Need Advice on Dealing with a Almost Three Yr Old Bad Dreams!

I am going through this with my 3 year old. She even shouts out in her sleep while dreaming & I was growing concerned. I mentioned it to our pediatrician and she said it's common at this age and that it's possible she is not getting enough sleep. I don't get the correlation between nightmares and lack of sleep, but I have noticed that putting my daughter to bed earlier does alleviate the problem. I had to move bedtime up 10-15 minutes earlier each night until we got to an 11 hour night sleep. Best of luck!

Try "making a dream" for her before she goes to sleep. You make up a lovely story in a great place with beautiful weather, relaxing activities, etc. The "dream" should have a dreamy exaggerated quality to it, but be infused with calming, pleasant activities, colors and sensations. Speak slowly as you tell her the dream. This may work for her. It worked for my kids. I don't have time to give you a concrete example right now, but if you're interested contact me. Best of luck.

Sounds silly but worked for our son. I don't recall how old he was though. I mixed water in a spray bottle with liquid fabric softener. We mixed it together and decorated the bottle. Every night when he went to bed we would spray the room with his "no bad dream spray" then we placed it right by his bed. If he woke up in the night we told him to spray the spray again. The scent made him know it was working and was also soothing. He didn't use it long but loved it. I doubt this will work with night terrors but it did with nightmares.

My son has been having night terrors at night and his Dr said that he was probably over tired by the time he went to sleep. He also suggested putting him to sleep earlier. we have moved his bedtime up 10 minutes earlier a day til we reached an hour earlier total, and we have been much more carful to make sure he doesnt skip his naps. We have noticed that the days we follow that more carefully he doesnt have the terrors, and the nights where he had a long day with little napping or a later bedtime, he wakes up like clock-work. We also make sure to read a happy story or watch his fav Mickey Mouse episode before to help him wind down and relax before bed. I would try an earlier bedtime for a week and see if it helps. Good luck! Let us know how it goes! :)