5 yr old scared to go to sleep because of bad dreams...

[mummyccc]

What do I do? I put my little girl to bed by 7pm after a bath and storey and she keeps coming down stairs until 8-9pm saying she can't sleep as she is worried about having a bad dream such as of wolves .....

DS2 was like this, and used to wake in the night after bad dreams too - what helped him was coming up with a list of 20 things that made him happy (ice cream, his teddy, grandparents, going swimming - you get the idea!) and talking about going off to sleep thinking about those things helped him calm down and relax. Of course, she could be just doing it to avoid going to sleep!

Thank you for this! I will definitely try your technique - much appreciated!