Is Nightmares Cause if Night Wakings In Children?
Yes. One common cause of night wakings is nightmares. A child who experiences a nightmare that is disturbing and frightening enough actually to wake the child from a deep sleep and leave him in a state of distress is a child who will benefit from a parent’s comfort.
The younger the child is, the less he will be able to distinguish dreams from reality in general. This is because children are emotional rather than intellectual creatures. The emotions that humans of all ages feel in dreams are real emotions generated by the emotional centers of the brain.
Consequently, the aftereffects of these emotions are real, physical events, even if the experiences that provoked the emotional response happened in the dream state. We adults can apply reason to mitigate the emotional effects of nightmares, but children generally cannot do so.
When your child wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and calls out for you, go to him and soothe him. You would be wise to avoid insisting that the nightmare was “just a dream,” because, to the child, it was a real experience. Children, especially younger children, will argue with you vigorously on this point. You simply cannot win this argument.
Just hold your child in your arms, rock him back and forth, and reassure him that everything is all right, that you are there for him, and that he is safe. It is probably a good idea to avoid asking young children to relate the nightmare to you. This will have the undesired effect of reinforcing the experience and making it harder for your child to get back to sleep.
It also runs the risk of the child’s mind making a subconscious association between sleep and the negative emotions suffered during the nightmare. If your child volunteers to relate the content of the nightmare, listen sympathetically and uncritically and offer all the reassurances I mentioned above.
Older children whose intellectual faculties are more developed generally do not believe that the event experienced in the nightmare was a real event, but they too benefit from the comfort that a parent can provide at this time of distress. Fostering an emotionally stable, mentally healthy, responsible, self-reliant, and self-sufficient child requires, in pant, that parents provide the necessary emotional support.
There can be a variety of causes of nightmares. One primary cause is the mental exhaustion brought on by periodic or chronic sleep debt. Make sure your child gets to bed early enough every night especially on school nights so that she gets the full amount of sleep that permits her to feel refreshed upon awakening in the morning and to remain alert and cheerful all day long without any sign of drowsiness.
Emotional disturbance, stress, and conflicts can also induce nightmares. These conditions are only aggravated by sleep debt. Whatever the cause, whenever they occur, give your child the emotional support she needs. Cuddle and reassure your child with the same loving kindness that you would want if you were in her place.
