs and love!
- If you are religious, pray with your child. Pray for peace and protection.
- Read Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems
by Dr. Richard Ferber. I have read part of this book and several of my friends swear by it. This book covers many sleep problems from infancy on up.
Thankfully (fingers crossed!), Capt. M is doing much better. He is still scared to go to sleep by himself. We have a routine with the monster spray, happy thoughts, hugs and prayer. Hopefully soon he will grow out of this stage.
If you have any experience with nightmares and monsters I would love to hear what worked for you!
Photo credit Nair
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We use monster spray (fabreeze) at our house! Works like a charm!
Great ideas. Another thing to think about is what he is drinking / eating at night. Sounds kinda crazy but at 27 years old I can’t drink milk in the late evenings. I have horrible nightmares if I do. For years I thought milk helped you sleep and it might for the ‘normal’ person but for me it is what was causing the nightmares. It took years to figure out what was causing my nightmares but now that I stopped drinking milk at night I don’t get them. Good luck with Capt. M.!
Hi Erika,
That is an interesting thought. My boys love milk! I will have to limit it and see what happens. Thanks!
My suggestion is similar to Erika’s above…When I was little, we lived in a big old fashioned farm house..i.e. NO air conditioning…in New Jersey! So it was like 3000 degrees with 4million percent humidity. I would have horrible nightmares that I still remember 30 years later that can keep me awake if dH is out of town….anyway, what finally helped was my mom put a fan in my room. (Duh!).
Anyway, her story was that the vampires (that was my thing) couldn’t go where it was windy (or something like that). BUT physically I was just tooooooo hot to sleep easily. So the fan changed me physically which helped my sleeping, which made less stress, which got me over the nightmars.
The only down side is that I can’t sleep without white noise, but really, this is kind of a pleasant thing.
I had terrible night terrors as a child,as late as 10 or 12 years old. Nothing my parents did worked until they let me make a little palet on the floor in their room. When it got bad, I would go in and sleep there. Sometimes I’d be gone again by morning, but usually I would fall asleep in my room, and wake up in theirs.
Great, you say, I grew out of it. Then it happened again as an adult. A rational, well-educated, and well-read adult (if I say so myself) After I exhausted the skills of a number of professionals, I became convinced on my own that the trouble was spiritual in nature. I purged my dwelling of anything even remotely resembling occultic in nature(Motley Crue or Harry Potter anyone?), and stopped listening to anything but instrumental, christian or the softest of bubblegum pop (which I hate). I pray every night for spiritual protection and pray the same over my children before they sleep.
This may simply be the grown up equivalent of “monster spray” but my faith says different and I only on the rarest of occasions have bad dreams now, and nothing like the madness that nearly pushed me to the unthinkable before. If you have not entertained the idea of spiritual attacks on your children being the root of their nightmares, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Hi Ed,
Thanks for your comment! I am glad that you figured out what was causing your night terrors. I will certainly take what you said into consideration although at ages 2 and 4 they are not exposed to occultic material. I hope you continue to be at peace. Have a great day!