3 year old having bad dreams - HELP !!!

[Lolski]

My 3 year old ds has started having bad dreams. He fights to go to sleep at night because 'the dreams will come'. He barracades the side of his bed with books and toys to 'stop the dreans coming in' !!
When he eventually drops off he wakes every hour or so all night and then comes in to our bed. The first few weeks we let him get in with us but realised that it was happening every night and that maybe we were doing the wrong thing and should try and coax hin back to his own bed. This basically means no sleep for any of us as he just keeps crying and coming back into our room. He has a story before bed and a night light and I always offer to stay with him until he drops off. Some nights one of us sleeps on the floor next to his bed as I can't bear the thought of him being frightened and alone.
What should we do ? Persevere and hope that he starts sleeping in his own bed again ? Give in and let him sleep with us ?
It really upsets me that he is even having bad dreams. He has such a happy little life and I wonder what he is dreaming about. Mind you if I ask him he says the usual monsters, crocodiles etc. I think that he has just got a vivid imagination.
Any advise would be really appreciated.

No advice i'm afraid but bumping for ya.

my dd used to feign bad dreams at bedtime as a timewasting exercise but once asleep she was ok. On the odd occasion that she really has a bad dream we let her in our bed for half an hour but then take her back (she is too wriggly and has sharp toe nails). She has bedside light, door open, landing light on, cd player, big cuddly dog that 'protects' her. Sure you have all that too.

my dd has nightmares and night terrors every night (well, actually, we've had about four nights without now, so fingers crossed)

We let her sleep in our bed, as otherwise she will wake up her brother and sister as they all share a room. Sometimes she is able to tell us what she has dreamed about and sometimes not. We just comfort her, stroke her face or whatever, and tell her that mummy and daddy are there to look after her... this always works for us, but she will wake up again a couple of hours later.

As I said, we have gone a few nights where she has slept right through, so I am hopeful that she has grown out of them.

Sorry I can't offer any real advice, but you are not alone in this.

How about making a dream catcher togther - to catch the bad dreams ??

Thanks for your thoughts. At least I know it is not just us !! We have gone along the lines of the dreamcatcher. He has got new curtains in his room and we have told him that they are 'magic curtains to keep the dreams out' and his new picture has got monkeys on and they are 'special monkeys to chase the dreams away' !!!! Hopefully this will all help.

I think nightmares are a pretty common phase at 3, so you can look forward to his growing out of them. There is a lovely book called "There's a Nightmare Under My Bed" which might help.

Thank you so much. It sounds as if it is quite common at that age so hopefully he will grow out of it. We have bought him a dream catcher today and dangled it from his curtain pole so hopefully we will get more than a few hours sleep tonight !! Plan B is to try and get him back to his own bed the first few visits and if he still hasn't settled give in and let him get in with us until the phase hopefully passes !!!!

I also will let my dd into my bed if she has a nightmare, but always tell her that once she has calmed down that she will have to go back to her own bed. And I always make sure to put her back in her own bed before the morning so she doesn't feel as if she has been able to sleep in our bed.