Nightmares are a normal part of life and everyone will experience the occasional bad dream from time to time. The bad news for developing children, specifically in the age group of 6-10-years-old, is that nightmares are very common occurrences. In fact, a study conducted by Dutch researchers found that 96% of 7- to 9-year-olds reported having nightmares, as compared with 68% of 4- to 6-year-olds and 76% of 10- to 12-year-olds.
“Nightmares happen during REM sleep, and many kids don’t wake up after them. However, the dreams can rouse a child in part because they trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response that elevates heart rate. Any source of stress—even being overtired—can increase the risk of nightmares. So bad dreams can be a self-fulfilling prophesy: Stressing out about whether you’re going to have a nightmare makes you more likely to have one. When a child wakes up feeling afraid, his house can seem scary and that can make it even tougher for him to fall back to sleep alone,” says psychologist Dawn Huebner, Ph.D.
As if getting kids to go to bed wasn’t challenging enough as it is. Now, the added struggle of a nightmare makes the task of getting the recommended nightly amount of sleep nearly impossible! Luckily for your children, a handful of experts and parents have disclosed 6 effective ways to put an end to recurring nightmares!
Check out the resourceful list, and find out how you can get rid of your kids nightmares, and help them get all the peaceful sleep they need:
1. Try to be understanding
As an adult, you’re probably aware that there aren’t any monsters under the bed, or creatures lurking in the closet. Armed with that knowledge, you’re able to sleep pretty comfortably at night. Your kids, however, lack that confidence and understanding. That’s why you should work to instill confidence in your child.
But how can a parent do this? Your kids may seem a bit incredulous about your claims of a monster free bedroom, and their fear may be blinding their logic and rationality. Robin Berman, M.D., psychiatrist and author of Permission to Parent, says that using careful language to soothe your child, and validating their feelings is key: “If your child has a bad dream, it’s natural to tell her, ‘It’s not real—go back to bed’. But to her, it seems very real.”
In the event that your child comes knocking on your door in the middle of the night because he/she had a nightmare, choose your words carefully and let her know you understand the situation. You might say something along the lines of, “That would be scary, but I can promise you that there are no monsters in your bedroom.”
2. Make a habit of settling down for bed time
Psychologist Dawn Huebner, Ph.D., author of What to Do When You Dread Your Bed, claims that children who sleep later are far more likely to have nightmares. Logically, this means that if you want to reduce the odds of your children suffering from nightmares, they need to get to bed early. This is easier said than done, but one expert recommended way to ensure your kids sleep sooner is to spend time winding down for bed.
It’s always easier to get some shuteye when you’ve been settling down for an extended period of time as opposed to saying “lights out” and trying to drift off into slumber. Start a routine in which you and your kids take time to relax and be at peace before it’s time to close their eyes.
Huebner’s list of recommended bedtime rituals: “Electronics—which inhibit production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin—should be turned off a half hour before bedtime, when it’s best to do a calm activity such as playing a board game, taking a bath, or going outside to look at the stars.”
Find out more expert tested and parent approved tips for putting an end to your kid’s nightmares! Click next for more!
3. Practice how to relax
Adjusting your breathing pattern is surefire way to induce sleep. Obviously, this means that if your child were to adjust his breathing pattern, he’d see similar results. Some of the more commonly known breathing patterns (like the 4-7-8 pattern) can seem intimidating for a child, or simply hard for them to pull off.
In Dr. Huebner’s book, she recommends a breathing pattern known as “circular breathing.” Essentially, you imagine your breath is traveling in through your right nostril and out of the left nostril. The next breath goes in through the left nostril and out the right. Go back and forth, as if you’re breathing in a circle.
Another effective way for feeling more relaxed at bedtime is to offer a stuffed toy to your child. Believe it or not, scientific data exists that indicates children who sleep with a stuffed animal or toy felt more secure in their beds at night.
4. Face fears head on
Many parents resolve the issue of a child being afraid of something by removing the source of fear all together. Well, as it turns out, every cliche about facing fear head on is absolutely right. In fact, by removing the source of fear from a child, all you’re really doing is validating their fear.
For example, if your child is afraid of clowns, don’t remove clowns from her life. All that will do is validate that they’re something to fear. Huebner claims that the more your child is exposed to something, the less scary that stimuli will become. She uses the example of a piece of gum: “At first, the flavor is very strong, but if you keep chewing it the flavor disappears.”
We’re not suggesting you overexpose your child to their biggest fears; there’s no need for such extremes. However, taking the time to desensitize your child’s trepidations by facing that fear head on is a good way to eliminate nightmares.
5. Train your child’s brain
As with many things in life, bad dreams can come as result of a habit. Sometimes, as some experts say, children form habits that cause nightmares like thinking about scary thoughts before “lights out” time. Huebner suggests directly counteracting such habits by forming the habit of thinking of light, happy, and positive thoughts during bedtime. Alternatively, she suggests telling your child to “imagine that he’s changing the channel away from his scary thoughts.”
Huebner believes that changing, altering, and making fun of bad/scary thoughts can yield successful results for many children. “Just thinking about the revised dream will make him less likely to have the nightmare,” she says. Try encouraging your child into making light of a nightmare. Let them harness their creativity and make a once scary thought, silly, goofy, or just plain funny.
6. Take outside help into consideration
You’ve probably picked up the knowledge that nightmares are pretty common by now. And, for the most part that’s true. However, kids who deal with recurring nightmares and bad dreams may be suffering from something far worse than accidentally viewing a horror movie.
In any cases, kids who have nightmares more often than not are suffering from a form of anxiety, or even stress. Dr. Huebner and other specialists recommend that children who suffer from excessive nightmares can benefit tremendously from cognitive behavioral therapy.
“In a few sessions, a child can learn techniques that turn things around dramatically, and she’ll feel strong,” she claims. “The anxiety resolves, and therapy turns out to be a positive thing rather than a stigma.”
Dreams as a whole are a field of study that are far from definitive. While a fair amount is understood about dreams and nightmares, there’s still no definitive cause for such occurrences. Take into account the wise words of these experts and their recommended courses of action if your child is suffering from nightmares.
[H/T] Parents.com
READ: 4 Bedtime methods that actually make kids sleepy
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