Easter Bunny fright has upset sleep

[bevgladdis]

Hi

It is a while since I have had to post but I am stumped at what to do next.  DS is two years old and his routing is as follows:

6.30am wake
7.00am smoothy drink
8.00am breakfast
11.30am lunch
1.00pm sleep 1.5 to 2 hours
3.00pm snack
5.00pm dinner
6.00pm play in bedroom to prepare for bed
6.30pm bath/story
7.15pm bed

Until two weeks ago he would say night night and go to sleep independently (he is in a cot bed now), with no night waking and never got out when he woke up, just chatted until we were ready to get up.  This meant that sometimes he went back to sleep waking about 7.30ish.

On Easter Saturday he saw a man dressed up as the Easter Bunny and this frightened him so much that he had night mares that night and we brought him into our bed to sleep.

We now have to be with him for him to go to sleep at nap time, bed time and when he wakes in the night which can be 6 or 7 times.  We have progressed to being outside his bedroom out of sight but he does call out for you and you have to let him know that you are there or he gets out of bed looking for you, so we tend to just shush him.

We have tried just taking him back to bed and then leaving him but this resulted in screaming and temper tantrums for hours so I this didn't feel right to me for him to get so upset.

We know that it is the easter bunny that has frightened him as when we ask what is wrong he says 'easter bunny gone home' and this morning he actually burst into tears when asked what he felt about the easter bunny.

In the past when he has been poorly he has needed our presence to get to sleep but then once better we are able to stop.

he does not have a dummy but does have a lovey.

We are going to move him into a new bedroom with a proper single bed in it to further reinforce that he is a big boy, he has been playing in there and laying in the bed when I have jobs to do upstairs and he loves it.

We have tried a night light (on and off) and have a humidifier to help with the atmosphere in the room.

I would be willing to try the gro clock but don't think that is the problem at the moment.

Any help greatfully received.

[firsttimemummy]

Murray got upset in his bed once and didn't want to go to bed.  He has a teddy in his bed (although he doesn't cuddle it etc) and I asked teddy to look after Murray.  We also spent lots of time talking when he wasn't in bed about how nice his bed was and the bad thing (can't even remember now what it was!) was not there, etc

I would spend lots of time talking about his room in a positive way. We also spent more time than normal playing in his room so it felt a safe place.  We also sometimes use rewards if he settles in his bed (he used to put light on and bang headboard at nap time, so if he lies quietly and keeps the light off he is allowed to watch a dvd!! he often wakes up grumpy so it actually gives him time to waken gradually by coming downstairs to watch a bit of tv!!).

Remember if you say no to putting him in your bed then eventually change your mind he has learnt that if he keeps fussing you WILL give in, so be persistent (worth it long term!)

[sianie]

Agree with PP that it sounds like he needs lots of reassurance.

I was going to suggest a night-light...you can get some really great ones for kids (Lumilove ones are good as they come as different sorts of animals).

To get him back on track you could try WI/WO or GW...see below link FYI:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=80750.0

HTH?

[anna*]

When my little one went through a period of nightmares, we did a lot of playing about it. I would be the 'scary grasshopper', but I would turn out to be kind and friendly. It also helped a lot for me to actually say these words, many times (especially at bedtime): "You know, you don't have to be frightened. Mummy and daddy are here and we will always look after you." Hearing that explicitly really did seem to help him.

[bevgladdis]

Hi guys

Thanks for your replies, we have had a varied weekend.  Slept through on Friday which was just what we needed.  Have had tantrums at bed time (both at night and nap time) and going to bed really well and everything in between.  I am unsure whether solving the needing someone to go to sleep will help the night waking, I feel that it will.  I just think that DH and I need to have a plan of action and stick to it, I am just very unsure which plan of action to take.

If he has a tantrum he gets out and comes to the door, so I just keep putting him back in until he gives up.  At best I sit outside his bedroom door giving the occasional shush until he is asleep which can be anything between ten minutes and an hour.

Anyway any helpful hints would be good, I will keep you posted.

[bevgladdis]

Well I think we turned a corner last night.  The night before was bad.  DH and I have hardly any sleep and then had to go to work so I decided something had to change.

I made a reward chart with star stickers and had items on there that he finds easy, medium and hard such as feeding the fish (easy), brushing his teeth (medium) and going to sleep without mummy or daddy in the room (hard).  I explained and he got a few stickers for various things which he loved.  Then when it came to bedtime and he agreed that he would go to sleep on his own as mummy had to go downstairs to cook daddy's tea.  However, he kept getting out of bed and crying at the top of the stairs so I just kept putting him back.  He finally went to sleep around 8:30pm which isn't too bad.

We had two short episodes of putting him back into bed a few times during the night but the best bit was the morning.  He stayed in bed on his own after he had woken up and he hasn't done that for weeks.  He normally comes running through to us crying and gets into bed with us.

When I went in he said morning mummy, nice sleepy, star sticker.  So he got a sticker for staying in bed in the morning.

Hopefully this is a step forward, although daddy is on bed duty tonight and I have warned him that the second night is sometimes harder.

I will keep you posted

[firsttimemummy]

sounds look a good plan - hope it's still going well

[bevgladdis]

Thought I would post with some great news.  After putting to bed as above on the Thursday night, Friday took about 45 minutes of silent getting out of bed and Saturday he just got out once, both at naptime and at night, so that is a major breakthrough as nap times have always been a challenge.  So after three nights of just taking back to bed he goes down without any problem for both nap and bed, doesn't need us during the night and stays in bed until we go in and get him in the morning.

He does have a dog who plays music to him who he loves which I think has helped as he can choose the music, either lullaby or fun which he sings along too.  We don't hear him during the night but do when he goes down and on a morning.

We are now functioning normally again! ;-)

[firsttimemummy]

Woo hoo! At the time I am sure you felt it would never end, but you got there (and if similar ever happens again, you know what to do!!!)