For a while now Joseph has been going to bed at his bedtime at 8:00 with no problems but within 15 minutes he is out of bed and complaining that he has had a nightmare, I don’t know if this is the case or that he just wants to stay up a bit later with Mummy but what I do know is that the latter isn’t going to happen.

There were many things I would do when I heard the ‘MUM, I’ve had a nightmare!’

I tried going into his room with him, looking around his room and telling him that he was safe and no monster or bad person was around

I cuddled and reassured him that Mummy was only next door and I would protect him

I gave him his Bradley Bear and tucked him into bed nice and tightly with his duvet, nothing bad would happen with Bradley around

Sometimes I would lay in bed with him until he fell asleep

Sometimes I would leave the hallway light on for a while

I would tell him to think of nice, good and fun things to take his mind off of what he had just dreamt

I would talk to him about our holidays or days out, get him to recall the times when he laughed and had fun

All of these worked for that moment but then the next night it would be ‘MUM I’ve had a nightmare’

It was Jak that suggested that we make him a dream maker, a squirt of the dream maker just before bed would scare away the nightmares and only produce good dreams

Making a dream maker is easy, you will need:

-1 empty bottle that has a squirt pump on it

-Water

-Lavender oil

-1 tired little boy that believes in magic

Lavender is known to have a calming effect which may aid in relaxation.

Joseph squirted the dream maker under his bed, on his duvet, around the bedroom and on his teddies

Joseph fell asleep within minutes with a smile on his face 🙂