DD (3yr at the end of July) is usually a brave, bold girl, she's become pretty clingy and has been waking up lots with what appear to be bad dreams.
I read somewhere that around 3 years old it's common for kids to have a spate of nightmares, but last night she broke my heart.
She'd woken up at 3am and demanded a book and some milk, she really seemed very awake, and I was frankly hoping that aquiescing to her imperious demands might calm her down enough to go back to sleep (foolish, I know). I kept reminding her that after the milk was finished it's be sleep time etc. and she'd nod happily. Obvioulsy, that didn't wash.
Eventually, I finagled her back into her cot, turned out the light and closed the door. Cue lots of pleading and wailing at high dudgeon. She has never climbed out of her cot before, but this time she finally did.
Knackered emotionally and physically, we let her sleep with us in bed. DH and I cannot sleep with her in bed. We hate it, snooze fitfully and wake up very grumpy!
During the night, I woke up to the sound of DD lying next to me sniffling and crying quietly. She hadn't tried to wake us up or anything, she was just having a quiet cry. It was such a lonely thing, it broke my heart Obviously I gave her a great big cuddle and asked her what was wrong, but I don't think she's really able to express it. I'm going to see if I can find some Sesame Street DVD's on feelings etc (DD has learnt a lot from Elmo!) to maybe help her talk about her feelings more.
But, I'm still really quite worried about her, is this a normal stage? What can I do to help reassure her? I feel so helpless.