3yr old scared of sleeping in his bedroom.

[SarahScot]

My 3yr old DS has never been a great sleeper, but for ages now he has been sleeping happily in his own bedroom, occasionally waking up but going back to sleep needing just a cuddle.

However, in the last few weeks he seems to have become frightened of sleeping on his own in his bedroom. He can't say specifically what is scaring him, he just says there might be monsters. He will fall asleep in his bed if DH or I lie with him, but wakes up terrified, can't be comforted and ends up in our bed meaning none of us gets a decent night's sleep.

I'm 37 wks pg so REALLY need to sort this out, and fast. Help!

I'm sure that someone will come on here and suggest having an 'Anti-monster spray' which is just water or air freshener and you spray it around the room to ward off monsters. I've done this once with my DD (2.6) and she loved it.

If you have an iPhone, there is also an app called "MonsterMeter" which pretends to scan the room for monsters, and has settings so you can "find" some monsters, then use the spray, then change the settings to detect no monsters.

My DD can use the app by herself (apart from changing the settings) and enjoys doing it.

Thanks PukeyMummy.

Does going down that route not reinfoce the idea that monsters are real though? Don't really want him thinking that there are monsters lurking about outside.

DS's bedroom is like Blackpool illuminations because at about the same age he became scared of monsters. he's now got a dim wall light, a glowing night light and a torch just incase.

Have just got DS off to sleep with the curtains open so it's not too dark and the promise that if he wakes up and shouts for daddy, daddy will come straight through.

I hate seeing him scared of going to sleep though. He's been having a lot of dreams recently, and has a v active imagination (as 3 yr olds do I suppose) - doesn't help!

Do you have a pet? Our doctor suggested that the dog sleep on the end of ds's bed (previously banned from all furniture - the dog, not the child!) and that did the trick. It makes him feel he is not alone and that he has protection. The dog doesn't stay there all night but he knows now that he can call him and he will come if he is scared.
I am sure that at 3 a guinea pig could do the same.
There is also the option of going to the Bear Factory and creating a "magic" dragon or similar who will protect him through the night.
The doc said this was the more normal route but because our ds wouldn't "fix" on a soft toy we had to go for the live version.
FWIW there is no amount of telling them there are no monsters once they have got the idea into their head. I knew as a child that there weren't any but I was still scared of them iykwim. A routine of checking and monster spray would probably be more effective than saying they are not there. You could leave the spray there so that they can reassure themselves with it through the night too.

Oh yes, get one of the nightlights which are also a torch. DD uses hers to check for monsters/tigers if she wakes up early.

I got the monster spray idea from another recent thread on this subject. Lots of people were saying it had worked for them.

The app I talked about has pictures of very cartoony and not-at-all-scary/real monsters.

Fab idea about the night light/torch, have just order a Buzz Lightyear one from Amazon.

Going to look into the iphone app too.

Thanks.