Well, not me. DS Jr. is. FOr him they're called "night terrors".
Did you know we start having dreams in the womb? But one never understands the dream until one understands pain or fear, usually around the second birthday.
So what do you know, DS Jr. is 29 months, and this is his first night terror in a while. When his mother moved back in, he had them every night for about 2 weeks. We mixed it up with laying him back down and patting his back, or letting him lay in our bed. I always considered the latter very lazy because she and I wouldn't get up to tend to the actual problem.
The last few times, I took a different approach. I'd lay in his bed with him or on his floor next to his bed. But last night, I tried something new along those lines that I'd like to share.
Now Jr. has recently grown accustomed to sleeping with 1 or 2 teddy bears. Sometimes 3. Blame his mother for that. So I used those on the fly. While standing in the middle of his room, here's the scenario:
Me: *concerned voice* Son, what's the matter?
JR: *sniffling* I had a deem(sic)!
Me: Get back to bed, Junior.
JR: I don't wanna go night-night.
(He gives me a blank stare because he knows better not to talk back to me.)
Now at about this point my girlfriend is in the next room over yelling down the hall to us, "Darius, just bring him in here." Now, I know she never gets up in the middle of the night, but just lets him hop in our bed. But I feel he's got to learn independence and courage. So not a good idea.
I close Jr.'s door, and lay him back in his bed, and he starts to cry. I put my index finger to my lips, signaling him to stop crying, and I ask him, "Did you have a bad dream?"
"Yes."
"What happened in you in your dream?"
He mumbled something about his knee, and "I scared."
"Well, don't be scared." I grabbed teddy bear #1. "See son, Mr. Bear, he's here to protect you."
"Protect me?"
"Yes. Now you squeeze him really tight." Jr. squeezes the bear, and I grab his other two bears. "And these two bears, see, they protect you. They keep look out and keep monsters away."
Jr. nodded his head, and squeezes his bear. I kiss his forehead, and leave the room.
And that's it...
He slept through the rest of the night and morning perfectly.
Now what did I learn from this? You have to give the child a sense of security and assurance. He knows where my room is, but he'll have to rely on his surrounds and know nothing is going to hurt him. The bears help that. That imagery of protection. This will build up his independence.
*Note: Another thing I must add is that Jr. went to sleep at about 11 pm, which is way late than usual for him (Normally 8:30-9 pm). Plus, he was eating snacks before bed. Studies show, that food intake before bedtime cause dreams, and fuel night terrors. Generally because food creates carbohydrates, which fuel the brain causing more activity in there while you sleep, thus leading to dreams and nightmares/night terrors... Just a little nerd-ism.
Reference: http://www.drgreene.com/21_1148.html
Did you know we start having dreams in the womb? But one never understands the dream until one understands pain or fear, usually around the second birthday.
So what do you know, DS Jr. is 29 months, and this is his first night terror in a while. When his mother moved back in, he had them every night for about 2 weeks. We mixed it up with laying him back down and patting his back, or letting him lay in our bed. I always considered the latter very lazy because she and I wouldn't get up to tend to the actual problem.
The last few times, I took a different approach. I'd lay in his bed with him or on his floor next to his bed. But last night, I tried something new along those lines that I'd like to share.
Now Jr. has recently grown accustomed to sleeping with 1 or 2 teddy bears. Sometimes 3. Blame his mother for that. So I used those on the fly. While standing in the middle of his room, here's the scenario:
Me: *concerned voice* Son, what's the matter?
JR: *sniffling* I had a deem(sic)!
Me: Get back to bed, Junior.
JR: I don't wanna go night-night.
(He gives me a blank stare because he knows better not to talk back to me.)
Now at about this point my girlfriend is in the next room over yelling down the hall to us, "Darius, just bring him in here." Now, I know she never gets up in the middle of the night, but just lets him hop in our bed. But I feel he's got to learn independence and courage. So not a good idea.
I close Jr.'s door, and lay him back in his bed, and he starts to cry. I put my index finger to my lips, signaling him to stop crying, and I ask him, "Did you have a bad dream?"
"Yes."
"What happened in you in your dream?"
He mumbled something about his knee, and "I scared."
"Well, don't be scared." I grabbed teddy bear #1. "See son, Mr. Bear, he's here to protect you."
"Protect me?"
"Yes. Now you squeeze him really tight." Jr. squeezes the bear, and I grab his other two bears. "And these two bears, see, they protect you. They keep look out and keep monsters away."
Jr. nodded his head, and squeezes his bear. I kiss his forehead, and leave the room.
And that's it...
He slept through the rest of the night and morning perfectly.
Now what did I learn from this? You have to give the child a sense of security and assurance. He knows where my room is, but he'll have to rely on his surrounds and know nothing is going to hurt him. The bears help that. That imagery of protection. This will build up his independence.
*Note: Another thing I must add is that Jr. went to sleep at about 11 pm, which is way late than usual for him (Normally 8:30-9 pm). Plus, he was eating snacks before bed. Studies show, that food intake before bedtime cause dreams, and fuel night terrors. Generally because food creates carbohydrates, which fuel the brain causing more activity in there while you sleep, thus leading to dreams and nightmares/night terrors... Just a little nerd-ism.
Reference: http://www.drgreene.com/21_1148.html
DS™
