6 year old started having nightmares

[MariePee]

Please help! My 6 year old boy watched an inappropriate programme. It has made him scared to go to bed and he is waking in the middle of the night upset and won't go back to bed on his own. (he wants to sleep in our bed with us). I have explained the programme was not real (not sure what is was, he said someone had been in a car crash and was covered in blood and everyone was crying). I have been staying by his bed until he falls asleep, but not sure what to do when he wakes at 2am crying. Have been putting his mattress on our bedroom floor. Any advice welcome.

Mariepee

If he always wakes at same time every night after bad dream you are supposed to gently wake him 15 mins or so before that time, and then after a few mins let him go back to sleep. This is supposed to break the nightmare cycle as he needs to be asleep x amount of hours before nightmares start. I hope this works

Thanks for the advice, but it is random times during the night. I don't think he is actually having nightmares, he is just waking then getting scared and starting to think about scarey things.