10 Ways to Help Stop Your Child ’ s Nightmares

Children — and adults — have nightmares for many reasons. Maybe your child wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. Or he often walks into your room saying, “Mommy, I’ve had a bad dream.” Or she demands more and more elaborate bedtime rituals until you finally figure out that she’s afraid to go to sleep because of monsters under the bed. First things first, why do children get bad dreams? What are the different reasons why they may be struggling with sleeping due to bad dreams and night terrors? As parents, we don’t want our kids to suffer at any point in their lives if we can help it. But what can you, as a parent, do to stop nightmares? There are many different reasons why kids have bad dreams and they can give you clues on how to help them so you can get back some adult downtime in the evenings. Maybe there are some upsetting events in their life, a big or even small change in their routine, illness or high fevers, or medications they are taking. Sometimes, nightmares are just due to a normal developmental life stage. It seems that there is a gradual or sudden dawning consciousness for children between three to seven years old that their parents cannot protect them from everything. At this stage, children are just beginning to recognize that their previously infallible and all-protecting parents are not perfect and that the world can be a scary place. This can come as a shock to them. Additionally, they have to leave the nest for increasing ...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Children and Teens Publishers YourTango Dreams Nightmares Sleep Source Type: blogs