Child scared of the dark 3 y/o

[Tanith90]

Hey, not sure if this is the right place to post but hoping someone can help. My almost 3 y/o has recently started waking up during the night and crying that he is scared of something in his room. This has turned out to be things like a sleeve on a shirt or a teddy on the shelf making a strange shadow.

I've done the nightlight, checking everything before he goes to bed, stayed with him, reassuring him that there is nothing there that will hurt him - even done the monster spray for extra protection when he asked. Nothing is working.

Has anyone had similar experiences and what kind of things did your little ones mistake for big scary monsters?!

He loves to read books with me so wondered if anyone could suggest a book where a kid has a similar problem?

Inserting dog gif because it’s cute!

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark, if he can handle a short chapter book! Even just reading one chapter (they’re broken up into all the dark’s qualities, dark is beautiful, dark is kind etc) might help him :)

Maybe stating the obvious but have you explained to him about monsters not being real? Rather than “there’s nothing that can hurt you “ etc
My DS was probably a similar age when he first mentioned monsters hiding in our house and I was just very matter of fact - “there can’t be because monsters aren’t real and are just silly characters made up for stories”

Take a torch into his room in the dark and teach him about shadows - make shadow puppets etc. Maybe leave it next to his bed so he can use it to see what is making any shadows that he’s worried about?

There's a Little Tiger Press book, There's No Such Thing as Monsters, with pretty much this exact plot. Little Bear keeps waking up scared of every little noise and shadow, before being reassured that there's no such thing as monsters:-https://amzn.eu/d/4hpKLjF

This one has a similar plot too. The animals plot how to get rid of the monster under the bed, only to discover it's not a monster after all:-
https://amzn.eu/d/g6AOOpo

Can't You Sleep Little Bear is more focused on being afraid of the dark, rather than monsters, but might be worth a read:-
https://amzn.eu/d/0PVzSlZ

My 2.5 yr old is currently obsessed with “There’s a nightmare in my closet”. I bought it 9 days ago and I’ve read it at least 200 times since (no exaggeration! - she brings it everywhere. At dinner she goes around the table and we all have to take turns reading it!)

Sorry, realised this thread is quite old so my reply probably isn’t helpful now!