27 month old having frequent nightmares

[carole1125]

For the last 2-3 weeks, my 27 month DS is having what seem to be nightmares almost every night (4-5 nights a week).  He goes to sleep fine at his normal bedtime, but in the middle of the night he wakes up.  Sometimes he wakes up crying hysterically, sometimes he wakes up crying for Mommy and Daddy, and sometimes we hear him talking in his sleep.  Sometimes the sleep talking is just saying names and little things that don't concern me too much, but sometimes he is repeating things like "no" and "don't touch" over and over. 

I'm at a complete loss for what to do.  I'm very concerned about the talking - especially last night when he was saying "don't touch" and sounded very scared - and the frequency that this is happening.  He has a VERY good memory (he can describe an event that occurred weeks ago - things that he did and details like what I was wearing), so I'm not sure if this is somehow connected to the unpleasant dreams.  Or, if this is something genetic (I have always been someone that has very vivid, weird dreams).  Or, if this is simply related to his age and increased separation anxiety. 

We have had some major "home" events...we moved in January and then my husband and I traveled quite a bit in February.  He went through a rough period after that (March was pretty tough), but he seemed to be back to normal until now.

Any thoughts or insights that anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Carole

[katiem]

hi my little boy is 3 in aug , we moved house in jan to and he started having nightmares and running in to our room in the night  he kept saying baby in mummys room and pointing in to the corner , everytime i moved my hand he screamed and he laid there with his eyes open looking and studying everything , this went on for about 4 weeks and i got him a night light for his room , not one of the plug in ones but one that gently lights the whole room  , my husband is in the navy and he had just come back from a 7mth deployment when it all started and i think things bother children much more than we realise , he has calmed down a bit now so maybe it will just pass
katie

[mari]

How was he sleeping previously?  Does he fall asleep himself?

If the wakings are new and he usually sleeps throught the night with no help to get to sleep then this is my advice.

Have a chat to him about the bad dreams in the morning when he first wakes up.  Ask if he can remember that he had a bad dream and then reassure him that it was only a dream.  if he remembers it, then talk it through with him.
Then (and don't think I'm crazy) go out and get him a dream catcher, let him choose it, then when you get home explain that it is a special thing to hang on his ceiling and it will take away all the bad dreams.  Make a rhyme or song if you like, but really emphasize the fact that it will help keep his dreams away during the night, tell him that it will bring nice dreams.

This is what my sister did for her daughter and she was under 3.  It worked for her, honestly. 

I think that we have dreams because we are remembering things that are happening in the day and if you can instill into his dreams that he has something that will give him nice dreams then it might work.

One night my niece woke crying and my sister went in to her and she said that she had a dream and my sister said, 'that's strange, I wonder why the dream catcher didn't keep them and send you good dreams.  When they turned the light on, the dream catcher was on the floor!!!  It's true, I'm not a superstitious person, but I think that they work if we tell the child a story about them.

It's worth a go isn't it, what do you have to lose?  A few quid for a dream catcher!

[carole1125]

Thanks for the advice Katie and Mari. 

Zak had been sleeping well...he's never been one to fall asleep on his own, but he has been sleeping through the night consistently for well over a year now.  He's even done well with sleeping while teething and when he's been sick.  So I'll try the dream catcher and the night light.