How to know if a child has nightmares, causes and ways to soothe them?

Children are also subject to frequent nightmares, especially in the preschool and toddler years. So how to know if a child has nightmares, causes and ways to calm them down to help them sleep better? Let’s find out with Tnhelearning.edu.vn!

How do you know if your child is having nightmares?

The telltale sign that a child has a nightmare while sleeping is that the child often wakes up at dawn. When they wake up, they feel scared, cry, and cling to their loved ones, then it is difficult to go back to sleep.

In addition, you also need to distinguish nightmares from night terrors when they only occur in the first third of sleep. Children will often show signs of deep sleep, not dreaming but strongly agitated, unable to comfort when suffering from this syndrome. After that, the child goes back to sleep on his own and does not remember what happened when he wakes up.

How do you know if your child is having nightmares?

Reasons why children have nightmares

There are many factors that come from life that affect the spirit, thereby stimulating nightmares to occur in children, some causes of nightmares can be mentioned as:

• Stimulating feelings of fear before sleeping: Because before sleeping, children have heard scary stories such as ghost stories or watched a certain TV program that causes obsession, discomfort, …
• Stressful state due to external factors: It may be that the child is sick, sick or experiencing changes in the living environment such as moving from living with parents to living alone, having to be away from parents for a long time. long time.

Reasons why children have nightmares

How to soothe a child after a nightmare

When your child has a nightmare and then wakes up, you can apply some of the following ways to calm your child after the nightmare:

• Reassure the child’s spirit: Get close to the child to hug, rub his back and pat him, to help him calm down. Or you can find and give your baby a stuffed animal, favorite toy to hold, to create a sense of security.
• Explain the nightmare: If your baby is old enough to understand, you can explain the nightmare that just happened. However, if you explain “it was just a dream”, it is difficult for children to understand, because they cannot distinguish reality from a dream.
• Adjust the bedroom space: After the child has calmed down, you can turn on the light and open the door to the room, creating a feeling that you are always next to the child to sleep peacefully. However, if you put your baby to bed with you after a nightmare, this can create a habit that’s hard to fix.

How to soothe a child after a nightmare

Reference: A collection of 10 fairy tales to tell your baby to sleep well every night

How to prevent nightmares from happening to children?

You can reduce your child’s nightmares by doing things like:

• Create a peaceful bedtime routine: You can let your child listen to soothing songs, tell a soothing story, or give him a warm bath to create a sense of peace.
• Keep the right room temperature: You should keep the room temperature at a comfortable, most comfortable level, not too hot or too cold. It’s best around 18 degrees Celsius, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
• Adjust the bedroom light accordingly: If the child is afraid of the dark, the room is too dark and the child is afraid, so you should turn on the light. However, if the room is too bright, it also disrupts the child’s sleep, so you should only turn on the lights at a moderate level.
• In addition, you should also pay attention to the child’s nutrition, supplementing with vitamins and minerals to strengthen the immune system to be less prone to minor illnesses.

If your child has a long-lasting nightmare that affects their mental health, you should take your child to see a doctor to find out the cause and have appropriate treatment.

How to prevent nightmares from happening to children?

Above is information about the problem of nightmares in children that many parents should pay attention to. Hope this article was helpful to you!

Source: Vinmec International General Hospital

Tnhelearning.edu.vn