Sleeping: Monsters!

We put some water, scented essential oil, and food coloring in a spray bottle and called it "Monster Spray."

I tell my little one that the stuffed otter is a very special otter and it eats up any monsters or ghosts (when she was just recently afraid of ghosts). And she now sleeps fine with no nightlight and no nightmares because of her "special" otter. When we first deemed it special it went through a "watching" ceremony. Out of all of her stuffed animals(and she has a roomful)thats the only one that can stand watch.

Hi K.
There is this doctor that has books and DVD's out titled "the best baby on the block" and "the best toddler on the block".... Get in touch with him and ask him how to deal with that... He is awsome and I think you will find some good results.

Farid R., DC

I have heard that if you put "monster spray" on an aerosol can of some type (non-harmful, of course) and spray that around the room and under the bed, kids are really into that. Good luck. We're not quite there yet!

Get a spray bottle and spray water under the bed..Seems silly I know but it worked for us.

I had a similar bout of "monsters" with my daughter long ago. I got a water bottle, added a couple drops of vanilla extract, drew a monster with a line through on the bottle. I gave it to her and told her it was monster repellant. In the middle of the night, or any other time, if she had monsters she could spray that and they would go away. It worked like a charm. Good luck with your new arrival! God Bless!

I am hoping readers here will be open-minded with my reply - since it's not conventional - lol. There are actually a lot of children (including mine) who are "sensitive" spiritually. I also was as a child. He may be reacting to his ability to see/hear/feel energy. 3 of my 4 kids have had detailed experiences. My 9-yo is much like the child in the movie, "The Sixth Sense" and it has been a journey of research, learning, and support for her and our family, as her gifts have unfolded over the years.

It is not uncommon for toddlers to say they are scared or describe lights, voices, spirit energy, figures of people and other things as monsters, because they simply have no other vocabulary to use.

I would encourge your child to draw what they see, and to have a special journal. Let them name what they see, and they may surprise you with the detail they can give you. Be open-minded and supportive, ask questions gently and with love. They already feel "scared" and maybe even "different" so they really need to know they can come to you for acceptance and guidance.

There are excellent books on the subject like "The Wise Child: A Spiritual Guide to Nurturing Your Child's Intuition" by Sonia Choquette, "The Sixth Sense of Children: Nurturing Your Child's Intuitive Abilities" by Litany Burns and "Psychic Children: Revealing the Intuitive Gifts and Hidden Abilities of Boys and Girls" by Sylvia Browne. You can find these at www.amazon.com

Our family started a support group (in Tucson) where we meet with other families who are trying to navigate this area for themselves, kids, or just to learn more in general, and it has been a great help to us and all who come!

Some things you can do to help - ask his guide/angels (we all have many!) to help ease his fears. Go into his room and ask whatever/whomever is there to please not scare your son. Explain that he may be too young to understand them and ask them to leave. It could be relative who has passed on, or a spirit who wants to communicate with your son - because it has sensed (through his reaction) that he can see them. For a spirit, this is like a moth to a flame. Imagine if you were sent to China and no one spoke English. You finally come across somone who does, and you cling to them to help you navigate your surroundings. Spirits are much like this! Some spirits are desperate to "connect" to/with someone. But for your son, this may be too overwhelming at his age. This is what happened to my daughters...until we did what I said above.

You may want to keep a baby monitor in his room and see if you hear anything unusual or can make out conversations he may have. Take picures in his room, you may be surprised to pick up orbs or other unexplained things that you might not personally be able to detect. Same is true with digital voice recorders which can pick up EVP or electronic voice phenomenon.

Best of luck!!
-C.

I think your solutions are great - and really cute. Hopefully those work. You know, maybe he is hearing the baby or you getting up to feed which wakes him and then his imagination takes over. I know this is kind of the age for that. My son (almost 3) still has his crib toy attached to his bed and when he wakes up he presses the button and music plays for 10 minutes - enough time to distract him and get back to sleep. Maybe there is something like this that you could put near his bed. My husband has the same thing where he can't get back to sleep with his mind racing so he turns on the TV to distract himself. Not suggesting TV, but some 3 year old equivalent that you think would work for your son.

K.- Another idea for your "monsters"... Take a squirt bottle and have him make a label "monster spray". Fill the bottle with water and have him squirt in the air before bed... It will make him feel in control of the "monsters" and hopefully help. :) Good luck!

We put water in a spray bottle and used to spray it around my son's room after his bedtime stories. The spray was a special Monster-B-Gone spray that would keep the monsters away. We would be silly when we sprayed it and that would make my son laugh and forget about the monsters. My husband also did this oogie boogie dance, a silly dance that would scare the monsters off. That made my son laugh too.

I used a can of air (what I had on hand at the time) and i told him it was monster repellant. I would spray a little under his bed and in his closet (the 2 places he said the monsters were. it seemed to work for him. and we said a little prayer and night "God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, God bless all our friends and family, and God bless sister too." ( had to add sister at the end when she was born) It was easy for him to remember and i told him that God would watch over him to make sure all monsters stayed away. It worked for us. Good Luck!!

I just saw in the Today show and idea for this. You make a "dream box" for the child, fill it with photos from happy times, or of family/friends, etc. Also put in anything he loves, toys, books, etc. Then pick one thing just before bed time and talk about it. That is what the child is to think about anytime to start to feel scared. I'm not sure if it will be great for a 3-year old, but it's worth a try - I'm going to try it for my 7 year old who sometimes goes to bed and then says he's "scared" of having a bad dream. Good luck and remember you're a great mom!

Take a squirt bottle and fill w/water and say it is used to get rid of the monsters. Spray around room. The most important thing is to address the issue instead of saying "There are no monsters in your room." But it doesn't look like you are doing this anyway. Good luck!

hi. Believe or not Toys-R-Us used to sell monster spray. I think you could probably use any spray and it would work. You can also do a Monster check evey night to see if there might be any in his room. Validation of the fear seems to play a big part of ridding his room and dreams of his terror.

M.

It sounds like your 3-year-old found out that you get up at night with the 7-week-old and might see that as a positive thing. Don't give your 3-year-old any attention that is worth waking up for. I love your ideas! Just keep reminding him that the monster won't come if the blue light is on and the sign is up. Besides, your husband or you won't allow any monsters into the house. Keep it a very boring conversation with no extra attention attached and remind him it is time to sleep. During the day sometime, ask where he has heard about monsters so you can take away that influence if it is a video or TV show, for example.

There are some great children's books out there to help, "Pog" is one of them. They say monster dreams are children's dreams of themselves, guilty conscience dreams, thinking they've done something "bad". It's probably a normal stage of character development, so an additional thing some have had success with is planting the idea that your child can make friends with the monster while in his dream, tell him monsters are just as scared of him, lost in their own dreams and ended up in his by mistake, etc.. This is pretty much the story line of "Pog". I wouldn't tell him monsters aren't real, because his experience is telling him otherwise.

When my almost two year old wakes up he also presses his little crib attach toy that is attached to his big boy bed. Those things are great because it plays music to relax them and lights and then slowly drifts to quiet. We got the rainforest one at Target. I think they are like $38. I am sure they have less expensive ones.

Don't know if this will help, but when I was little and scared of the dark, she told me that the blanket she made for me had special thread that made me invisible to anything I was scared of, the dark, monsters, and such. Hope this helps.

I would think this is a phase of him trying to get attention with the new baby, however, I would think twice about putting lightbulbs and signs confirming in his little mind that monsters really do exist by doing these rituals. Whenever my son mentioned monsters, I just told him that there was no such thing as monsters...that is was all fake. I also told him that he has angels that watch over him and that he is always safe when he sleeps. Good luck.

I have really no new ideas besides what was posted already, but wanted to tell you that your ideas already are fantastic. I will keep them in mind as we are expecting our second and our first will be about the same age. I can just see it coming : )

Good luck!
D.

I haven't dealt with this myself, but I have heard of making "monster repellent." Get a spray bottle, and fill it with water and write on the outside of the bottle "Monster Repellent." Your son can spray this before he goes to bed at night, or if he wakes up during the night.

Take a clear squirt bottle and add water with a drop or 2 of food coloring for effect (maybe blue, since you already have the blue light) Tell your little guy its "monster repellant" and let him squirt around his room a few times before bed to keep the monsters away. He'll feel like a big boy and hopefully you'll get some sleep:)
He's probably adjusting to the new baby and part of the monsters are his wanting to know that mommy and daddy still love him and will protect him. With some creative thinking and a little patience, I'll bet the monsters will be gone soon! Good Luck!

Hi K.,

A friend of mine had a little boy that did basically the same thing. She bought a can of air freshener and covered it with a piece of paper that was decorated monster spray and before he went to bed each night they would give his room a squirt and he would have a nice fragrance to go to sleep to. It helped him alot. Good Luck.

Well, I can really relate to this one--except in my kids case, it was coyotes. This story is now a beloved one of my kids that they like to have repeated. Before moving to AZ 10 years ago, we lived on the edge of the desert in California. Of course, we had all of the resultant desert animals occasionally show up. Our dear friend's "lovely" little boy told my 3 kids that coyotes can jump 6 foot chain link fences (which we had) and they would break through their windows and eat them! After I talked to his parents who dealt with him firmly for doing that, I went out and bought a pine scented air freshener and made a special label for it that said "Coyote Repellant". Every night I would walk around the house, spraying near windows and doors, and occasionally went outside and sprayed the perimeter of the fence and gate. You could do this just as well with a label on it that says "Monstor B-Gone" or something like that. I hope it works. It's hard on the little ones when they get these fears. But fear not, they do grow up. Mine little coyote fearing children are now 18, 16 and 13. You will survive and so will they. It just takes a little ingenuity and imagination. Good luck! Hugs, Kat

I used monster spray! Air freshener with a paper label taped on it- be creative. We sprayed it every night for almost 2 weeks and then he forgot all about them!

HI K.!

Congrats on the new baby! I know exactly how you feel. I have a 7 month old and a 3 yo and ever since the little one was born he was waking up also. I got a spray bottle and fill it with water and a little orange scented oil (just for effect) and sray it all over his room at night. We call it Monster Spray. It has worked like a charm and no more waking up at night! Good Luck I hope it helps!

M.

the light is a good idea, however telling him that a sign that monsters are not allowed or that they do not like blue lights.... is letting him know they are out there, you could do a room check with him ,closet, and under the bed before he goes to sleep to reassure him that they are make believe and they are NONE anywhere in your home. Get him to repeat that back to you and hopefully he will go to sleep unafraid.....all kids go through this stage...it's how you react and deal with the issue at hand is important.
Good luck, hope I helped.
A. mother of 3

K., I had a baby 9 weeks ago, and my 21-month-old who is normally a very good sleeper has also been waking up during the night crying. I'm sure it is just a phase, because of the adjustment of having the baby in the house. I know how frustrating it is, though, since we're dealing with the teeny ones!

I know this is probably stupid but when my daughter was little (she's now 23), she would talk about monsters in her room too. One day I got this great idea from a Sesame Street episode and told her that maybe the monster is sad or has an "owie" and just needs her to help it. Believe it or not the next day she said that she asked and he had a sticker and so she got it out and put a bandaid on it and he left. No monsters ever came to her room again!:)

How about Monster Go Away Spray? We used a spray bottle of water and added a little lavender oil (smells nice and helps with sleeping). He can spray it when he gets scared. Seemed to work with mine.

Funny - my son is watching Monsters, Inc. as I write this . . I've had friends that use a "Monster spray". Mist under the bed, closet & such. And you might want to try reading stories about "good monsters". I'm sure there are some kids books that address this. It's not uncommon - especially after a change such as your new family member. Congrats & Good Luck!

Hi K., Cute ideas, but I think that too many ideas will only give your child the imrpession that monsters do exist. My 4 yr old went through a monster phase that was very short lived. We continued to remind her that there is no such thing and if there was, did she really think that Mommy and Daddy would actually allow them in our house. Either way, she quickly believed that they were made up. Good luck with whatever works for you!