Dreaming is a normal part of life people experience when sleeping, but having frequent nightmares is not normal, especially for children. If your child is always complaining of having nightmares, or if he or she is showing up in your room at night because of these bad dreams, you may want to do something about it.

What causes nightmares?

Most researchers do not know why people have nightmares. Some say it is due to traumatic experiences people have gone through, while others say it occurs from insecurities or worries in life. While it is normal to occasionally have a nightmare, having them almost every night might be something to be concerned with when it comes to your child.

What can you do for your child?

If the child's nightmares seem to be occurring more frequently, you may want to take some steps to help the child with this. Here are three things you could do that may help:

1. Keep a happy atmosphere in the home – This is something that is especially important during the child's bedtime routine. Avoid any type of book that may be scary or mysterious, and always avoid talking about things that may worry the child.
2. Discuss the nightmares – Let the child have the freedom to talk about the nightmares he or she has. As the child does this, keep notes and look for similarities. This may help you find out what thoughts are triggering the nightmares.
3. Get a dream catcher – Dream catchers are just one of many types of items you can purchase to make your child feel safer. A dream catcher is designed to "catch" bad dreams and remove them from the child's mind. When a child understands the concept, it might offer reassurance to him or her, and this could help stop the nightmares.

You may want to try these tips or look for others, but if nothing seems to help, you may want to take the child to a psychologist. A psychologist may be able to find out the underlying cause of the nightmares, and this could be the solution that is needed to make the nightmares stop. Child psychologists often have children draw pictures of their dreams in order to find out their meanings, but they also use many other methods when working with kids.

To learn more about this and to help your child's nightmares stop, contact Paula Conforti, D.C.S., C.Psych. Assoc. or a similar organization.