After explaining everything related to sleepwalking in childhood we continue talking about another very common disorder: nightmares in children, another known as childhood parasomnias, or sleep disorders.
Boys are susceptible to them before girls and usually appear from two years, more frequently at three years, until approximately six years of age, and tend to be less and less frequent towards adolescence.
All children have nightmares from time to time. There is no reason to be alarmed, and although they are unpleasant, both for the child and for the parents, because during a nightmare the child can perspire, shout or breathe agitatedly, it is a benign disorder.
What are nightmares and their causes
Nightmares are the unconscious manifestation during the dream of feelings of insecurity, anxieties, fears or worries.
They are vivid dreams that produce a sense of fear and make the boy wakes up scared at night, remembering what happened.
This is the main difference with those known as night terrors, of which we will discuss in detail in another post, in which the child upon waking does not remember what happened.
They usually appear most of the time towards the end of the night, in the dream stage REM (acronym for Rapid Eye Movement in English, Quick Eye Movement in Spanish), in the second half of the night's sleep.
They are especially common in children with anxiety, insecure, worried, or taking any medication.
Dreams can be induced by illness and pain, also by overexcitement, fear, anxiety about a personal situation such as separation from parents, a move, the death of a loved one, problems at school, or from watching violent programs TV before bed.
What to do if the child has nightmares
The nightmares, although we all pass it fatally, is another stage of the normal development of the child, which must overcome with the love and support of parents.
Unlike sleepwalking, in which you do not have to wake up the child, if we see that the child is having a nightmare the most convenient is wake him up, although most of the time it is he who will wake up suddenly.
It is not right at this time to ask him what he was dreaming because we will only get him to remember the nightmare. What we must do is reassure him and give him security, telling him that we are there with him and that nothing happens, that it has only been a bad dream.
Prepare the environment before bedtime it is very important to avoid, as far as possible, nightmares.
For example, avoid going to bed too excited, do not watch violent programs on television, or read scary stories, or perform violent physical activity.
The period before sleep should be tranquility and relaxation. We can play soft music, dim light, tell a story, sing a song or give a relaxing massage.
The next day, you can talk about the bad dream to try to understand what his fears are or what worries him. This will improve communication with the child and help parents to talk with him about what worries him.
There are very simple strategies to apply that will help the child feel more secure during the night like sleeping with his parents or siblings, hugging his favorite stuffed animal, leaving a light on, or spraying the room with spray to scare monsters.
Anyway, even if we do everything in our power, it is normal for the child to have nightmares from time to time even when during the day he expresses no fear, or has not seen any violent movies. That is, nightmares will appear in any way, to a lesser or greater extent.
If the child experiences recurrent and very frequent nightmares that prevent a good sleep, it is advisable to go to a specialist doctor.
We hope this information will help you understand and act appropriately in the face of nightmares in children. In a next post we will talk about another of the infantile parasomnias most frequent: night terrors.
Photos | slightly everything and Don Hankinsen Flickr More information | Sleep Institute In Babies and more | How to help you overcome night fears, night terrors and nightmares of children. How to distinguish
