The anguish that the child feels during the day is manifested at night in the form of nightmares or night fears. Nightmares are dreams that produce fear and, as much as we want, we cannot prevent them from having them, but we can give them our support and monitor the information they receive during the day.
Nightmares appear around two years, but are more common between three and six. They are long dreams that usually occur in the last third of the night. While there are children who have them often, some never have nightmares and others suffer during a stage and then disappear. Normally, they tend to decrease over time.
They can occur as a result of a radical change in their small world, something that makes them feel bewildered as a new baby in the family, a move, the separation of parents, the change of school, situations that cause them insecurity or some new circumstance in your life that can cause you stress, whether you manifest it by day or not. Older children may also have thoughts of fear or nightmares at night after hearing a story that scared them or watching something violent on TV that would have disturbed them. Monsters, bugs and other strange things appear to them at night.
The best remedy for nightmares and night fears is to go immediately to comfort the child who will feel clothed, will calm down and fall asleep immediately. The longer we delay in going, you will feel more scared to be alone in your bed, in the dark, listening to your own crying and it will take you to fall asleep again. If the child cries but is still asleep, calm him until he stops crying and goes back to sleep but without waking him. Generally, after a nightmare, the child wakes consciously and is able to tell what he has dreamed. The next day ask him what he has dreamed, maybe there is something that is worrying him, especially if the same nightmare repeats itself.
You can also take some action as a "protective" routine such as leaving a light on, praying a prayer or sleeping with a stuffed animal that "takes care of it."
Unlike nightmares or night fears, night terrors are episodes in which the child can scream, sweat or run around the house without remembering anything the next day. But we will go deeper on this subject on another occasion.
