Question:
>> I have a four year old child who wakes every night and > comes into my room because she says she is scared. > I have to get up and go to her room and sleep with her > until she goes back to sleep. I am really tired of this. > Anyone with any suggestions.
You may want to try putting a sleepng bag or futon on the floor next to your bed and telling her that if she wakes up she can sleep there. Maybe she will even just come in and lay down there without waking you up. Deborah, breastfeeding mother who asks, "Why buy the cow’s when you can give the milk for free?"
Response:
In article – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I have a four year old child who wakes every night and > comes into my room because she says she is scared. > I have to get up and go to her room and sleep with her > until she goes back to sleep. I am really tired of this. > Anyone with any suggestions. >Have you tried a lamp that is somewhat brighter than a night light? We >started using a lamp with a 15 watt bulb in it recently and it lights the >room enough that Colby doesn’t see so many shadows if he wakes up during >the night. >also, we told Colby that he could not come up to our room until it is >light outside. It doesn’t always work, but usually it does. >Kelly
Our almost 4 year old is doing the same thing (not saying he’s scared, though, just coming into our bed at night). He has a nightlight in his room, plus a string of Christmas lights he wanted left in there, so the room isn’t dark. I suspect he’s going through some kind of seperation anxiety, so we usually just let him sleep with us. Sometimes, if one of us wakes up and feels like it, we’ll take him back to his room. It does sometimes get to be a pain, but I figure he must need to be close to us for some reason. When he was just under 2 he went through the same thing (at the time I was 9 months pregnant and worried what was going to happen when the new baby was born), but by the time the baby was born Aaron was back sleeping in his own room. Sometimes I think they get a little insecure and just need that extra period of closeness. Kathie
Response:
Really, Patty, I’m not trying to get on your case. It just happens this way… >A book by Ferber addresses this. The book is called solve your childs sleep problems. >There is a whole section on nightmares.
I would heartily endorse this book–we had great success with Ferber’s methods. To stave off the usual flamewar over Ferber’s "progressive waiting" method, I should mention that there is an alternative, written by a Dr. (Glenn?) Sears, which uses his theory of "attachment parenting". But you had better like sleeping with your kids if you are to use Sears’ methods! >Talks about how the nightmares are part of the >child trying to resolve conflicts that happen during the day, ie separation, new >sibling, aggressive sexual impulses, jelousy.
I don’t have a copy handy, but I can’t recall Ferber going into these theories of dreams much. In fact, he states that we simply don’t know why humans dream, or even if it is necessary (which contradicts what I learned in school). He does mention that sleep disorders seem to correlate to stress. >Much more info and a very interesting book. Its very popular, so it wont be hard to >find.
We found five copies in our small, local library, which says something about its popularity!
Response:
> I have a four year old child who wakes every night and > comes into my room because she says she is scared. > I have to get up and go to her room and sleep with her > until she goes back to sleep. I am really tired of this. > Anyone with any suggestions.
A book by Ferber addresses this. The book is called solve your childs sleep problems. There is a whole section on nightmares. Talks about how the nightmares are part of the child trying to resolve conflicts that happen during the day, ie separation, new sibling, aggressive sexual impulses, jelousy. Talks about how to help you child work through it so these dont have to develpe into "monsters". Much more info and a very interesting book. Its very popular, so it wont be hard to find. I encourage you to get it! It helped us alot. Patty
Response:
I have a four year old child who wakes every night and comes into my room because she says she is scared. I have to get up and go to her room and sleep with her until she goes back to sleep. I am really tired of this. Anyone with any suggestions.
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