Nightmare are scary dreams that generally wake your children up. While almost every child has an occasional frightening or bad dream, nightmares seem to terrible during the preschool years when fear of the dark is common. In adults, nightmares are far less common. However, they can still happen as a result of stress or trauma But older kids also have occasional nightmares.
Usually, your children would not go back to sleep because afraid of nightmare will coming back. Your children still remember what are happens on their dreams, so they could become over scare and imagine all might happen in real life. Most nightmare occur during the later part of sleep. Nightmare could happen in children of any age. Ten to fifty percent of children have them. The number of adults who have nightmares is much less, from 2.5% to 10% (Sleep Health Fondation, 2011 ).
Causes
Nightmares happen during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) is the stage of sleep characterized by rapid sadistic movements of the eyes. Nightmares tend to happen during the second half of a night’s sleep, when REM intervals are longer. This may play a part in how we remember and process information that we took in during the day. In a child, REM sleep may be more intense because their imaginations may be more vivid too. The exact reasons why nightmares occur is unknown.
In some cases nightmares may follow traumatic experiences or be associated with psychopathology. Certain drugs that alter brain neurotransmitters or cause dream sleep rebound might be associated with nightmares. Nightmares often happening to children because they have wide imagination in real life. his may lead to some of their dreams causing high levels of fear or confusion.
What are Nightmares Related to?
Occasion that could be related to nightmares is night terror. Things that make night terrors worse include fevers, being tired, or not getting enough sleep. With night terrors, your child will appear to be confused and not fully awake. Night Terrors usually happen one or two hours after falling asleep and can be very frightening for parents and carers
How to Treat Children Nightmares?
Nightmare In a child has tend to be part of growing. They not due to any of major trauma like what happen on adult occasion. 13 ways how to treat children nightmares are provide by each point bellow:
- Reassure your children
After nightmares happen on children, most of them felt unsure and insecure. Let them tell you about the nightmare are they wants to, but don’t press it. In case, reassure your child and stay with them until they are comfortably off to sleep again. You can do it everydays before they going to sleep until they forgot all bad dreams happened.
- Open your children’s mind
After you did reasure your child, next day it would be better helps to talk about the dream and ask about any worries or fears they may be experiencing. After open their mind, you can make some conclusion about what are things that make them so scare after nightmares happened. You give them educations about what nightmares are, and give tell them about positive side from their nightmares.
At this age children understand the difference between reality and fantasy, so you can console them by reminding them it was “only a dream.” But be patient if your children still upset, we know the emotions conjured up by a nightmare are very real.
- Making sure your children gets enough sleep
Children who go to bed too late are more likely to have nightmares. School-age kids need ten to 11 hours of time sleep. Electronics which inhibit production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin should be turned off a half hour before bedtime, when it’s best to do a calm activity such as playing a board game, taking a bath, or going outside to look at the stars, suggest Dr. Hueber. Make sure your child gets adequate sleep by keeping regular bedtime routines and regular and wake-up times.
- Relaxing your children’s mind
- Make children not avoid scare story
After they have nightmares, most of them likely scare about something terrify. You have to asure your child to not scare of something that might awaken their fearness. After tou knowing what are things that make your child scare, you have to tell them something good about that. In addition, you can give them picture about that and tell them story about good things, even funny this from what things that make your children scared.
- Retrain your children’s brain
Nightmares can affect your childrens become so fear and thing about that over and over again. You can help them to learn about how to distinguish between fantasy and reality and approach the issue logically. If you look under the bed and say, “There are no monsters under here,” you can actually make your child even more sure that they’re real, says Dr. Berman.
- Give children outside help
If all steps above do not working well until a few week or their bad dreams interfering their daily life, they have to get benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy. “In a few sessions, a child can learn techniques that turn things around dramatically, and she’ll feel strong,” says Dr. Huebner. “The anxiety resolves, and therapy turns out to be a positive thing rather than a stigma.”
- Turn the light on
Most of children who had nightmares, they might afraid of close room and darkness. By turning the lamp on and keeep the door open, your child can asleep and feel safe. Don’t set the lamp too light, it might interfere their sleep.
- Decorating children’s bedroom
You can decorating their room by giving some dools, picture, beautiful night lamp, or somethings they really like. You can also colouring their room by light colour. You can set green, yellow, or orange wall paper because it will make your child feel calm.
- Sing a song to your children
By singing a funny or kids song to your children while they are going to bed, their will feel calm and relax. Do not sing a song that migt interfere your children’s sleep. You also open request to your children what are song they really like to listen.
- Give children massage
By give your children massage, it could improve their relaxation of the body and mind. Give them massage on hands, feet, or another area that make your children feel enjoy.
- Avoid children from scare TV programs
When your children will go to bed, don not allowing your children to watch scare TV program. It might increas their fearness and cause nightmare more intense or severe. Better if you tell them funny story or funny video from your gadget so your children going so far from nightmares side effect.
- Ask children to drawing their favorite
You can ask your children to draw something they really like. You can also make a draw for them, and tell the funny part of your drawing. The drawing can hang on the bedroom’s wall or near them, so they just remember about it and forget all about bad dream.
If there is an underlying cause this may have to be treated before the night terrors will stop. Even if there is not another condition present, additional measure that may be required include hypnotherapy (which has been shown to be effective) or medication if the events are extremely distressing,frequent, injurious,or if they have a negative impact on your child’s daytime behavior and performance.