8 year old scared to be alone

[embarrassedabout]

Just that really.
My 8 year old is scared to sleep alone/go to the toilet alone etc.
Any suggestions to make him less scared?

Sit with him whilst he goes to sleep, play some music too.
Take him to the toilet/ go and turn the light on.
Night light in the corridor at night.
Don't make a fuss and suddenly they forget and go alone. Telling them each time that they're old enough to go alone etc just reminds them and makes it a bigger thing than it is.

DS went through the same phase. Just do whatever you need to do to make him feel safe, go with him to the loo, sit by his bed while he falls asleep and try and find out exactly what he’s scared of. It will pass.

This happened with my son, found out later it was because my sister had told him that a cyberman lived upstairs (she doesnt have children herself and had failed to realise that at 7/8 years old he wouldnt understand that she was joking)
We just went with it and eventually it wore off.
He laughs about it now (and is incidentally a massive Dr Who fan)

I have this with my 7 year old atm. It’s very tricky, particularly at bedtimes, as I’m a single parent and have a younger DS too. Very reassuring to know it will hopefully pass

I am currently say outside the bathroom whilst my 8 yr cleans his teeth. He won't come upstairs alone and be up here alone unless it's daylight or he's ready to sleep.
It's normal. My older ds went through it. I dealt with it the same, sitting with him when he needed. Now older DC would rather I be nowhere near him

Thank for the replies.
I thought the best thing to do was make him go alone and insist I leave as I didn't want him to get into the habit of needing someone there to go to the bathroom (funnily enough he's fine being in the bath on his own) or fall asleep. I do tuck him in, do story and put an audiobook on for him, let him have the light on, try to reassure him there's nothing to be afraid of he's in the safest place etc.
Recently I've been really strict with him "You're old enough" etc, after he's been tucked in I leave him even if he's saying he's scared... I remember being terrified of being alone at bedtime when I was his age and feel terribly guilty.
I think I'll in future I'll start off saying he needs to be on his own but will sit in his room for a while.
I'm glad to hear it will pass and that it's a fairly common thing at this age

I sometimes sit outside the door with my son. I also found that if I give him slightly longer at bedtime that seems to help a bit to

Oh and we got a cat and he is now more willing to be on his own if the cat is in the room ( sorry probably not a practical solution!)