Buy yourself a few books you can't wait to read.ĥ. Take your son shopping for a big stuffed animal that he can cuddle with, to eventually take the place of your body. And you know that I will always be there if you need me."ģ. Even when I am not with you, I will make sure you feel safe. Empathize with him: "I know sometimes the dark feels scary to you. Explain that he does need to learn to fall asleepīy himself, but that you will help him to learn, and will not leave him alone in the dark before he is ready. Begin by talking with your child to create a foundation of security that he can relax into at night. To begin with, that means she needs you to be close to her as she falls asleep.Ģ. To learn, she needs to feel secure at night. Recognize that while your child is old enough to learn to fall asleep on her own, she doesn't know how yet. That all kids need, just as you have helped him or her learn other skills, with the awareness that the whole process might take a few months.ġ.
The optimal situation here is for you to commit to helping your child learn this skill But you do need to realize that this will be a learning process for your child, and that until this learning takes place your child simplyĬan't feel secure enough to fall asleep without your presence. Your child is old enough now to learn to go to sleep withoutĪdult help. It is actually much more common than you'd think for a 7 year old to beĪfraid of the dark and to need help falling asleep. If your child has always had difficulty falling asleep, then you are not alone. Did you go out of town and leave her? Was someone in your family ill? If you can figure out when the sleep anxiety began,you might If that is indeed the case, the first thing to do is to make sure that there is no trauma that triggered your child's Since you say that "It has been months" I am assuming that this nighttime anxiety began out of nowhere, and that your child was once able to go to bedĪt night more or less without fear. He needs your help to learn to put himself to sleep. Him or her to be more brave will be counter-productive and ineffective. In the dark by themselves, especially if their room seems (to them) far from where their parents are at that moment.
Many seven year olds are not quite comfortable falling asleep I need to add, though, that this is very common. It's a frustrating situation to have a child who should be old enough to go quietly to bed but won't, at exactly the time of day when you most need someĭowntime to recharge your batteries.
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