has anyone had problems with a small child having nightmares???
my daughter is 27 monthes old and has woken in the middle of the night screaming(yes screaming like crazy). she was crying so hard the first few times it was all i could do the try to get her calmed down. just the other night i finally got her to talk to me and tell me what was wrong(i sprang out of bed so fast because i thought she was physically harmed somehow due to the way she was screaming). she said "the elmos" were going to get her.
she really doesn't watch that much tv, maybe 1 hour a day-she also really loves elmo. i am not really sure what to do about this. but i am definitely concerned-it totally broke my heart.
any advice would be great. thanks.
Hi M.,
What was helpful to my children was "rewriting" the nightmare --listening to the story of their dream, then together imagining a silly/ happy (instead of scary) alternate ending. This allowed them to replay the dream, which they tend to do anyway, but to have some control over it. My kids (ages 17,20,23) still laugh about some of those crazy stories we told. Try it. Hope this helps!
M. P.
well i am not sure but if ahe has elmo dolls take them out of her room for now and dont let her watch it instead find something else for her to watch and i know at that age it is hard. try barney or even i know she is young but dora
It sounds like your daughter is going through a normal phase. My son did the same thing but not as bad. I don't think that Elmo is the problem, it's probably different each time and she may not even remember it unless you ask her right away. I think it's called 'night terrors' and the doctor told me it is normal. We used a very dim night light for our son and made sure he had his favorite toy to sleep with at bedtime. It didn't last that long. We even checked his entire room before he went to sleep just to make him feel safe in his own room. It's best to eliminate anything from the room (within reason) that might look like a 'monster' in the dark. There are also flashlights that are sold that are easy to operate for kids. My son had one and it made him feel safe. You could even try to use that in place of the nightlight. We were worried that he might always need a nightlight but after the terrors stopped he didn't use it anymore. I hope this helps.
Hello, My daughter has nightmares too, she's 7. She likes to watch superhero movies like her dad, he's 40 and still watches them. I guess it's normal to enjoy watching those types of movies, the good guys fighting the bad guys but she does hve nightmares and I'm trying to encourage her to watch cartoons more when we're home, when I'm off work so it'll replace those thoughts.
I was thinking maybe to put on a relaxation cd in at night so it'll ease your baby's mind, they do help clear your mind. Let me know how things go..
Keep in touch
C.
My one son use to wake up screaming. And he would act like he didn't know where he was at and didn't know how I was. We just kept on telling him where he was and that mommy was there and wasn't going where. That everyhting is ok. Just kept resauring him on what was going on and then it slowly stopped. The mind works many ways and it is the subconusise that controls are dreams. She might be working something out. She might have a fear that someone is going to come and take her. Also depeneds on what you belive. They say children see things that we don't. Maybe she sees the grandparents and are afraid that they might take her. Even thow they might be there to see how things are. Some times it depends on what you belive in.
Best of luck with the nightmares. They do grow out of them. Just trying to figure out what is triggering them is part of the battle.
