Fear of dark, shadows, light bulbs in 2.5yr old

[glammam]

My son has developed a phobia about the dark and in particular, shadows, but he also doesn't like lightbulbs and any ceiling lights. It's very strange and everywhere we go he looks up at the ceiling and comments on the lights and is very wary of them. I think it stems from a few months ago when a light bulb went in his room, as in it flickered and then went off and ever since then he has had this fear of bulbs as he thinks they're scary. Now it's shadows too and he is waking up scared in the night. Has anyone else had children with strange fears and how have people conquered fear of the dark??? Thanks x

He's very little. Maybe just think of alternatives for now and see how it goes.

Glow in the dark stickers - moon, stars etc, on the ceiling. Solar light - no bulb, just charges up during the day. That sort of thing.

I think just stay calm, reassure him, and see how he gets on. Kids go through phases like this.

There's also things like sitting in the dark with him, sitting next to a light with him, explaining it all to him etc etc if you wanted to do - what do they call it in therapy? "exposure" work.

my dd developed a fear of "the shadows" at around 2 and its still comes back even now she is nearlt 4, she has a lamp on all night in her room but sometimes this isnt good enough as it casts shadows, we tried every different lamp going but she just wanted the full light on, far to light to sleep in, i have gradually weaned her down to a low watt bulb in lamp at the end of bed, but if i dare sneak in and turn it off she wakes up hysterical, a couple of things that i think helped was playing shadow puppets with our hands and showing her shadows can be nice, watch bear in the big blue house, there is a nice shadow in that programme. i bought her a dream catcher to hang in her window to catch all the bad dreams, and i got her a speacial teddy to sit in her window to look after her while she is asleep ( she was afraid of things being able to see in through the window even through blackout blind and curtains) it seems to of gone now but she is still afraid of the dark. i dont know where it all started from but they do have wild imaginations! good luck

DD had a broom in her bed room, and we had to sweep the ceiling before bed to brush the shadows away!!

There's a story book (night monkey, day monkey by Julia Donaldson) that's good for this age group and it mentions shadows. Someone posted a while back about it helping their child who was afraid of shadows, may be worth a try

There's a story book (night monkey, day monkey by Julia Donaldson) that's good for this age group and it mentions shadows. Someone posted a while back about it helping their child who was afraid of shadows, may be worth a try