Night-time fears

[AcornsFalling]

Hello,
My 4 1/2 DD had a bad dream the other night where she thought she heard someone say "ooglie booglie" in her bedroom. Lol! Well, now she is afraid at night of the shadows in her room and every sound. Last night I was with her from 1:30-4 trying to get her back to sleep! If she wakes up at night she usually is straight back to sleep unless something gets her wide awake... Then it's a few hours before she can fall back asleep.
I don't want to give a lot of attention to this though I do feel it is genuine fear.
Does anyone have any suggestions? We have talked about it and tonight we are going to adjust the night light is it's not so shadowy.
TIA.

[mickyc]

My daughter goes through phases. Sometimes we have to keep her lamp on. Usually just a glow stick at night helps but sometimes she needs more depending on what shows she has been watching. Monster University was one that did not do very well for her but she could watch ParaNorman - go figure lol.

[5 Little Monkeys]

An idea I saw on pinterest...not sure if it works but might be worth a try?? (works as in the child believing it...not that it actually keeps monsters away :P LOL)

Make up a bottle of "monster spray"....(I've seen other cute names too but can't recall them right now!)....just in a spray bottle, mix water with a scent. Lavender would be good since it is a calming scent. Then you and your child spray the room to keep "monsters" away!! To make it more real, you can print off a label to make it look more official and store bought!!

[someone]

Both my children have gone through this. The one thing we've done is during the day when it's bright out we talk about dreams and how they are not real. The best part is when we tell them to punch the monster in the nose or kick them where it will hurt them because they are not real. Then we start to make a joke about how because it's a dream they can just say boo in their dream and it will scare away the thing that is scaring them and ask them for suggestions about it. We've had some really good silly giggle fests in my home getting through that phase.

Another thing is that both my children have book lights and a book (usually picture book, even for my 10 year old) so that if they have a dream that is unsettling they can read a bit in the night and help them get their mind off it.

Maybe these can help. Good luck, it will pass, and I can say this with confidence because we just finished this with my 7 year old and my 10 year old went through it at 6.....so it does end. :-)