child always scared after nightmare?

Question

my son (who will be 4 at the end of this month) had a scarey dream sunday night. he was horrified and has been ever since. my husband and i had been trying something new, having our son fall asleep on his own. i would read him a story and then leave his bedroom. that did not work and as i stated above, he had a nightmare. since that night, i have gone back to the old rutine and stayed with him until he fell asleep. he is not scared at night, but during the day. i am a stay at home mom, so all he wants is for me to pick him up and go everywhere with him. before his nightmare he would go to the bathroom without my self or my husband, but now, we have to go with him, stay there and pick him up when he is done. no matter what, he wants me there with him. all day he tells me he is scared and i really do not know what else to do. i have thought of everything. i think he might be taking advantage of the situation, but i am stuck!! does anybody have any suggestions? please help!

Answer 1

He's four and nightmare was just a few days ago. Re-assure him, pull away from making it a big deal, re-direct his attention. Does he have a something special that he just adores, like a toy or something? Try putting it in the bathroom, bedroom (where ever you are not), and then "see, ___ has been here all day by it/him self. It's okay for you to go in there with him/it." But, my opinion, paying attention to the negative reinforces the memory while focusing on positive will enable him to move on. And it may mean you have to enforce the "parent" role a little more than you would like to. Good Luck!

Answer 2

that's just a natural reaction of a child after a nightmare. Whatever it is in his dream it surely made your child that scare. But try to speak with your child and try to assure that whatever it is that makes him scared could not hurt him in anyway or scare him again because of the holy angels thats keeping an eye on him every single minute may it be at night or day. Try to make him a story about how holy angels protects little children like him that way he would feel that even though you're not there with him he can always assure himself that someone is keeping an eye on him to keep him safe.....

Answer 3

Hey childeren have nightmares that is apart of life in fact I am almost 26 years old and I sometimes have nightmares but let's be real we are adults and we know how to put the stuff together where as childeren we do not understand so it is ok for him to be scared but just keep reassuring your child that it was only a dream and that it will be ok

Answer 4

Hello try to ask him what scares him, or can he show you in some way? Then talk it over about it.
Probably he must get used some time to sleep alone and now he is "going back" a little.
So make him get rid of the fears (tell him nothing is dangerous) and then you can train him sleep alone again.

Answer 5

Go to see a child physiologist and have him talk about it, or a psychiatrist because they might provide him with a sleeping aid until he is no longer afraid and has talked about everything oh yeah don't go with the whole"be a big boy! Big boys aren't afraid" it makes them feel wrong if they feel afraid and show their feelings. let him know that being afraid is perfectly normal, tell him even you get afraid sometimes, all grown ups do, if you tell him that he shouldn't be a afraid he'll grow up to be an insensitive jerk who never talks about his feelings

Answer 6

That's is a 100% child. Try making a story using his name, such as Prince _______ (your son's name) or singing him a lullaby. All tell him to think of pleasent things before he goes to sleep.

Hope this helped and good luck!

Answer 7

ask him what it was about and help him confront his fears. reasure him that you will always be there and nothing will hurt him. he will probablly get over it soon and forget all about it.