i need help with my 2 year old who is having nighmares.?

Question

i have a two yr old son who when he comes home from his dads or a friends house, has nightmares. Usually it is like he is fighting someone, an uncle or sometimes even his brother. How do i help him when he is having these nightmares and cant sleep?

i have a hard time waking him up and sometimes he doesent wake up at all he continues to scream and fight and yell stop to whom ever he is fighting with. When he does wake up he cries and then will go back to sleep and it is as if he is going right back to where he left off.

Answer 1

During these nightmares, does he respond to you or does he continue fighting? Does he answer your questions or does he ignore you and keep reacting to his nightmares?

The reason I'm asking is that he could be having what is called night terrors. Night terrors are horrific nightmares. The kid can have their eyes open, but still be very much engaged in the nightmare. If you are asking them questions and they aren't responding like they normally would if they were awake, they could still be engaged in the nightmare.

My daughter has had night terrors on and off since she was around 18 months. They significantly slowed down after she turned three. I did some research on the internet and learned that nightterrors can be caused by too much stimulation before bed time. So, when she was getting them, we would turn the tv off earlier and not let her have experiences with friends. Lots of quiet time before bed reading books and such. The couple of times that she has had night terrors in the last year have occured when we were out of town and visiting relatives who have similarly aged kids. She would be playing with them excitedly before bed and then get the night terrors.

We have since decided that we should stay at hotels and have some seperation from others for downtime before bed. This has worked for us.

Good luck.

Answer 2

What is he seeing that would cause him to have nightmares? Is he watching scary movies or is something going on. A 2 year old should not have any experience that is scary enough to cause a nightmare.

When my children were young and they has dreams or didn't want to go to sleep because something might be under the bed, I would rub their backs and talk very gently about anything nice that I could think about, butterflies, rainbows, balloons etc.

The other night, my granddaugher said there might be something under the bed so I said you're right, there are things under the beds in this house but they are nice things. There are angels playing with butterflieds under your bed and sitting on clouds. The next night I asked her in a very inquiring voice what's under your bed and she said angels and butterlies.

Do what ever you have to do to make him relax but find out what he's seeing or hearing. If he can talk, ask him what he did at his dad's house the next time he is over there. Two year olds don't know how to lie about things like that even if someone told him to lie.

Answer 3

I wonder if there is something going on that he is holding in? Worth checking out. I have a son who had night terrors.He would walk, talk,eyes open and we couldnt touch him or interact with him unless he came to us.We just followed him around to make sure he didnt hurt himself. he would talk and scream and say no no.He has anxiety disorder(runs in the family).But all kids have nightmares, but really pay attention to how his day went or who he spent the day with.It could be those situations that are triggering them.

Answer 4

Make sure you speak to the dad about it, because you need a concerted effort. Perhaps there is something happening over there, other influences that make him feel a little threatened. It could be diet changes, or simply feeling uncertain about the situation that's prompting things. Good luck, hope you get it sorted out for him.