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Original poster

Does anyone know how to get rid of monsters from ds bedroom?

38 replies

Chuffinnora · 22/01/2008 20:39

They usually show up at 2.30am. He goes to bed fine after a routine of teeth, wee, story, bed. Gets off to sleep alone but wakes at 2.30 ish and wants to get into our bed. Used to let him but now he is nearly 3 he is getting too big to sleep with. Last night he was really scared and get very upset when I took him back to his room. He says there are monsters in his room. I know saying "there is no such thing as monsters" is no good and I have read some really good advice from people in the past (not my threads just lurking iyswim)but can't remember it now. How do you bust those 2am monsters?

OP posts:
singyswife · 22/01/2008 20:40

LEave the light on?

LyraSilvertongue · 22/01/2008 20:41

I send them off on holiday. usually somewhere really far away like America or India. DS2 sleeps much better knowing the monsters are in another country.

McDreamy · 22/01/2008 20:41

A friend of mine has anti monster spray which is sprayed in the room every night (just water in a plant spray bottle) which worked for them.

JingleyJen · 22/01/2008 20:43

DS1 has had monsters in his room - when he mentions them I say things like "do you mean the big blue fury one with a huge smile that giggles alot" or make up other random funny looking monsters that are totally gentle and harmless.

We also went through a phase of making sure his tigger was under the bed so that DS1 and I had to look under the bed for tigger and I would casually mention that oh here tigger is all alone no monsters tonight"

Try to do this stuff before bed.

Good luck!

Spoo · 22/01/2008 20:43

My DS1 (3 in two weeks) is SCARED!!! We chase them down the stairs or flush them down the loo. IN the middle of the night - we shout at them to go away or stamp on them. We also have worry dolls which seem to have sorted a lot of the problems. Try the book Silly Billy to introduce them. You can get the dolls from

Hassled · 22/01/2008 20:44

Can you develop a ritual where you check under the bed, in boxes, cupboards etc for monsters with DS before he goes to bed? Then make a big show of checking the windows are shut and the door is shut etc - he might then see the logic of monsters not being physically able to get in his room, and remember that when he half-wakes at 2.30. Does anything happen outside at 2.30 thatwakes him - a neighbour on shifts or something?

Spoo · 22/01/2008 20:44

.... Hawkins Bazaar!

donbean · 22/01/2008 20:46

mine says that things are staring at him.
so for eg ive had to take his lamp shade down as the monsters on it have eyes that stare at him. (its a funky next one, tis cute)
ive had to take his "cars" poster down as well.
I think that suddenly they gain an imagination and a sense of fear.
It really upset me that the one safe little haven that is "his" alone is causing him upset.
I am just going along with it for now as i think like every thing its a stage in the development.
Not so good for you tho, with disturbed sleep chuffin.

Hulababy · 22/01/2008 20:46

Dream catcher
Light on (monsters hate light)
Magic fairy dust (glitter dust)
Magic spray (water spray bottle)
Sign up saying no monsters allowed here

I found that if I actually acknowleded DD's fears, rather than saying they don't exist it worked better, So instead of rejecting the idea as not possible, we dealt with the issue and came up wih a solution.

Hassled · 22/01/2008 20:47

I really recommend Maggie and the Monster - the Amazon summary is :
Every night a monster comes into Maggie's room. She crashes into the furniture. She crawls under the table. She sits down on the chair and grumbles to herself. "Get out of my room!", Maggie shouts, but the monster doesn't pay any attention.

Anyway, it turns out the monster is only looking for its mother - it's a lovely book and might de-spook small DCs!

mistlethrush · 22/01/2008 20:47

Ds has two friendly monsters (who are very good at cleaning their teeth so that they have nice white teeth so are good at frightening off nasty monsters) called Freddie and Jessie - I invented Freddie the friendly monster for just this reason ('the monster's coming!) - Jessie arrived immediately after I introduced Freddie. Occasionally they have even been out on a walk with us and ds has walked along holding my hand and Freddie's hand, while Jessie held Baby Jack 's hand while he was sitting in the buggy.

Peachy · 22/01/2008 20:49

Octopus spray!

when ds2 went through a phase of being stalked in his bed by 20ft octopi (!), Dh took a can of smelly deodorant (smell is important- it lingers as a reminder and security blanket), re-labelled it octopus spray, and used it to octopus-proof ds's bedroom every night. worked a treat LOL!

The smell is crucial to it working I think- DH used some nasty lynx stuff I think. it neeeds to be detectable if they wake.

padboz · 22/01/2008 20:54

All the advice that I got that worked when this was happening to us came down to the same thing - basically accept that the monsters a real to your DC and figure out what they think needs doing to them.

We got a big box and 'caught' them in it. And then hoovered them out of it.

funnypeculiar · 22/01/2008 20:57

DS had a 'lady' for ages - we finally (after advice on here ) discussed what might make her understnad ds didn't let/want her in his room -
A few of the things that helped:

  • a sign on the door 'NO ENTRY' - every time he woke up we reminded him that the sign was there so she couldn't come in
  • a lot of banging & crashing to tell them to clear off

Someone on here also suggested a magic potion to sprinkle round the house (complete with food colouring & bicarb for fizz, which I thought was a fab idea

Original poster
Chuffinnora · 22/01/2008 20:58

Oh thank you all. I knew I just had to ask and the wisdom of MN would provide.
Just for the record - He does have a night light on all night but that maybe the problem as the stars become monsters, so I know what you mean donbean.
Hassled - Don't think anything is disturbing him at that time in particular. Both my kids have a sort of in built clock and dd usually wakes at the same time every morning (6.38!! Yawn).
The books look like a goer too. Anything not to read dazzling diggers again.
Will give the plant spray an toilet flushing a go tonight. Thanks all

OP posts:
PrincessSnowLife · 22/01/2008 21:01

light saber works around here

izzybiz · 23/01/2008 11:28

My mum used to give me her top that she had been wearing that day, it smelt of her and would always comfort me.

I now do this for my DD if she wakes and wants to sleep with me.

legalalien · 23/01/2008 11:43

you would not believe this, but there is a place somewhere near me (I keep spotting the company van) which markets and sells lavender spray as anti monster spray. Seems a bit weird to me, but I guess if you were going to buy some lavendar spray anyway...
www.antimonstersquad.co.uk/antimonster_story.php

GooseyLoosey · 23/01/2008 11:48

Same thing happened to dd at about 2.5. It will do no good to say that the monster is not real if he believes that it is. You have to accept that he thinks it is there and then work out how to deal with it. With dd we hung a fairy over her bed that chases monsters away while she is asleep and in case one ever comes when the fairy is not there we taught her a magic word to say which always gets rid of them. It seems to have worked. (She also uses the word to try and get rid of her brother, although with less success!)

AnAngelWithin · 23/01/2008 11:49

ds is nearly 4 and has suffered with night terrors something awful. he would go to bed fine then wake up screaming just before midnight. anyway, now, every night, we have a ritual of checking the room (he carries his sword with him!!) under the bed, in the cupboards etc. then we look in the wardrobe, slam the door shut and lock it (its an old wardrobe!) then line up all this teddy dogs in front of it. its opposite his bed and they look after him and guard the wardrobe. since then he has been fine. (she says with fingers crossed and touching every wooden surface within reach!)

Allee · 23/01/2008 18:24

We have the same fears with my dd about monsters. Can I just suggest you invest in "Teach your child to sleep" by the Millpond Sleep Clinic. It has listed every possible case study you could imagine and is good for dipping into. It also mentions at the beginning when explaining the science of sleep that children waking in the early hours is normal as they first fall into a deep sleep and then drop into REM sleep and are sleeping very lightly. Sorry this doesn't solve the monsters problem though.

oxfordmcboing · 23/01/2008 20:46

my son, three and a half, is scared of the dark..day or night. we live in an old house and it can be gloomy during the day and he has to have the lights on to go to the toilet or have his spiderman projecter torch. before bed time we switch on a dragon (actually from the shrek films) that is attached to the ceiling and flies round and round...this scares away any monsters and he has twinkly lights on to fall asleep to and we switch them off when we go to bed.
we have to leave the bathroom light on so that its not completely dark. i do think these fears should be taken seriously, my son describes in vivid detail what they look like. also i have to get down on all fours and make scary roaring noises under the bed and he seems satisfied by this....

KrippledKerryMum · 23/01/2008 20:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

karma · 24/01/2008 09:13

I find that if my son gets really hot in bed he invariably wakes in the night with bad dreams. Keeping him cooler at night has worked with him to a certain extent.

notsofarnow · 24/01/2008 09:37

my ds insists that the monsters live in his wall - he sleeps on the edge of his mattress because he can't look at the wall. Might try the spray thing because to be honest i've been telling him there are no monsters so maybe its worth trying to get rid of them. dd's never did this but he does seem to have a more vivid imagination than the girls ever had.

He also has a tree house apparantly where he has a tree house mummy and daddy etc and if you try and get him to eat something he doesn't like or hasn't had before he says 'I tried it in my tree house and I didn't like it' Not a clue what to say to that one tbh. Although his tree house did blow up the other week becuase of dodgy electrics so he went to live with pudsey bear.

He is 3.9yr

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