How do you combat the fears?

[Nillarilla]

Any tips or tricks for dealing with fears in the night with preschool aged children?

I have done the following:
Told him Mama lets no bad guys in the house.
Told him that if there was something bad or scary in the house the dogs would eat it. (Probably just served to justify his fears)
Tried to get a dog to sleep in his room but they won't stay in there.
Gave him a light saber and told him to shock anything he doesn't like at night.
Leave 2 night lights on at night
stuck glow in the dark stars all over his roof.
Have an army of stuffie friends in the bed.
leave the hallway light on.
Tried Hyland's calm remedy before bed.
Talked about what's pretend and what's real
Told him to imagine punching the bad guy in the nose.
Left soothing music playing on repeat all night.
He has his special blankie and pillow.

He still wakes up and freaks out every night. He is impossible to resettle and I am doing it by myself with my baby who still wakes frequently this week. I really don't want him in bed with me too because he's a kicker and a thrasher and a very noisy sleeper. Any tips/advice? He also doesn't like going to sleep on his own but I have graduated to sitting outside the door now so we are making progress there.

[llwr]

My DD1 has been struggling a ton since a nightmare. FWIW, I think we've pretty much overcome the fear, but that now she's using it as an excuse to not go to bed.

Here's some things I've done.

Nightlight,
keep the hallway light on
books about fears
play-act with stuffed animals
say a prayer before bed
Make the fear (for her the dream was a scary guy in her room) funny. I said he wears underwear on his head
On her own she decided he would come say he's sorry and give her hugs
Think about happy things
Made a chart with a reward at the end for going to bed by herself
Right now I'm making a book that describes the bedtime routine and ends with her going to bed by herself.
Have her help her stuffed animals be brave.

I'm also in the hallway while she (doesn't) go to bed. I really wouldn't care about staying with her except it'll take her hours sometimes (always has). She comes to our bed when she wakes up in the middle of the night and she kicks a lot too. I would have slept in her room on the floor instead, but we also have new baby and I just can't deal with it in the middle of the night. Luckily DD2 is a good sleeper!

[rzberrymom]

I too have a kicking, thrashing preschooler who has been having nightmares lately. The thing that has worked best for us is to put a bed for her next to ours--we have our bed back, she has her own space and isn't kicking anyone, but we're still right there for her. I don't have to wake up completely to go and resettle her, and she's more likely to fall back to sleep easily since we get to her so quickly.