Lots of children can experience nightmares or even night terrors, but whilst most children will grow out of night terrors, nightmares are slightly different things.
During a night terror, children’s eyes are often open so they might appear awake. They might talk, make noises and even move about but they are completely asleep and usually won't remember this. Whilst it looks a bit alarming for us as their parents, as they are actually asleep there is very little we can do to help! The advice from NHS England is to try not to interact with them unless they are at risk of moving around and may hurt themselves. Importantl,y try not to wake them and it should pass in about 15 minutes.
Nightmares on the other hand are bad dreams where children normally wake with some memory of what was scary. They might feel frightened or tearful and certainly not in the mood to go back to sleep.
So, how do nightmares form and what can we do to help?
Nightmares can be caused by lots of different reasons including being overly tired or unwell, sudden and unexpected noises or uncomfortable temperatures in the child’s bedroom or simply something they have seen or heard.
Here are some top tips for helping them back to sleep:
Stay calm and gently guide them back to bed with a quick cuddle and a kiss
Try turning on some calming music or spraying a nice smell in the room like lavender
If they want to talk about their dream let them and help them to explore the aspects that are real and that aren't.
If nightmares are occurring a lot, the Embers episode ‘Bo’s Bad Dream’ could help some children relate to their situation, and activities like Monster Spray or Dream Catchers (featured in the episode) can help children to feel they are creating a protection against them
For parents - try the ‘Emotional Commentating’ section of the parenting course on the Embers App and consider how you can take this approach when dealing with fear in your child.
And finally - try to stay calm. Disturbed sleep through nightmares can be hard on the whole family. Generally nightmares do pass however, if you are worried you can also visit the NHS website for more advice.
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