5 Tips For Avoiding Children’s Nightmares
Nightmares are normal during child development. Generally, they appear between 2 and 3 years old and, with them, the child expresses the lived experiences. However, that doesn’t mean the little ones don’t feel bad when they show up. In this article, we’ll look at how we can prevent nightmares in children.
When children have nightmares, they may be afraid of something they dreamed of or even not want to go back to sleep so they don’t have another nightmare. Let’s see some tips to avoid nightmares so that your child can sleep peacefully.
Possible Causes of Nightmares in Children
Nightmares usually occur in the second half of the night, during the REM phase. The causes can be:
- There is no established routine.
- When children are sick or have a fever, nightmares are accentuated.
- Do not sleep the required amount of hours.
- Anxiety or stress caused by a change in life, such as moving house, birth of a sibling, etc.
- When children are very tired, they are also more likely to have nightmares.
Tips to Avoid Nightmares in Children
have comfort in the room
We can turn on a night light to bring some light into the room, but nothing fancy. The child can sleep with one or more favorite stuffed animals and this will provide security and stability.
Monitor what they watch on television and don’t let them watch it for an hour before bedtime
We have to try to keep them from watching television for an hour before going to bed. But if they watch, we should look for content that is not violent or aggressive. If they’re cartoons, we can look for ones that aren’t too colorful, so they don’t stimulate the brain at bedtime.
create routines
It is important that we establish routines every day as this brings security and balance. That way, kids will know what to do at each moment of the day and there won’t be any surprises. They should have the same time to shower, eat, brush their teeth and sleep every day.
read a bedtime story
It is very important to introduce reading a child’s age-appropriate story before bedtime, as this will make them relax. We can also bring relaxation through soft music and sounds of nature in order to induce the little one’s sleep and relax him.
What can we do if nightmares appear even following these tips?
- You must go to the child’s room to calm him down.
- In a soft, loving voice, talk to her so she doesn’t get even more scared than she already is.
- Say that it’s all over and that it was just a nightmare, that Mommy or Daddy are by her side. Tell a good story to distract her and make her forget all the bad things that happened during the nightmare.
- When the child has a nightmare, we should not take him to our bed, because if we act in this way, he will end up creating this habit and we will have difficulty correcting this situation in the future. We must calm her down in her room so she can go back to sleep in her own bed.
- If the nightmares recur every night, you should see your pediatrician because there may be a sleep disorder or the child is experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. This could also be an indication of a psychological problem derived from the child’s environment.
About avoiding nightmares in children
Although nightmares are normal during a child’s development, especially from 2 to 3 years of age, they can continue to appear until 6 years of age. However, they will disappear as the child grows.
These are some tips for avoiding nightmares in children and what to do if, despite everything, they still show up. However, if your little one continues to have nightmares and is really feeling unwell, it is important to see the pediatrician.
