Has anyone any advice on how to tackle nightmares and the fear of them? My daughter is 8 and we have never really had any problems around bedtime for a good number of years. Recently however she has started having a bad dream about being burgled. (None of our family have ever been burgled) Last week she woke at around 3.30 and refused to even try and get back to sleep - even with me in the room. As a result we both sat up all night until I went to work very tired and grouchey and she got into bed with her Dad. Last night she wouldn't even try to go to sleep at all, wouldn't read a book and insisted on someone being with her until she fell asleep. A one off is ok but I don't want her to get into that habit every night. She gets into bed and then starts shouting every ten minutes or so wanting to know something or reminding us of something about the next day. I think because she doesn't want to say she is scared to go to sleep she is inventing other things to bring us into the room. I have tried to threaten no gymnastics and other things but if there's a genuine fear I'd prefer to tackle it head on. We have gotten out of the habit of a regular bedtime routine over the last year or so and I'm goign to re-implement that to see if there's an improvement, but she has a Brownie trip away for a couple of nights coming up and I'm worried it's going to be a disaster for her (and us!)

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Could it be the thought of the trip that has brought this on?
If my daughter has trouble sleeping or is going to stay out I spray her teddy lightly with the perfume that she recognizes the best, and if she wakes in the night the smell lulls her into thinking I'm there. (btw she is 13!)
I don't think threats about taking stuff away will help. I would highly recommend that you have a really in depth chat about the trip, and see if any insecurities arise from it.

Thanks I'll give that a try. it has gotten worse over the weekend and she slept in my bed twice. Last night she wouldn't go to bed because she thought we would get burgled. I took her around the house to show all the doors and windows were locked. Then she said someone might have gotn it before we locked the doors so again we went round the house looking in wardrobes and under beds to confirm no one was there. That still didn't work. She refused to read a book or have some music on. I've tried 'sleep' sprays but also to no avail. I have asked about school and whether everything is ok there and she jusy says 'fine'. I haven't asked about the trip itself though so it's worth a try.

Perhaps she is having premonitions.