how can you prevent young children haveing nightmares?

Question

my son is coming up to 3 he is very active and has allways been into everything,but since he was around 1 1/2 he has been waking up in the night screaming for no obvious reason.it doesnt happen all the time,its actually quite rare but when it does happen im terrified and me and my husband try everything to carlm him down but in the end only he[my son]can carlm himself down when hes actually too tired to scream anymore.im puzzled because he is not exposed to anything that could give him nightmares,nor does he have any bad memories that could trigger nightmares.can children this young imagine bad things or twist nice things they have seen into something that horrifies them?i really need some suggestions on this as me and my husband are planning to have another baby very soon and at the moment my son is still sleeping next to me in the bed and i am worried.thanks guys

Answer 1

here are some sites i found, i hope they help

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/parenting/presch/sleep/qas/0,13845,186584_187690-1,00.html

http://www.familiesonline.co.uk/article/articleview/57/1/7


http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/nightmare2.shtml


good luck

Answer 2

You certainly have sparked a lot of different reactions and answers!! It sounds like your son is having night terrors and not nightmares. They are very different. Night terrors are not dreams. The child is not in the dream stage of sleep. They can often be screaming and seem very distressed but, are generally still almost asleep. I don' t know what can be done for night terrors but, you could try looking it up but I think they generally go away on their own and there is probably little that can really help.
Nightmares are a whole different thing and can be caused by seeing disurubing images or hearing disturbing and scary things. It sounds like you are careful and conscious of that. I felt the same way and never wanted my kid to have unnecessary nightmares and was careul about them seeing or hearing weird and scary things on TV. I think the news on tv can be particularly awful for kids to overhear and it may not seem scary to us. Kids have so many misconceptions about how things work and it is difficult to know what will trigger fear in them. Also when a kid has a nightmare, they ususally wake up and want to be comforted and can be comforted. With a night terror -- the kid seems to almost be unreachable and in their own world, because they are still basically sleeping. kids don't remember having had a night terror when they wake up in the morning. But they can remember having bad dreams. If you think he is having bad dreams, you can certainly talk to him about what is scaring him and he may be able to help you help him. If he has no idea that he is even experiencing these episodes then that is an indication that they might be night terrors.

Answer 3

Your son is in the prime nightmare stage age, so it will get better when he gets a little older. In the meantime though, try this, it worked well with my son, who suffered from horrible nightmares. Obviously keep him away from any TV shows or books, anything that are too scary. THen I would put my son to bed, read a nice, warm and fuzzy book, then we'd talk about our "happy thoughts". Talk about stuff we looked forward to doing the next day, or fun things we did that day, people we loved, etc. I felt like if I planted these nice thoughts in his head right before he went to sleep, it may make for nicer dreams, lol. It did make things a little better. Good luck!

Answer 4

My daughter who is just three has also suffered from this for a year....they are horrid but I put it down to a very active imagination which is a good thing! She never sees any horrible tv shows and I am careful about which books she reads....I think toddlers have natural fears which we cannot understand properly...they see the world differently.
Before she goes to sleep, I always talk about things which make her happy...I tell her about the sweetie fairies who go around checking on all the children and leaving them sweeties....she loves the idea and I think it puts pleasant thoughts in her head...her nightmares actually seem to have lessened since I started this....Good Luck!

Answer 5

everyone has nightmares more when they are between 2 and 8, but they sort of grow out of it after that, and only have the occasional one.

also, check out their diet, because that can be related, and don't let him do too much excercise in the hour or so before he goes to sleep, as this can also make it worse.

It's nothing to do with bad memories, at this stage children's imagination is not developed enough to tell the difference between a bad dream, and a good one, until it's a bit late, when it wakes him up. As we get older, our brains can recognise bad dreams before we get into them too much, and so we don't have as many nightmares.

Answer 6

i find it best (by own experience) to keep a night light in the room, so when they wake up, they are not in complete darkness, that will reassure him. Also try not to give him any thing to eat 1 hour before he goes to bed, someone told me the brain is more active when you have eaten. Also once you have seen to him after having a bad dream, settle him down and put him back in his own room until he is asleep. It is possible that he knows if he wakes up and crys he will get your attention, becomes kind of habit! It might be his way of making sure he gets to sleep in your bed every night. hope this helps. x

Answer 7

I'm with cutie on this one - I've always felt that dreams were jumbled exaggerated thoughts of the day- he sounds like a busy boy in the daytime but gentle funny stories before he sleeps may help as they would be his last thoughts

Answer 8

these are called night terrors
I'm afraid there isn't anything you can do to stop these.
They don't happen because he has been exposed to something that frighten him, its just something most kids will go through.
He will grow out of it, its just that his at that age where his imagination runs wild, especially at night during his 'dream state'

I apologise for some of the ridiculous answers you have received!!!
Its quite clear these people don't have children so therefor don't realise how distressing this problem is, both for the child and the parents!!

Answer 9

try doing something before he goes to sleep so that he will go to sleep with that thing in his mind something that makes him happy something that he likes very much just give it to him so he will not think about the nightmares before he goes to sleep .... I'm just guessing that this will help but you never know maybe it will ....... just try..... gudluck...or maybe its the colour of his room the things on the Walls or the shadows that appear before he goes to sleep.... put the light of his favourite colour in his room when he goes to sleep..... fill the his room with the colours and things that he likes then see what happens.... I'm just telling you to try different things that's all.....

Answer 10

Make them do sports so they go to bed really tired and they wont have nightmares at all. Dont let them watch too much tv. And give them a good and healthy diet.
Its all related

Answer 11

Limit the time he watches television.