Pre-School and Daycare
Scared of the Dark!
Out of the blue our perfect sleeping 3.5 year old is scared of the dark.
He has gone from drifting off to sleep from 7pm until 6:30am without a peep to MULTIPLE awakenings at night screaming for help and hardly being able to go to sleep alone.
So far this is what we've tried. Looking for other ideas and/or hope that this will pass. ( WE JUST got the baby sleeping though the night a couple of months ago)
- Showing him that there is nothing in his room but his toys and belongings.
- Night Light
- Light on in the Hall
- Responding immediately but staying only a little while.
- Staying until he falls back asleep.
Any ideas or success stories?
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Re: Scared of the Dark!
DD started doing this a few months ago-she is 3.8 years old. Some of the things we've tried that worked have been:
-giving her a couple glow sticks-we get the tube of them from the dollar section at Target
-Turtle Gus -https://www.mybabyzoo.com/collections/kids-night-lights we got ours from kidsteals.com for $9.99
-pictures projects on the ceiling- https://www.walmart.com/ip/HoMedics-SoundSpa-Lullaby-Sound-Machine-with-Picture-Projection/5913225
It ended up just being a phase that she got over quickly.
We also went through this phase. One night we had a long discussion in hopes of finding out really what DS was thinking. He kept saying he was scared of the windows (to this day have no idea where this came from). So we talked about some "ideas" to make him feel better. DH suggested monster traps and they set up some traps with blankets and buckets by the windows. DS slept better after that and it has been a few months since he has talked about being scared.
Their imaginations are going wild at this point, so ask your LO what they are scared of or thinking about. Even if we don't always understand it, perhaps we can help by finding a way to make them feel safe.
My 4.5 yo started this at exactly 3.5. We thought is was because she started going to the YMCA summer camps, instead of her regular preschool (and because I lied about her age to get her in, we thought she was having issues being with older kids...guilty mom feelings). Anyway, everyone assured me it was just a stage and she would outgrow it. She did. It took quite a few months of coming in our room multiple times a night (she can't sleep with us, we've tried, but she never falls asleep and hours later, she's still squirming around). One of us would usually walk her back up to bed two times, and then she was on her own. If she came down again, she had to go back up by herself, which she hated. We finally left the bathroom light next to her bedroom on and that seemed to do the trick. She rarely wakes up now, and when she does, I can tell her to go potty, get a sip of water, and go back to bed...and she does...without making a fuss, and without me getting out of bed. BTW, she would never say what she was scared of, she just said she was "scared." I don't think she really knew what it was that was bothering her.
I think it will pass, but man, it's a pain when you're dealing with it. My twins were 4-5 months old when all this started, so I feel you pain about finally getting the babies to STTN, and then she starts waking up! Ahhh...