4.5 Year Old Daughter with Chronic Nightmares

Use your mommy-magic. When our youngest had the same problem, I started a bedtime routine where I take fairy dust from behind my ear (where the fairies leave it at night), warm it between my fingers, say the magic words "No bad dreams, no monsters", and blow it at her. Then comes the second load of fairy dust with the magic words "only good dreams". Then we draw a "monster cage" out of golden threads over her bed that no monsters can get through, because only people who love you can get through it. She uses her imagination to visualize it. I sometimes "magic" her finger so she can add slides and swings for the fairies to the cage as she is falling asleep.

Work whatever magic you feel comfortable with that involves her imagination and I suspect it will get better.

We also got rid of our television and discovered we have so much more time together. It was the best decision we ever made. Good luck, and enjoy your imaginative, creative daughter. She sounds like lots of fun.

Can you afford a child therapist? There are some really great ones out there. There's a type of therapy called "play therapy" which is wonderful.

I would start now b/c it sounds like your child has a lot of anxiety and this may only get worse as she gets older. It just may be her nature.

Check out your employer (or your husband's) benefits. They aren't overly "advertised" buy my husbands company had an employee assistance program that provides free therapy. This is not something through the insurance company but a separate benefit. Human resources may be able to lead you in the right direction.
Good luck.

Yes, your encourage your imaginative and spiritual daughter to use her imagination to ask for protection from angels, particularly Archangel Michael (you can check out the Doreen Virtue book on the subject), as well as from magical protective creatures like unicorns. You are blessed with a very attuned little girl. You may want to cut out the TV, she may want to as well. Consider having her astrological chart read. That may help you understand her a bit better and is really quite fascinating.

My daughter is 4.5 also and is very aware of the fact that people get old and die and she wants to talk about it a lot. We also monitor what she watches on tv, because even when we think she isn't watching she will ask me about it later. I won't let her watch Dumbo, Bambi, or Pinochio because she will be upset about the death. My dad died 2 years ago when she was only 2.5, but she talks about how she misses him and shortly after he died she said that she saw him. She wasn't scared and we talk about it so that death doesn't seem scary to her. She doesn't have a lot of nightmares, but I always tell her or read her a story before bed that is not scary at all or we talk about really upbeat stuff before bed. Sorry this is so long, I hope it helps a little.

How did you explain the death of the cat? I once had a child not sleeping in his bed only to find out that he was told his cat was "put to sleep" and he thought that meant if he went to sleep he would die.
what about getting a dream catcher or making one with your daughter?? You can tell her all the bad dreams will be caught and disappear in the dream catcher. You can call it something along the line of nightmare catcher or whatever your daughter wants to call it. And drawing about anything that scares her before sleep may help get them out of her mind.

Not that this is an answer to your question, but in some twisted way it may be. You need to do a little research on Crystal Children. They are highly sensitive, spiritual children. And children like this needs a special kind of parenting. It's not something to be worried about. It's kind of a different spiritualality that is coming about. Does she scare easily (other then what you've told us)? Does she get upset easily if voices are raised? Does she seem to be drawn in by Nature and the environment? My daughter is a Crystal. They are highly intuitive and people are drawn to them (seemingly for no apparent reason). There are several books out there about this. I read one by Doreen Virtue. It may help you.