Nightmares can be hard to handle because you just don’t know what is leading to them, what your child is feeling, or how to handle it. Let’s discuss how you helped your child through nightmares and what you found led to nightmares.
Please take a moment to answer the questions below. Doing so will help other parents now and in the future. It is very helpful for me when compiling answers if you at least number the answers you give. You can also copy the questions and answer them. If the question does not apply to you, simply put “N/A.”
1-What age did your child start to have nightmares?
2-How often were the nightmares?
3-What factors do you think helped cause the nightmare (if any)?
4-What did you do to help your child through the nightmare phase?
5-What did you to do help avoid future nightmares?
6-Any tips or comments?
1-What age did your child start to have nightmares?With my son, around 18 months. My daughter didn't start until about age 3 years. 2-How often were the nightmares?With my son they were very frequent until we discovered the triggers, now at age 5yrs he almost never has them. My daughter will occasionally have them, maybe once a month or less. 3-What factors do you think helped cause the nightmare (if any)?Overtiredness/overstimulation was a huge factor for my son. For my daughter scary events (e.g. getting snapped at by a goose at the park) seem to trigger them. 4-What did you do to help your child through the nightmare phase?I always responded quickly but calmly during a nightmare. I also made sure to keep the status quo, meaning the child stayed in bed, in the dark – they just got a prayer and some snuggles. 5-What did you to do help avoid future nightmares?Maintaining a good schedule, keeping activities low key for my child who is overstimulated easily, talking a lot about "scary" events after they happen to help the child process it while awake.6-Any tips or comments?This is not related to nightmares but I would love if these polls were a little easier to respond to, maybe by using something like Survey Monkey or multiple choice responses to the questions. I love responding & reading other moms' input but I don't always have the time to type out a response. It would be great if I could respond one handed using my cell phone, which is how I normally read your (fabulous!) blog. 🙂