My son is 3 yrs old has a great imagination. He's never been a great sleeper. He'll go a few months with no problems and then get up once in the night for a few weeks but be ok again after that.
(we lost our dog in the cold for about 7 hrs on Christmas day evening, the next morning he had a nightmare but we had the dog back by the time he woke) Well he started having nightmares right after Christmas. Then it turned into him being afraid of monsters and afraid to be in a room alone. He started: not going into a room without someone there to turn on the light, needing someone by his door to fall asleep at nap and bedtime, and saying he's scaried all the time!
We have tried a sleep chart with rewards, letting him sleep on our floor if he gets up (works sometimes), leaving all lights on and giving him melatonin.
I don't know what to do. He's always been easy going and sweet but all of us are short temperured now because we never get a good night sleep. He's tends to get up at 6:30 everyday so it's not like he's sleeping in either. ANY IDEAS??
Get him a can of (decent smelling) room deodorizer and tell him it's superpower spray to protect his room and give him good dreams. We did the same thing a long time ago when our oldest was afraid at night. Really helped.
Maybe get him a nightlight and let him put glow in the dark stickers up in his room. Pray with him before he goes to sleep. Veggie tales has a very good video on monsters in the dark. Let him know you are here and won't let anything hurt him.
Praying for you!
I really don't have any ideas you haven't tried but wanted to let you know you are not alone.
My daughter, now 4 has never been a great sleeper either. She goes through the same thing your son does. Sleeps well for awhile but then becomes scared all of a sudden. We did the night light thing which helped some but after awhile she started complaining that it was too bright to fall asleep to but would wake up in the middle of the night scared. The only thing I found that if I didn't make a big deal about it the waking times lessoned. Her issue at bedtime was that there were all kinds of animals outside her window. I very calmly and simply said that there were no animals out there that could get in her window. I found that if I went on and on and tried to comfort her it made the fear more real. I often left her room feeling like I was cold and unloving but it almost always worked and she would nicely drift off to sleep and wake up in the morning still my smilely loving little girl.
Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you. It's tough to deal with sleep issues calmly when you are so sleep deprived yourself.
Have you tried reading books to him that are talking about the same similar situations as what he is feeling?
I found lots of books about monsters in closets, bad dreams, sleeping in beds by themselves and sleeping alone.
With my child, sometimes talking to her helps but sometimes it doesn't and I know when it doesn't that reading stories about a somewhat similar situation would be much helpful because it isn't directed to her. The stories of other children going through the same situation makes it easier for them to adjust even if they're fiction because to them it isn't. I get lots of these books at our library.
