Bad Dreams

My son is only three, but this happens with him, too. I don't think he really wakes up, he will sit up and just cry and cry. When I talk to him he kind of looks at me crazy and pushes me away, if I mess with him too much he just gets more upset. I think he's just really sleepy and confused. I've heard that sometimes kids release emotions when they're sleeping. I like to think that's the problem and that he's just so happy when he's awake that he doesn't get a chance to get his cries out. :)

Hello, well this might be a little goofy too, but, don't let him eat before bedtime, especially dairy, my brother, myself and my mom swear by this, we would have weird dreams if we ate cereal or ice cream b-4 bed!!

Good luck!!

This is going to sound silly I'm sure, but my almost 7 year old was having bad dreams and my daughter had a dream catcher in her room and she told him she would switch beds for the night so he could have the dream cathcer take away his dreams. It worked he said he always wanted to sleep in her room because then he wouldn't have bad dreams, I went out and bought one and put it up in his room, made up a little story of why they helped and poof no more bad dreams in his own bedroom. I don't know if that will help but it worked for me =). Good luck!

I agree with the person who says it sounds like night terrors. Is it happening maybe 1-3 hours after he goes to sleep? My son had them at that age. You can't do much during the night terror and they won't remember it in the morning, but sometimes you can try to prevent them. They can be aggravated by stress or fatigue. Is he overly tired? Has something changed or happened in his life recently to make him anxious? It could also just be developmental. My son outgrew them at about age 10.

I have a 7 yr old boy and when he's having a bad dream I try to give him good things to focus his mind on. I tell him to think of riding his bike, or eating an ice cream cone, or going swimming. That usually works. Just remember that their imaginations are very strong and even "non-scary" things can give them nightmares.

I dealt with this with one. We prayed at night and helped him learn some scripture verses and songs. It was a tough season and it lasted a long time (couple of years) but he eventually got over it and was able to sleep alone and without night terrors. I asked his doctor about it and it seemed that it was a developmental thing more than anything. His brain was making the switch from thinking in concrete terms to thinking more in abstract terms and he was not sleeping deeply enough for his motor skills to shut off during a dream. It is very upsetting to you (the parent) and the kid, but it is common and it is just a phase.

Compassion and understanding will go a long way here. I did let my son come in and lay with me for a little while at night and when he really had a hard time I let him come to our room even later at night. I knew that this stage was short and wouldn't go on past age 9 or so and it didn't but it was a special time of bonding with him that I cherish now. One day it stopped and he never asked for it again until recently (age 14) when a close buddy committed suicide. He didn't want to be alone the first night so my husband pulled a mattress into his room and slept there with him. It was bittersweet but I am so glad that we didn't make his initial fear into a problem because I don't think he would have wanted to ask for comfort now if we had.

Hope this helps some.

Hi B.!

Our daughter went throught hat about age 7.
We monitored her TV intake too. Our daughter was a bit of a drama queen in a fun, loving way and still is at age 18.

We bought her a "dream catcher" to hang in her bedroom. We hung it on the window right above her bed. She never had a bad dream after that.

Of course we told her the story of the dream catcher and that all the bad dreams get filtered out so she would only have good dreams.

Best wishes!

J.

It sounds like you are describing the exact symptoms of a very common sleep disorder in children called night terrors. When a child is having a "terror," they are not really awake but are very upset. They usually have no recollection of it in the morning. The classic symptom is that they seem very upset at the time, but they are not actually frightened or they cannot explain why they are frightened or upset. I would ask your son's pediatrician about it. Again, it's very common and not something to worry about. It will more than likely wake you up and startle you more than it will him. The bad news is that there isn't a universal "cure," although there might be some things to try. The good news is that virtually all children grow out of them...usually by or before age 10.

One thing that helped my daughter was to play a music cd in her room at night. Something kiddish will help keep good sounds and if they wake up it something else to focus on instead of what their dream was.
J.
Mom to 4, soon 5 through another adoption and hopefully more :o)

This happened to my son but only during his 2nd grade year. He never complained about anything at school or his friends. We decided to switch his school for other reasons. Summer came and went with nothing and he hasn't had one in the 3 years at the new school. I am convinced something or someone was bothering him but he never said. Keep digging and maybe you can figure it out. Good luck