Duaghter 2 yrs 7 months wakes up 3-6 times screaming. Monsters....Help!

Katelyne - posted on 12/18/2012

I don't know if this will help but children are really sensitive to spirits. It's possible she's seeing a spirit. I as a 22 year old woman still have some terrible nightmares so I burn sage and cedar wands to cleanse are home and also a small amount if sea salt or brick dust in the windows and door ways when she's a lil older you could tell her to picture a bright warm light that no one can can hurt her in it or give her a teddy and tell her that if you ask him to protect you he will. I use to see spirits a lot when I was little and I had a Teddy that use to protect me. Now I'm Wicca because of my ability to see spirits but you don't have to be Wicca to try any of these! :) hope I can help!

Crystal - posted on 09/18/2012

Thanks for posting this I have a six year old daughter that has been waking up around 4am screaming and pointing her index finger at me hollering No!!!! then she says there it goes and she is just crying her eyes out but at the same time she is asleep and i can't wake her up so i just hold her and rock her back and forth till she calms down. So i just thought that it was only a night mare but she just kept doing it so i asked her when i got her up for school if she had a bad dream cause when she done this stuff she would always run to my room and get in the bed with me but she keeps telling me that she didn't have a dream and would ask me how she got in my bed any answers cause i need help it's painful to see my child go through something like this I'm susposed to take her to the doctor tomorrow. thanks

Amy - posted on 12/21/2009

How are things going now? It's been over a month and I'm wondering if any of these suggestions made things better. My daughter went through a period when she would feel bugs climbing on her and scream in the most terrible ways. It was chilling to hear her scream like that. One day they stopped but after leaving my ex-husband my daughter admitted a year later to a man I was dating (eventually I married him and we've been together for 6 years now) that her "old daddy hit her." I'm not saying anyone is abusing your child just that there may be something during the day that is distressing your child and it's presenting at night, did you change day cares or houses lately. I think young children show signs of distress in many different ways. I hope that everything is better now.

Jennifer - posted on 12/15/2009

I'm a student nurse, and in my nursing class, we just addressed night terrors. "Empty the child's bladder before bed" is the only suggestion the nurses had. I think this thread has a lot more, better ideas. Monster Spray worked great for my daughter (3yo), and even though she still wears diapers to bed, we be sure to go potty first, so she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night for physical reasons. A small flashlight is a good idea too. Plus, try to stick to a schedule, a pretty rigid sleeping schedule.

Deslannee - posted on 12/13/2009

this happens to my son too. not all the time but sometimes he will wake up screaming in his crib that there is a monster at the edge of his crib.. and he cant fall back to sleep.. all i let him watch is disney chanelle or nick.. and really dont want him watching tv that much..it worries me a bit... but i just pray with him and im trying not to get scared about it being for real.. because idk how he is having these bad dreams and all though he can speak he cant put together well enough what he sees other than monster... i belive i had my first bad dream at three or four so for age 2 years three months im not sure whats going on.... all i say is do your best and pay attention.. we all wanted our parents to belive us when we were little so dont ignor your kids. look into it ask for details and work with them to keep them safe.. you never know... good luck

Rocio - posted on 12/11/2009

My son is 6 and he had never had any problems sleeping without a light, now he has to have a nightlight and he is still weary of "scarry things" in his room, including his trophies that he has in his room. He has waken up in the middle of the night, not as frequent as yours, but the problem for him is falling asleep. It can be an hour or more and he is still scared..we will see what helps.

Crystal - posted on 12/09/2009

I agree it sounds like night terrors. She'll eventually grow out of it, but for now the only thing you can really do is try to make your child as safe as possible. If your faithful, I would pray, reading nightime stories that will bring other thoughts to your daughters mind before bed. Just a thought.

Jen - posted on 11/22/2009

My son got better when we moved him into a big bed for some reason he hated the cot and the feeling of being locked in.

Rachael - posted on 11/19/2009

You know what i have heard does wonders (my boy has'nt discovered monsters yet but heaps of my friends kids have)
Get a cheap plastic spray bottle, and then some ingredients - for example: Little crystals, essential oil, coloured sand, some herbs or spices.
Then one afternoon when your little one is feeling particularly cooperative or agreeable. Get her involved in making up the "monster reppellant" or "Fairy spray" etc. play on how magical & potent it is, how no monster has ever been able to visit a home or person who has such a potion etc etc..
At bed tyme give the room a spray, if they are old enough you could leave it beside the bed for them.
Works like magic i am told!

Shawna - posted on 11/18/2009

one night i actually had my husband take a baseball bat while my son and i stayed in the living room. hubby made a bunch of noise in my son's room and came out with a pillowcase filled with the "monsters" (i.e. stuffed animals) that he threw outside in the "trash." hubby was the hero and my son slept well that night.

Shawna - posted on 11/18/2009

my son went through that phase. i took some lavendar fabric spray and put it in a bottle that i labeled "monster spray". i let him spray his bed and closet every night. he thought he took care of the monsters and the lavender helped put him to sleep!!!

Jessica - posted on 11/18/2009

Don't decieve yourself children worry a lot. They just worry about different stuff that doesn't seem like that big of a deal to us with adult perspective. Wait till she starts sleep walking too. You have already tried what I would suggest. When I was likttle my mom swept all the monsters into a shed near our house, I was afraid to go in it for years and we still call it the monster shed. She also explained to my sister and I that she was far scarrier than any silly monster so they wouldn't bother us. I don't know how long it took to work. Try seeing what your kiddo thinks would make the monsters go away. She seems to know them better.

Francina - posted on 11/18/2009

When they're old enough to understand worries...I LOVE the idea of the worry dolls.

Helen - posted on 11/17/2009

I think the spray and stuffed animals are a very good idea, they both give the child pwer over their fears. Setting up a night time ritual is a really good idea. When i was little i would hav a bath(maybe use some lavender soap to calm her and relax her more before bed time) we read a story sayd night time preyers and i had my dream catcher, animal, and worrydolls(time little dolls -not for playing!- that you tell each one a different worry, or fear your having, and they go under your pillow and worry about your worries for you all night untill the worry is gone) it sounds weird but i found it very comforting. at one point i had a fish tank which served as a night light and a distration, the water pump was a soothing noise too. Cracking the door. Maybe staying in the room while they sleep for a couple nights and telling them you ran the monsters off. if that doesnt work use the monster spray

Shannon - posted on 11/16/2009

I'm all about finding a room deodorizer spray and putting your own decor on it saying "MONSTERS BE GONE" SPRAY. Also, as she is falling asleep, help create her dreams while talking about rainbows in a meadow, etc...create a beautiful image in her head.

Francina - posted on 11/14/2009

Actually, around 2 1/2-3 my son went through that. I changed his shades to room darkening ones so that lights from the street wouldn't affect him...and I went and bought a spray bottle...filled it with lavender water...and made a very professional looking set of labels for it "Monster Repel" I had called it. We helped him spray his bedroom down before bed, read him only happy bedtime stories...not even Little Red Riding Hood.....which was hard to find books that fit.....and put the spray bottle within reach. When he woke up...we helped him spray the room again....and after awhile he'd spray the room or just near his bed (ALWAYS) within his reach.....and it just gave him that little bit of reassurance that he had some control in his life.

Rene - posted on 11/14/2009

I am a mother of a 20 year old and she is an only child. I had the same problems with my daughter from a very young age. I went crazy trying to find something to soothe her to sleep and nothing worked. I tried the dream catcher too. As she got older and was able to express herself more she started describing what she saw. She saw angels in her room and she said they were nice to her and there to protect her. She also told me she saw a man in the hall with a tall hat. She says there is also a little girl named Vicky. She is 20 now and still sees them. My daughter is psychic. I didnt want to believe it but I have been told by many people in the psychic world that it is true. She has a gift! I have been told that small children are very psychic and can see things that we cant. I dont mean to scare you but it is something to think about. Possibly you can do some investigating and ask someone who is familiar with this type of thing and they may be able to help you.

Tiffany - posted on 11/13/2009

First thing that came to mind when I read this was Night Terrors...which is something I had never even heard of until my friends daughter had them...and it was from watching Barney alot during the day...sounds crazy I know but the quit letting her watch Barney for a while and then the night terrors stopped and she was back to sleeping normal through the night.Then when my own son was almost 18 months old we went through the same thing...he loved watching the scooby doo movie(the one with real people not the cartoon) he would watch it multiple times during the day,well I remembered my friend talking about the night terrors because of Barney so I thought hmmm maybe this is what we are dealing with as well...quit letting him watch the Scooby Doo movie and wouldn't ya know he was back to sleeping normally.I wish I would have realized it sooner because it was such a horrible thing to deal with..he would wake up multiple times in the middle of the night screaming and crying and there wasn't much consoling him because he wasn't actually fully awake.Hope that you have been able to figure out what is wrong and that everyone can start getting sleep again..I really do feel for you!

Barbara - posted on 11/12/2009

I have 5 daughters.... With 2 of them they had horrible nightmares. Kept saying that there was monsters everywhere. What worked for us is giving them a bottle of "monster away spray" aka. febreeze and allowing tthem to spray where they "seen" the monsters. Try that and see. If not, I would recommend her seeing a specialist. These "monsters" that won't go away could be an underlying issue. Good luck!

Lisa - posted on 11/11/2009

My daughter has just started to have these, some class them as night terrors. Her's involve spiders she is to frightened in the night to come and call me in my bed. What i have done is, she has a toy hoover which, every night we hoover her bedroom each nigh before she goes to sleep and she also takes a favorite bear to bed with her which I have told her will make sure that the spiders don't get her and she is going to bed holding it tight and they seem to be gettting less and less. The stressful thing is that what may work for others may not work for you. Like me hopefully you will come up with a solution that works for you and your child. Just remember you're not the first going through this and you won't be the last.

Melissa - posted on 11/11/2009

I kind of have that problem with my son. He turned to in Sept and he is afraid of going into another room or to bed sometimes because he says Monsters get me and I tell him no it'll be ok there is no monsters and if there is they are nice and I wait to put him into bed untill he is really tired (I lay in my bed with him for a little bit and when he is almost sleeping i put him in his bed and he is too tired to think) at his two year check up i told the doctor and he said he can have dreams about them . He has gotten better...we have watched some nice monsters movies too

Jessie - posted on 11/09/2009

My daughter started to doing the same thing right after she turned three. I told her that if she kept her room clean then the monster wouldn't come into her room because they don't like clean rooms. So every night we would clean her room to make sure the monsters wouldn't come and when she woke up in the night because of monsters I would reassure her with "there are no monsters here because your room is clean and they don't like clean rooms." Finally she started to buy into it and stopped worrying about the monster and now she always has a clean room. Also she has a teddy bear that she has had since she was born and I told her the teddy bear would protect her from any monsters that did come into her room.

Peggy - posted on 11/09/2009

when my daughter was three she wouldn't take a bath because she thought monsters were in the drain. My mom made up a (monster buster) spray bottle and sprayed our tub. It worked and we didn't have anymore problems. I'm not saying it would be that easy but kids can find simple solutions the best.

Lopez - posted on 11/09/2009

You poor tired thing! I feel for you. If she is having nightmares, perhaps you could start a ritual before putting her down for the night centered around telling bad dreams to go away and good dreams are here to stay. You may want to speak with your pediatrician about it as well.

Natalie - posted on 11/08/2009

My son did this out of the blue. It sounds like night terrors. Vivid dreams that children have a hard time distinguishing from reality. He wouldn't sleep in our room, he just wouldn't sleep. It was awful, so I feel your pain. Ultimately we had to review everything we let him watch on t.v. etc. What books we read, and discussions that we were having that may trigger the fear. We also talked a LOT about how mommy and daddy would never let anything happen. Our house was safe, etc. Eventually it went away, although it can last longer. We did notice it was worsened by an allergy medication that the doctor had put him on for asthma, so check any medications you may be giving her. For my sanity, I would move her bed into my room for a while. I cannot handle children in my bed with me as it is too disruptive to my sleep, but if they are in the room, it is easier to comfort etc. and then head back to bed, like when they were infants. Hopefully it will not last long. If it does, talk to your pediatrician.