My 4 1/2 Year Old Is Having Nightmares

Santa sent Emmy nightmare spray when I moved when she was 4. It was water with vanilla (which she said smelled like chriastmas cookies) and sparkl;es mixed in a spray bottle labeled nightmare spray. It had instructions to spray 3 times (she chose the door once, and both windows) I included that because i didnt want her spraying it a zillion times that seemed to help them slow down because then she was in a happy relaxed mood going to bed.

Maybe before bedtime, do a security walk around the house with him, to put his mind at ease.

Also, The Body Shop makes a soothing sleep spray you put on your pillow. I received it as a gift, but ended up using it with our daughter because she thinks it's a good dreams spray.

Our house is not large so the kids' rooms are close to ours but even then there was a phase of nightmares for both our girls that are 3 years apart. It seems to go along with that age, and sleeping on a different floor would also make me worry. Are they upstairs and you are downstairs? We made a bed in our room on the floor that they could come sleep in (camping pad and sleeping bag) so we could get rest. But when my youngest went through another bout of nightmares at about age 8, I made up a spare bed in her room and just slept there for about 2 - 3 weeks. Then I would just sit on the bed and read there until she went to sleep. After that I would sit in our bedroom and be close until she fell asleep. And then it was over. For more serious sleep issues I recommend the book by Dr. Ferber "solving your child's sleep problems" which addresses sleep walking and night terrors and such. I kept it handy until recently. Just give the little guy some time to adjust. Oh, and we bought cheap window alarms that are 2 part: 1 glues to the frame and 1 to the window and when they are not together a shrill alarm sounds. We used them on the window that opens out over the garage roof since she thought someone could climb in that way. You could add them to the front door and his windows, unless you have a full house alarm system - then I would show him that you are setting the alarm every night. My other daughter had a period of nightmares when the firefighters came to school in full gear and helmets and helped then "stop, drop and roll" and then crawl out through a smokey room (in a demo trailer, good idea just backfired a bit for my sensitive daughter) and that was solved by buying a big fire extinguisher and placing it outside her bedroom in the hall.

I agree with the idea of a spray or scent. My son went through a period of time when he had nightmares too. I told him that monsters, etc. HATED lavender and it keeps them away. (Just like bug repellent)... I put a bit of lavender oil on a small cloth every night before bedtime, we waved it around the room... he'd even come get me for a month or so if he discovered I'd forgotten to do it.

We also talked about a plan for the dream: how he could fight the bad guys/monsters. I let him know that although we don't hurt people in real life, in dreams, he could fight with whatever weapons he wanted and so we made up lots of little ways he could 'save the day' for himself. My son has a full-sized bed, so there were a few nights where one or the other of us slept with him. But between the lavender oil and the visualizations regarding how he would fight the bad guys/monsters in his dream, these both worked well. The visualizations were very empowering for him.