Five year old scared at night

[Anonymous]

My five year old, over the past few weeks, has developed a fear of sleeping alone at night. We’ve tried buying a night light, keeping the lights dim, keeping the door open, periodic check ins, and staying with her only until she’s very sleepy and then leaving. She then cries until we come back in, so we’re now staying with her until she falls asleep. She’s also waking up in the middle of the night and comes to our room. I tried bribery through candy and that hasn’t worked either. I also noticed she’s gotten more scared to be by herself during the day. She’s never been a good sleeper by herself, but she had started sleeping by herself, and now we’re back in a bad place. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

My 5 years old son was like that . He was scare to sleep in his room . Make her feels confident , ask her to help you to dawn load the dish washer , pic what she wants to eat, pic what pijama she wants tonight, what books she wants to read, etc. It work with my child .

[Anonymous]

Let's be honest. It's a scary world out there. Sometimes I don't sleep well at night--and I'm...older than five. Might be time to acknowledge the legitimacy of the fear and stop shaming the child. If you stopped distracting and actually started listening, you might get to the root cause. But I feel like you're looking for a pacifier rather than a solution. I think you should slow down and talk to you daughter. She just might surprise you and tell you what's actually going on. Instead of throwing a candy bar at her, throw some genuine care and support her way. She'll know the difference, which will have it's own calming effect.

[Anonymous]

My 5 yo DD (who deals with anxiety) had an uptick of problematic sleeping when she was 5. In her case, it was nightmares about bugs. We bought a “bug spray” she could spray at night before going to bed and if she woke during the middle of the night. It was actually a calming aromatherapy spray (forget the particular scent) designed to promote relaxation. We also noticed it was worse when she was sick, and would give her a dose of Advil sometimes.

[Anonymous]

PP here. We also started doing youtube lullabies playing on an iPad at night. They run for hours. And, I usually stayed with her till she fell asleep.

[Anonymous]

So hard to make yourself not be scared. We had a dog when our kids went through those phases. She was an older dog and we could tell her to sleep on the floor in the kids' room and she would. She ate monsters. If she was sleeping then that meant there was no worry. Also, she ate monsters.

[Anonymous]

My son loves having a glow stick in bed with him at night. If he’s scared he can hold up his little light. He’s six now, almost 7 and it’s really improved at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son loves having a glow stick in bed with him at night. If he’s scared he can hold up his little light. He’s six now, almost 7 and it’s really improved at night.

Wanted to add we tested with a dollar tree glow stick and had such success we bought a rechargeable one made for scuba diving.

[Anonymous]

My 5 year old has also started saying this. For her, it's a bedtime stalling tactic, but I do help her trouble shoot. First I acknowledge that night time is a common time for feeling scared, and that her feelings are totally normal. Next, she didn't like the "crack" where her bed meets the wall. So we put a body pillow, with a nice fuzzy cover on it, against the wall. She also started putting about 15 stuffed animals in her bed. I let her sleep with whatever she wants, as long as it's soft.

I think the other thing I'd try, for the middle of the night wake ups, is a bed on the floor in your room. Put out a fluffy comforter and a pillow and give her permission to come in and sleep there *IF* she does not wake up or get in your bed. I remember wanting to be close to my parents, and sleeping outside their closed bedroom door as a child. Eventually I started going to my sister's room. It wasn't every night, just sometimes.