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Eugh, anyone got tips on getting over nightmares, general night time scariness, etc.?

For the last few weeks, our 3 year old has been waking up at 2-3am and crying & screaming about being scared of the dark, monsters etc. and refusing to go back to sleep. Usually a glass of water and a cuddle in bed will get him to settle after an hour or so, but last night he was crying for 3 hours, and didn't settle until we finally gave in and let him sleep in the bed with us.

He has a nightlight, so it's not too dark in there, he's got his teddies, and we got him a dreamcatcher to "stop the nasty dreams", which seemed to helped the first night he had it, but I'm not sure about since. His older bro was playing "chase the monster" games with him which might have triggered it, so I've asked him to stop to try and stop him thinking about it. Not sure what else to try though.

It wasn't so bad over the Christmas period while I was off, but back at work today, and running on 2 hours sleep after not having a single unbroken night's sleep for almost a month is making life difficult :(

The other half is snoring away in bed at the moment - she's on nights for the next 2 shifts, and I'm so jealous :p
 
Haggisman said:
Eugh, anyone got tips on getting over nightmares, general night time scariness, etc.?

For the last few weeks, our 3 year old has been waking up at 2-3am and crying & screaming about being scared of the dark, monsters etc. and refusing to go back to sleep. Usually a glass of water and a cuddle in bed will get him to settle after an hour or so, but last night he was crying for 3 hours, and didn't settle until we finally gave in and let him sleep in the bed with us.

He has a nightlight, so it's not too dark in there, he's got his teddies, and we got him a dreamcatcher to "stop the nasty dreams", which seemed to helped the first night he had it, but I'm not sure about since. His older bro was playing "chase the monster" games with him which might have triggered it, so I've asked him to stop to try and stop him thinking about it. Not sure what else to try though.

It wasn't so bad over the Christmas period while I was off, but back at work today, and running on 2 hours sleep after not having a single unbroken night's sleep for almost a month is making life difficult :(

The other half is snoring away in bed at the moment - she's on nights for the next 2 shifts, and I'm so jealous :p
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I had this once - scary shadows, so I am no expert - but I fully embraced sitting with her and talking about spooky stuff and seeing the shadows. Touch wood it seemed to work - I guess I didn't want to legitimise the issue at all, so made light of it.

A tip with sleep coaching was make the wake up miserable, so they are less inclined to do it in the first place. So don't jump into bed and make it good, whack the lights on full and diagnose the sitchy...
 
dlockers said:
I had this once - scary shadows, so I am no expert - but I fully embraced sitting with her and talking about spooky stuff and seeing the shadows. Touch wood it seemed to work - I guess I didn't want to legitimise the issue at all, so made light of it.
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I did try this, sort of, shining a torch at all the "scary things" and explaining it was just shadows etc., but he wasn't interested.

dlockers said:
A tip with sleep coaching was make the wake up miserable, so they are less inclined to do it in the first place. So don't jump into bed and make it good, whack the lights on full and diagnose the sitchy...
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I think turning the lights on would result in a punch from the other half... maybe one to try tonight while she's away though :)
 
Going through the wringer at the moment with our daughter. She's got slapped cheek syndrome and it just feels relentless.

Hoping the end is in sight soon as I'm shattered - and her whinge/groan of unhappiness is just a permanent featuring noise at the moment.
 
t2na said:
Going through the wringer at the moment with our daughter. She's got slapped cheek syndrome and it just feels relentless.

Hoping the end is in sight soon as I'm shattered - and her whinge/groan of unhappiness is just a permanent featuring noise at the moment.
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Our little ones lasted a week, all while on holiday ofc.


On an unrelated note.

Our little terror refuses to get into the car, took me 1 1/2 hours yesterday to get her in !

Becoming a regular occurrence after nursery, absolute pita
 
I'd have strapped her to the roof after 15 minutes :cry:

Luckily ours is fine once you get her in and get her blanket back on her, has a bit of a grumble while you're trying to actually strap her in though
 
Diagro said:
My 5yr old threw my spare car key out the window on the M69.

Yea... kids.
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:cry: that's brutal. I'm really into watches and my best mate coincidentally bought my girl a magazine were her "first ever watch on it". It soon got posted out of the window on the M6. She was just 18 months though :cry:
 
tom_e said:
I'd have strapped her to the roof after 15 minutes :cry:

Luckily ours is fine once you get her in and get her blanket back on her, has a bit of a grumble while you're trying to actually strap her in though
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Literally cant get in physically, strong as an ox and I'm no weakling.

Nursery staff came out today and scared in lol
 
Fricking children eh, just relentless menaces!

My partner has been going to nurseries to check them out recently and I just know that we are going to be the parents getting the constant phone calls from them. Mr Fez, there has been an incident in the nursery today..."

She took them to a twins play session the other day and all the other children were playing nicely and ours were climbing on them, stealing toys, flirting with the other mums. Just generally being pickles.
 
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Reading some of the posts here (although my kids are a both at school) it makes you realise how easy we had it! Either that or we're awful super strict parents... :o
 
My wife and little one just seem to have been swapping germs back and forwards for what feels like an eternity, either one or both have had some sort of cold/flu/covid since before Christmas.

Wife has been particularly bad this week which she's convinced is covid and now the little one has just woken up burning hot and snotty again.

I've managed to fend it off so far but we're barrelling into a high stress couple of months at work and I could really do with some sleep :cry:
 
tom_e said:
My wife and little one just seem to have been swapping germs back and forwards for what feels like an eternity, either one or both have had some sort of cold/flu/covid since before Christmas.

Wife has been particularly bad this week which she's convinced is covid and now the little one has just woken up burning hot and snotty again.

I've managed to fend it off so far but we're barrelling into a high stress couple of months at work and I could really do with some sleep :cry:
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How old? I found the first 2 years were permanent cold. Just be glad it isn't a tummy bug (yet) :D
 
Reading about the Bronson Battersby tragedy brought a tear to my eye earlier in the week, and it's something I still can't get out of my head. I think it's because my little boy is 2 in April so not too dissimilar in age. Very, very sad, RIP.
 
ChrisD. said:
Reading about the Bronson Battersby tragedy brought a tear to my eye earlier in the week, and it's something I still can't get out of my head. I think it's because my little boy is 2 in April so not too dissimilar in age. Very, very sad, RIP.
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100%. Totally horrific. Unimaginable.

tom_e said:
She'll be 10 months next week, I suppose that is the bright side I'm not drowning in poo and vomit (any more than usual) yet :o
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Haha. I remember saying what you said to a colleague and he said "wait for the poo stuff to start" and I basically broke down. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Edit: they do get massively "more fun" around 13-14 months though. I watch a vid of me moving into this place in August 2022 (she was just 2) and its crazy how quick they develop.
 
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Been fortunate I think in that our 2 1/2 year old still hasn't been sick since the milk sick stage .

Not sure how much a little should be throwing up tbh
 
ChrisD. said:
Reading about the Bronson Battersby tragedy brought a tear to my eye earlier in the week, and it's something I still can't get out of my head. I think it's because my little boy is 2 in April so not too dissimilar in age. Very, very sad, RIP.
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I'm not going to lie. My wife and I had a bit of a moment when we read that. I gave my kids extra hugs - really brings life into perspective.
 
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