Im sure most of us out there have experienced our child having a nightmare and not sure what to do about it. So here are some helpful tips to have a pieceful night for you and your child.

If your child wakes later in the sleep period and is

crying, she/he is having a bad dream or nightmare. The best thing you can do is get to her/him quickly to cuddle her. She/he will be awake, so she/he will recognise your comforting presence.

The sight, sound or touch of you will soothe, her/him instantly back to a peicefull sleep. Its only if she/he has time to cone fully awake and be terrified by her/his own fear, or if the babysitter whocomes to confort her/him is a stranger, that the nightmare is likely to become a memorable event which make make her/him affraid of going back to sleep.

Try to keep the nightmares at bay. Maybe try talking to yout child about her/his day when they get home from school. It gives her/him a chance to talk about any events that are bothering her/him working as a release.

Children remember their nightmares in the morning too, so you can talk then about what was worrying them. Maybe ask you child the next morning how was their sleep and say that they seemed to have a bad dream and then they can talk about it with you.

Night Terrors can occour soon after your child goes to sleep, normally withing the first one or two hours after bedtime, when he/she is in a deep sleep. Often during a night terror your child may look awake or even appear to be staring but they are not neccesary awake. Other signs are thrashing around, maybe screaming, paniking, sweating and a really fast heat beat, and normally dont last long.

Try to keep the same bedtime every night so they have the same routine every night. With a nightmare your child will cry and wake and you can give them a cuddle afterwoulds. Why do these night terrors start and why do only some children have them? Well night terrors are sometimes caused by a severe physical or emotional shock. A fever can aggrivate night terrors.

If it seems your child is having a night terror, dont try and wake her/him. Just stay with her/him and keep her/him safe and comfort them. Dont disturb them just sit with them and make sure they dont hurt themselves by falling out of bed, banging against sharp objects. Keep them sage until the terror finishes but dont interupt them.

Wind down the night before bedtime like turning of the tv 90 minutes before betime, have dinner, have a bath and have a bedtime story. Then put them to bed. Make sure the bedtime story is a relaxing story with no scary characters that may come to haunt them in the night. Give them a toy to take to bed like a teddy to keep her safe.

Sweet Dreams Little Ones!