4.5 yr old having nightmares

[mimiof3]

My ds told me tonight that he's scared to go to sleep as he always has bad dreams, never good or funny ones. He was crying as he told me this. I felt so heartbroken for him. He came up into my bed on Monday night and I let him sleep with me and he did the same last night, but I selfishly sent him back to his room as I didn't want to start a "habit".

He is starting school in September & I think he might be worrying about this as he's been having a few wee accidents lately too. Is there anything I can do to help him? I've been talking to him very positively about school but maybe I'm banging on about it too much.

Ok, this might sound a bit crazy and it might not work with every child. We told our dd that the dream crocodile liked to eat bad dreams, he finds them delicious and can't get enough of them. The worse the dream the better it tastes to him. But when he has eaten them, they can't come back. I realise that this might terrify some children but our dd loved it! Also, at bedtime we sprinkle her with (imaginary) sleepy dust, this makes you go to sleep instantly and have lovely dreams.

I honestly think that she believed it and it seemed to make her feel safer. Technically, it is a lie, but no more so that the tooth fairy or Father Christmas.

We gave our dd a dream stone (well she found it in the garden it was left by the dream fairies), sparkly shiny out of a gem shop and we told her if she slept with it next to her the dream fairies would but the bad dreams in the dream stone and they would stay in there forever and when it looked or felt full she could bury it in the garden for the dream fairies to empty and a new one would appear somewhere else magical and the one she buried would have disappeared it worked.

Her bad dreams also started just before school. Just do what feels right to reassure him.

The dream stone sounds amazing! You should patent that idea!

Thanks I was desperate, and as my dd loves fairies and sparkly things it seemed like the only solution and it worked.

She is a greater eater also because the fairies helpfully leave all the food she doesn't like in a special fairy garden and I send her out to gather the special fairy food to cook for supper. She will sadly outgrow fairies then I will be stuck. But until then they are very helpful.

Perhaps for a little boy you could use elves or tree sprites.