Tips for Parents to Control Nightmares in Children

During childhood, almost every children experience nightmares. Children get nightmares due to the stress in normal lives.

Once your child was awaken by nightmare, it is difficult for your child to go back to sleep. Nightmares are common in children two to six years old.

A nightmare is a bad dream, which can make your child feel anxious, upset or scared but does not cause any harm to your child.

Nightmares take place during light stage of sleep. Our brain flows through different stages of sleep in which some stages are deeper than others.

Dreaming takes place during lighter stages of sleep and children who have nightmares cannot get into deep stages of sleep.

Children get nightmares due to the stressful things that happen during daytime. They may face problems in the school, home, sports, school work or exams. Another reason for nightmares is watching scary and horror movies or reading scary books before going to bed.

Children who are sick, especially with high fever may have nightmares. Certain medications result in nightmares. Children wake up in the night when they have a bad dream. They wake up talking, crying and yelling and may be very frightened.

Tips for parents to calm their children:

1. You should be prepared with child’s nightmares. You should plan for their occurrence and take necessary precautions. If the children wake up and cry during night, you should comfort and soothe them.
2. You should observe your child while watching television. If children watch any scary or violent movies, you should prevent them from watching.
3. If the child has nightmare, you should stay with your child until they have settled back even if you lose sleep. You should settle the child with calming activity like reading a story and return them to sleep.
4. Keep your bedroom door open so that if your child has nightmare, he may come crying for your support.
5. You should go to the child as quickly as possible when your child has nightmare. They need support and comfort from you.
6. You should assure your child that you will protect him/her. You should speak in a soothing and calming voice to your child when he/she had nightmare. You should assure that you will stay with him/her.
7. You should remain calm if your child screams or cries. You should not be upset because if your child notices, he will be more upset. So, you should remain calm to support your child.
8. If your child is able to talk after the nightmare, you talk to him and ask about the frightening dream he got. If parents find out the dream, they can overcome and prevent the things that were frightening
9. Help your child to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time everyday.
10. Keep a night light in the bedroom of your child. If your child wakes up from nightmare, he will be able to see the things and identify where you are.

Parents should avoid:

1. You should avoid waking your child from sleep if he has nightmare and still asleep. Sometimes nightmare will end and the child will return to normal sleep, so it is not necessary to wake them.
2. When your child wake up from nightmare, you should not talk with loud voice as your child will be more frightened.

If your child’s nightmare doesn’t go away, you take your child to a doctor. The doctor determines whether your child’s nightmare is a result of physical condition.