5yr old having nightmares.

[Marsupialmom]

My 5 year old is having nightmares. A few weeks ago we had to get rid of a cat because of it attacking are older cat.

This older cat’s injuries got infect and not healing well. I had to take the cat back to the vet and we are now doing a round of antibiotics and more aggressive cleaning of wounds.

This is not a pleasant experience for any of us. We have had open, draining wounds. This, the cat’s objection to meds, and cleaning is causing my 5 yr old to have nightmares.

Any ideas to help her through it? She hears at least the yowling. There is no way for me to keep her way/unaware of the situation.

[DebraBaker]

You might want to consider letting her sleep with you until this phase passes. Every once in awhile one of my children goes through a little trauma that causes nightmares and I find being open to some regression allows them to re-center themselves and get back to normal more quickly.

db

[KeysMama]

when my older dd was having a bout of nightmares at about that age we got her a dream catcher to hang over her bed ( the power of positive suggestions!) to help catch the bad dreams. I also bought some really nice childrens relaxation tapes ( Good Night, Sleep Well) for her to listen to while dozing off. Worked great- she still listens to the tapes when she is having a hard time- she will be 8 tomm. The rest of the series of tapes is (Energy and Me , The Healing Heart all by the same woman)