Nightmares

My 6 year old step-daughter has been having nightmares lately.  About 30 minutes to an hour after she goes to bed, she will wake up sobbing.  When her daddy and I go in there to check on her, the only thing she will say is that she had a bad dream.  Clearly upset, but refuses to tell us what's wrong.  I don't want to push her, she's got a pretty firm grasp on reality and knows that what she dreamed is not real.  I just wish that I could help her out. 

So I've been doing some research and found a really good article on BabyCenter with some helpful (and fun-sounding) tips to help your child with their nightmares.




The first idea, that I think we'll try tomorrow, is the Dream catcher.  Help your child make a one to help catch the bad dreams.  I remember having one when I was a little girl with an eagle and a bead.  My mom told me that the eagle would fly out at night and capture my bad dreams and put them into the bead.  When the sun came out, the eagle would tell the bad dreams to go away and never come back. I know this isn't the traditional story, but it is what worked for me as a child.

Here is a good basic tutorial on how to make a dream catcher.  I will show how we made ours tomorrow.




Another idea is putting some baby lotion (or something for sensitive skin, without a lot of perfumes or chemicals) into a special bottle and rubbing a little on your child before bed.  It could be a "Good Dream Potion."  

The last idea from BabyCenter is to have a small spray bottle with a couple of drops of vanilla (or some essential oil, I would prefer lavender) and have your little one spray some around their room as part of their night-time ritual.  It could be their "Monster Repellent" and would work great if their nightmares are of boogie men or monsters.