5 year old scared at night

Hello ladies, Please help! My 5 year old, is scared of her own bedroom. She is supposed to sleep on the bottom bunk, while the big sis sleeps on top. She watched something on the TV with her dad on my last night shift. She now thinks there are monsters. We walk around the house doing a monster check. I kiss her and tuck her in bed. She sleeps with a lamp on. Night light is too dark. Her dad will stay until she goes to bed. She will wake up around 2-4 am crying and screaming till we go check on her. We will tell her she's fine. It's just a dream. Put her back to sleep. She will get up again 2hrs later. Then I wake up and she's in my bed smh. Any advice.... Thank you! From on very tired mother

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A lamp can trigger flight or fight at night and cause you to stay in very light sleep meaning once having a nightmare you are awoken by a bright light on at 2 am can all be very scary to her. When my kids have watched something scary you just have to wait it out a week or two and keep reinforcing the nightlight and letting her know her big sister is there and she is safe. Try to Keep a consistent routine so her body feels regulated at night. I had to talk to my husband and get on the same page about things to watch and not because we have been over this time and time again. He finally realized and stopped and no issues since

Another idea that has been successful for our kiddo is having a TV on playing an age-appropriate content. This isn’t for all kids, but it does help some children. You can also try a tonies box, which is more of an audio option. Another option is you can try taking a step back from the idea of sleeping in her own bed and just focus on sleep. Sleep can occur anywhere like family living room camping as an example.

This happened to my sister and my parents told her monsters hate her dad’s underwear and they would put pairs of my dads underwear around her bed. I’m not saying it’s foolproof but worth a shot.

Perhaps try distraction that’s not a bright light like a projection night light and screen free listening like a bedtime podcast, Yoto player, white noise, etc until she falls asleep then turn everything off for her. And teach her if she wakes to try turning the audio back on to soothe herself. It’s sounds like it’s going to be a short term phase def caused by whatever she saw with dad unfortunately. Is it also possible to have big sis help her feel safer by swapping beds for awhile?

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Get her a monster repellent spray bottle! 😉

I'd try giving her more power in the situation. Does she have any fluffy stuffed animals that she likes? You can say that toy has nightmares and needs her to be brave and protect it from monsters. That switches the roles around and gives her agency: she gets to be the one in the calm protector role.

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