DS says he's scared every night.

[HarrysMummy17]

My DS is 7. Recently he's been saying he's too scared to sleep every night.
He's scared of dying and any of his family or friends dying. He had a dream that I died.
He wants me to take him to a wishing well where he can wish to stay 7 forever, never grow old and none of his family or friends ever die.

What's the best things to tell him? I told him dreams aren't real and they are stories your brain makes up. I've said he'd been a bit fed up if he stayed 7 and his friends all got to 8 and 9 etc.

I know lockdown isn't helping. I wish I could say something to put his mind a rest. 😔

Not much help sorry but just wanted to say my ds who is 6 nearly 7 is also doing this. It's been since the lockdown so I do think that has been a trigger.

He is getting very little sleep sometimes only 3 to 4 hours a night. He will say he's scared of dreaming, scared of the dark, scared of burglars etc etc. We are at our wits end, we have an 18 month old dd who he is constantly waking all night because he screams and shouts at us when he gets up.

We've been referred to a paediatrician as the gp says that little amount of sleep over a long period could have detrimental affect on his health

He did go through this before when dd was born and it lasted around 6 months not sure I can cope with another 6 months again. GP mentioned about trying to build his resilience and self confidence.

@BettyBoo246
Thank you for the reply. It's so hard isn't it 😔.
Luckily my ds does fall asleep and will sleep.

I just don't know what to say to him. I try to say he's only 7 but there is a boy in his class whose 2 year old brother died suddenly last year. He keeps mentioning him saying sometimes young people die too.

I know lockdown is probably what's started it. Just wish I knew what to say to help. 😔

Yes we had the same when ds grandma died last year, hes always thought till then you only die when you're really old and grandma was still relatively young, so it was hard explaining.

We told him grandma was just too poorly for the doctors to help but it is very rare that that happens.

I've also limited how much the news is on too at the moment, as I think constant coronavirus talk is probably making ds even more anxious, constantly hearing about death rates and hospital admissions. I think they're taking it in even though it doesn't look like they're listening. I've reassured ds as much as possible about coronavirus but tried not to go in to much detail.

We used a sleep consultant last year, worked a little but obviously not that good as here we are again they advised lots and lots of reassurance at bedtime and not to just dismiss or shrug off ds concerns/nightmares.

But yes it's so hard, but hopefully only temporary. A lot of mums and dads I'm talking to are having similar issues since lockdown

Hi. My dd is also convinced she will stop breathing in her sleep (since lockdown). She has become so anxious, I really hope things will calm down once they get back to school. There are so many resources out there for anxious children that I’m trying.

it's a common age for dc to overthink all sorts of things.
I think it's a normal develeopmental phase when children realise that the world is huge and that not everyone has good intentions and that almost everything is out of their control.
we had a mix of co- sleeping (yoga mat next to our bed), audio books, grounding techniques (the 54321 method worked well), magnesium supplement, exercise after dinner..,
it got better after a few months.