ds having nightmares for the first time. help me come up with reasons why/solutions please

[deaconblue]

He's 2 and 5 months and has woken up with nightmares for the past 4 nights. LAst ngiht was so scared he was hiding under his bed. He's just says "ds scared" if we ask what the trouble is but can't explain what of.
so my ideas are:
too much tv - reduce tv, especially none after dinner
over tired due to giving up nap - dunno what to do about this one as earlier bed leads to constant getting out of bed all evening

more possible causes for me to consider please...

do you have a nightlight and/or a special cuddle toy? DD has her light plus a light up gloe bear which she can turn on if she needs it.

DD has a "monster sprayer" (just water in spray bottle). She sprays it after a nightmare to get rid of all the monsters/bad things so she can go back to sleep more easily. Works well for us.

Uncover his feet - I have no idea why this works but it seems to stop DDs nightmares and I've heard from a few people that they have the same experience.

We have one of those push lights which DD cuddles and turns on whenever she needs more light (she has a light on but it's obviously a dim one) - that seems to help to.

It does pass I'm told (though we are in the thick of it ourselves.)

Also if you find he's not really awake but frightened, just hold him until he wakes or settles down.

Does he remember it the next day? DD never does so I'm assuming it's not that traumatic for her - I always remember my bad dreams the next day.

he doesn't seem to remember. Last night he was up for so long and his little heartbeat was going like the clappers that in the end I put him in with us (never done it before but it seemed to help, although he clung to me for ages before nodding off). We've avoided night lights so far as had read they get a better quality of sleep in a dark room but the bear seems a good compromise as it's not on unless he needs it. Will see if I can get one. Monster sprayer fab idea too.

It could be that he's experiencing a lot of changes in his life at the minute - he's not suddenly started nursery has he?

he's been at the same nursery for over a year but has recently started saying he doesn't want to go. When I ask him he says it's because he wants his mummy and never says anything to make me think it's the nursery itself that makes him sad, but rather he doesn't want to leave me. Talking about feelings is a new development in his language skills, so we're getting a lot of "I sad" "I scared" "I want/ don't want".

I think perhaps taking his bed guard off is part of the problem too so we've put that back on this evening and he's had no tv since the 30 mins he watched after lunch. Fingers crossed.

Good plan. DD was a bit weird when we took her bed guard off too - mind you she fell out a few times - perhaps he has too. Is his bed low? We put cushions beside DDs very low bed.

Apparently it's very common for them to redevelop clinginess when they are feeling unwell or going through major changes (which in a two year old can be something as benign as changing the duvet cover ) so it may just be something he has to work through.

Good luck!