Nightmares

[SardineJam]

DS1 2.9 has never been the world's best sleeper but as time has past, he's got better

The other night he came running into our room saying he was scared as there was a dog in his room. We reassured him and 'looked' for the dog with him. Since then he has been waking up every hour or so because of this silly non existant dog

I really need sleep as I am sleep deprived enough with 3mo DS2

Any advice on dealing with reoccuring nightmares/fears would be great

I remember having loads of nightmares when I was little, so I guess it is something they do grow out of

These broken nights are tiring both me and DS1 out.

Reassured him there is no dog in the house but last night he said the dog came in his room as he was cold outside (we dont even have a dog)

Any advice to deal with this is appreciated

It's so hard trying to help with an older child through nightmares when you are up with a baby... DS1 (3.10) has had nightmares on and off for the last 18 months or so, they are really vivid to him and it can take him ages to get back to sleep. I haven't got any magic solutions, but we've tried a few things that seem to help a bit:

• Avoiding any books/ tv programmes he finds scary, particularly at bed time (even if they're good scary if you know what I mean)

• I sprinkle 'fairy dust' over him at night to keep the bad dreams away
• I have ordered online a squirty bottle of nice smelling water you can spray around the room to keep the monsters/ dogs/ bugs etc away (they don't like the smell etc!) - touch wood we haven't needed it yet as the 'dream bear' seems to be working...
• We took him on a special expedition to the toy shop to choose a new soft toy especially to cuddle at night to keep the dreams away (we call him dream bear)
• Overtiredness/ overstimulation both seem to contribute (hard to avoid I know, but having really good quiet time before bed, and a rest in the afternoon both seem to help a bit). It definitely gets worse towards the end of each half term at nursery when he's exhausted.
• I looked online for advice and a few different sites suggest telling your child that dreams are like stories and you can change the endings - DS1 and I made up a funny story the next day when he last had a bad dream about how the monster really turned out to be a kitten in disguise, which he seemed to find reassuring.
• For times he really can't settle himself we put an audiobook on - having a voice in the room really reassures him and helps him get back to sleep, as I find it so hard being up with him for hours know that early waking DS2 (18 mo) will be up the moment I get back to bed.

HTH!

Oh streetcar those are really great suggestions and think that I am going to try some

Even though DS is incredibly cuddley he doesn't sleep with a soft toy or anything but i'm sure I can find some sort of replacement