Sleeping Issues - Papillion,NE

M.! Yes I have the best dvd, it is Bedtime with Elmo and it addresses all sleeping issues, my 2 year old loves it. There is a skit on shadows! Check it out! We got ours @ Walmart

A few things, that I see some have said already. My adopted daughter has always had trouble sleeping. She too is afraid of shadows. She is 10 now and can tell us more. According to her....there can be NO light on. Small bedside lights and nightlights cause shadows. In fact she sleeps now with an sleep eye mask on. That was something we learned in therapy. Also, her therapist told us of "monster spray" when she was younger. We just sprayed an air freshner in her room at bed time. It work fairly well when she was little.

The main thing....if he is afraid of shadows, get rid of the shadows. Turn on the radio very low to give the mind something else to think about, but not loud enough to sing along.

We have a small bottle of monster spray that I rec'd but haven't needed to use. This one seems to be a lavender based one so if you get some linen spray and put it in a tiny spray bottle, you could tell your child it was monster spray. The lavender scent stays behind but isn't overpowering. And of course, lavender is suppose to be relaxing so I"m sure it helps with the sleeping.

We had gotten my son the turtle night light back in the spring. He loved it because of the starts that shine on the ceiling. We used it until summer (so about 3 months) and then haven't used it since then. He prefers to sleep with all the lights off so we even turn off the power strips in his room so that there's absolutely no light.

My 3 1/2 daughter seems to be more scared at night if she took a nap that day and had wasn't tired at bedtime. Maybe eliminating any nap would help. Sweet dreams!

Sounds like he might be a little stressed or nervous from starting preschool. I would eliminate the movie. Any type of screen-activity (TV, computer, video games) an hour or so before bed makes it harder to sleep. It has something to do with the effect of the lights and movement on the eyes and brain. Check out Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's book, "Sleepless in America," and her website, parentchildhelp.com. He needs a quiet routine starting early in the evening, bath, reading, etc. and make sure he's getting plenty of exercise early in the day. Can you also talk to him about preschool? He might be anxious from the change. Maybe find out from the teacher how it's been going in school. Good luck!

my little granddaughter seemed to be scared of the dark for a while but I showed her that in the dark, everything is the same as in the light. Have look around the room in the light and ask what he sees. Then have him close his eyes and ask him what he sees. He will tell you nothing. Ask him if the stuff all disappeared or if things are different in the room just because he can't see them. I did this with my granddaughter. I always turned out the light and she would say "but grandma, I can't see you" I would tell her "but you can feel me and hear me" This also seemed to calm her down.

I agree with the monster spray! We have some. I don't know where you can buy it locally, but the website is www.byebyemonsterspray.com

My daughter also doesn't like the shadows in her room. At night we use a Star Turtle from Cloud B. You can find them at baby gift type stores, online...eBay, etc. They are fairly bright and if you get the regular turtle (not the sea turtle...which we also have) it lights the whole room with stars....green, blue or orange. It stays on for about 45 minutes then shuts off automatically. It's also very easy for kids to use....both my 3yo and 16 mo. old can turn it on and off by themselves. It has gotten great reviews for "curing" nighttime fears!

Good luck!

Sound's like you may need some monster spray. When my older two girls were having issues with shadows and monsters, I purchased an air freshner and labeled it as "monster spray". The philosophy behind "monster spray" is that we (humans) don't like stinky smells, so monsters don't like nice smells. So the air freshner "stinks" for monsters and they stay away. I'd allow them to use their monster spray before bedtime to scare away the monsters.

I've heard of people using water in a spray bottle, but my girls needed something with staying power so that I could leave the room. Since the scent lingered, I could leave and they would fall asleep.

My son was too, we recently got a Curious George video at family video about a cave and shadows and now he is not afraid anymore.

Try playing with shadows both outside (during the day and the early evening)and in his bedroom (during the day and at night). We play shadow tag, trace shadows with sidewalk chalk, make silly shadows, point out shadows made by different objects, make shadow puppets on the wall, etc. We also have a flashlight that has different caps that you can put on the end to make animal shadows on the wall. The one we have came from Yellowstone Park but I have seen them other places around where we live (including the gift shop at the MN zoo). Ours has a bear. Maybe he could use an animal shadow to chase away the scary shadows.

Only on those desperate nights let him have a light on. It might drive others in the house mad, but let him fall asleep with a small lamp turned on (not a night light or overhead light). Let him know that if he gets scared, he can lay quietly in bed a look at a book until he falls asleep. This takes the pressure off of him to force himself to sleep. Movies or other distractions are out. They cause too much excitement. Once he's asleep, turn the light out, but have a good night light on so he if he does wake up, he won't wake to total darkness.

Soft music sometimes helps too. Nothing with words, just a relaxation cd or something instrumental.

Also make sure you light a "path" from his room to the bathroom with nightlights, and make sure the bathroom has a nightlight.

Make sure no street lamps can reflect shadows into his bedroom at night. If necessary get actual room darkening curtains or blinds. This should help cut down on shadows too.

An hour or so before bed, turn off all t.v.s or anything that would keep him awake and active. No talking, no games, nothing. Everyone in the house should read quietly in their beds if they're not sleeping (even parents), take a warm bath, whatever to help start setting a quiet mood and tone in the house. All lights should be low if any at all. Try to rely more on nightlights, and small table lamps to get a restful feel going.

If he knows your awake, he'll stay awake. So do not watch t.v. or talk until he's asleep.

In case you're wondering, this is what we do/did with our "light sleeper" whose afraid of the "night creeper." It's alot of work, kind of a bummer for the adults, but it worked for us to put off our own activities to get them to fall asleep.

My son had the same thing! I talked to his preschool teacher and she was already planning a unit about shadows. She had a bunch of books and that helped my son. Ask his teacher too. I have found that they usually have a lot of different resources or ideas that I hadn't thought of.