Night Time Fears - Fear of the Dark
My son is a sensitive little boy. We been co-sleeping for 3 years and recently started him on his own room. The start was not bad. Yes he would come into our room sometime in the night, but quietly and we do not discourage it. Lately however he stopped coming to our room quietly and is crying loud in his bed most of the time also wet with pee. When asking what is wrong that moment or during day time he would say he is afraid, afraid that it is dark (his closet light is on during the night). Question: how have you helped your kid to overcome their fears of the night/dark?
Night light of his favorite character. You can say, “Mickey is with you” also monster spray. You mix up some lavender oil and water in a spray bottle and spray the room together. Finally, if he still wets the bed it’s likely that he’s waking up cold and wet and confused, adding to his fear and discomfort. Night training may be a priority. Wake him up to pee once in the night. Most kids can be carried back to bed and go back to sleep quite easily, especially if his pajamas just pull down and up. No onesies or footsie pajamas, as you’ll fully wake him, fumbling with the zippers and getting his feet back in.
Night accidents are pretty upsetting to kids. He is probably dreaming deeply and not getting the signal to get up and pee, so now he’s waking up cold and wet. Temporary using a pull up at night might help. One approach is to prevent the deep sleep cycle where nightmares happen. About 2-3 hours after bedtime, go in and wake him up gently (try to get him fully awake with eyes open). Give him a hug and this could also be a time to give a sip of water and suggest a potty visit. Then tuck him back in and he should go to sleep very quickly. When we do this it seems to greatly reduce the number of night disturbances and bed visits!
If we had to keep a nightlight by our son’s bed, we did. He currently loves everything galaxy related and my sister gifted him a giant glow in the dark solar system set that sticks to the wall. He also sleeps with the door open every night now, since we no longer do a night light. We gave him a baby doll to sleep with too, and told him that it is his baby to take care of at night. Sometimes it backfires when he cannot find the doll, lol
Thank you all - all very good suggestions. I love the anti monster spray idea and I will try more night lights in his bedroom. And yes he particularly is upset when he had a night time accident....so I will try what I can do about night time training...
My daughter is 4yr old and still afraid of the dark. I brought this owl night light from Target for around $10 and she loves it. It has a timer that shuts off after 20min. She hangs this next to her bed. https://www.target.com/p/munchkin-light-my-way-nursery-nightlight/-/A-1XXX-XXXX?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Baby%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Baby&LID=XXX-XXXX70770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=XXX-XXXX&ds_rl=XXX-XXXX&ds_rl=XXX-XXXX&ds_rl=XXX-XXXX&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-az03Pes4AIVkYnICh18JwTqEAQYAiABEgK54PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Yup, we dealt with this too. We got our daughter a bed tent and a flashlight with a timer. https://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Play-Tents-House-Playhouse/dp/B000PTZMKO/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=bed+tent&qid=XXX-XXXX&s=gateway&sr=8-6 https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Desk-Night-Light-Flashlight/dp/B07BL5J2PC/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=led%2Bpet%2Blamp&qid=XXX-XXXX&s=gateway&sr=8-5&th=1 We put her water bottle in there along with some snacks. She usually falls asleep looking at books and the flashlight shuts off after you set the timer. Good luck!
I went with light up plushies. That way my kids could carry it with to the bathroom and the plushie could scare off the monsters "because monsters are scared of the plushie".