toddler and bad dreams

Has anyone else struggled with a toddler having bad dreams? My 3.5 year old is struggling with tihs. He is telling us and his grandparents he doesn't like to sleep because of his bad dreams but he won't say waht they are about, says he doesn't remember. I'm not sure how to handle but he seems genuiley uposet and has been not really istening the past few weeks.

Re: toddler and bad dreams

Oh yeah we went through this a few months ago with ds. He was having night terrors. We finally figured out he had developed a fear of the dark. It was all of a sudden. The dark didn't bother him until he turned 3. We put a dim light in his room and he is fine now.

Re: toddler and bad dreams

Yup we went through night terrors about a year ago (she was 2-2.5) and it was horrible. She couldn't tell us what the dreams were about but she would wake up screaming and crying.

This past week she woke up screaming and crying one morning at 5:20am. She said there was a crab on her bed and it was running after her trying to pinch her. She wouldn't go back in her bed. That night when we tried to put her to bed she was literally shaking and terrified of going to bed. I closed the door and ran to the bathroom and she was literally pounding on the door screaming "Mommy, help me!! Help me!!!" I ended up lying with her, taking all her stuffed animals and blankets off her bed to show her there wasn't anything there, and then giving her a bracelet that I told her would protect her. She eventually calmed down enough to go to sleep.

It's so hard, especially if they can't tell you what the dreams were about or anything.

Re: toddler and bad dreams

i think my son is having bad dreams too...he wakes up and talks but makes no sense at all...so I don't really think he's awake....its really strange...not sure how to deal with them

Re: toddler and bad dreams

I think DD has been having some bad dreams, too--except she's a little behind in her language and has trouble expressing what's wrong Although, there was one night that I woke up to hear her screaming "NO, DEN-DEN, NO!!!!" ("Den-den" is Brendan, her little brother). I couldn't calm her down for about 1/2 hour.

Re: toddler and bad dreams

DS cries/screams in his sleep - never wakes up. Usually when he was upset before bed or if we are at my sisters house. I have to stick a drink/cracker in his mouth to get him to wake up/come out of it. He's 3 - full speech - never said why he was crying.

When we are at my sis' i sleep next to him so he's not alone....