My daughter is 4 years old. We have moved her to a twin bed and for some reason she is scared of it. We put the side rails on it to make her feel as if she wont fall off but for some reason she is afraid that she will fall under the mattress which is on the floor right now with the side rail so it wouldn’t be a far fall but she thinks the mattress will go on top of her. She is also afraid of monsters suddenly which I really don’t know where that came from either. I don’t know what to do she keeps freaking out everytime we put her to bed and it takes her 3 hours to finally calm down to fall asleep. We have never had sleep issues with her until now and My husband and I are at our whits end with her. We try to calm her down we read stories, we sing songs and we also just lay there quietly in hopes that she would too but nothing works. I want to make it a positive experience for her and we have tried a lot of different things and nothing is working.
Fear is a weird thing with kids. We’re the type of parents who try to make it like monsters are friends, not foes! My daughter isn’t afraid of monsters anymore because we have her thinking that she is the one they are afraid of. I think the best way to handle fears with children is to chill out, let her see that you are being chill and confident about it, and bring silliness & levity. And do a lot of storytelling.
About a week ago, our 3.5 year old started freaking out about the lights with the smoke detector. She kept crying, saying they were very, very scary. We went around the house with her and showed her how each room had them, and then we personified them and made up little stories about them, why they were there, etc. And that really calmed her down about it and now she says goodnight to the smoke detectors before bed.
I guess if my daughter had a renewed fear of monsters, I’d make up a story with her, let her name the monster and somehow make it into a sympathetic (and weak) character that goes home and cries a lot or something.
I know it probably sounds kind of silly, BUT … it is her imagination that is making her scared in the first place. So, if you can twist it around and work on implanting a more positive angle, it will soothe her.
For the bed thing, I’d probably lay down some stuffed animals or dolls on the floor with blankets near the spot she’s afraid of, and make up a little “bed” for them and let her tuck them in or something. That would show that it’s not a place to be scared of if they’re doing it.
Also let her keep her door open and keep a good night light on. 