Well...I don't know what to do with my child. Out of no where she is "freaked" out by the dark. Freaked is just an understatement. She screams, clenches onto my neck, shirt, anything when I go to leave the room. We have not changed anything in her bedtime routine; but when we go to leave she just starts screaming, "the dark is going to get me." Granted her door is open, the hall light is on; I'm not sure what to do or where this all stemmed from. If she follows us out of the room, we usually close her door in increments (just to be nice and so that all of a sudden the whole door isn't shut and it's dark in her room; that would be a disaster) HELP!!!!
Tonight this has been our sequence of events after Allie was calm enough to lay in her bed without freaking out or crying and with me leaving the room (this is a monumental step since this all has begun)
A few minutes after I left Allie's room
Allie: Mom I have a seed stuck in my teeth (following us already brushing her teeth)
Kim: Okay let me get your tooth brush and I'll see if we can get it out
Allie: Nope its not out
Kim: Okay let me grab some floss and we'll see if we can work it out (we had eaten popcorn and I always need the floss to get out the kernels; I know way to nice huh?)
Allie: It's not out yet
Kim: It will work it's way out when your sleeping
I leave the room and go back to my business
Allie: My neck hurts
Kim: Rest it on your pillow, it will feel better in a little bit
Allie: A spider bit it
Kim: Really????
I go back to my business
Allie: I need a big sister to sleep with me?
Kim: That's not going to happen
Anyways, like I said, tonight has been the first night I have left her room with her awake since this all began. It's usually Blake or I in her room rubbing her tummy, playing with her hair, rocking her in the rocker, singing for minutes on end to get her to sleep. Any suggestions??
4 comments:
Oh this is a tricky one! It never occurred to Carter to be afraid of the dark until he watched an episode of Arther and a character was afraid of the dark...thanks a lot PBS! Eventually Carter calmed down but still likes to have his door open a crack. If I think of anything, I'll keep you posted :)
Hmmm does she have a little night light?
There is a Sesame Street Episode where they talk about this with some guy who I think acted on the Sopranos? Anyways, it turns out he is afraid of the dark and has a special teddy bear that protects him from it. This has saved us when both of my older kids suddenly became afraid of the dark. I'll bet you could find it on youtube.
Allie is darling--I sure like hearing the cute things she says in preschool.
p.s. We took our pictures at that park in Eagle by the river.
When Macy went through this, we got a lamp for her room. We turned it off when she was asleep. She outgrew it fairly quickly, but the lamp sure helped in the meantime. Now we just have to leave the hall light on so it's not pitch black for her.
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