Does your child talk about being afraid of the noises he hears at night? Houses make all kinds of noises and at night when everything is quiet. These noises can be scary!
Here are some tips to help your child deal with those scary night time noises!
1. A night light is a great tool for your toddler or child’s room. Your child can see around the room when they have normal night wakings. Using a night light that is a natural color such as amber or red. This will allow your child to have some light but not interfere with their production of melatonin.
2. Draw silly pictures with your child of what might be scaring them during the night. Rewrite the story to make the noises silly and funny. You can even give their monster a silly name. Or better yet, let your child do it!
3. If your house makes lots of creaks and bumps at night, talk about what noises are being heard during the night make up a fun song about it. Here is an example of a song using the tune from “The Wheels on the Bus”
My house on my street makes lots of noise, lots of noise, lots of noise.
My house on the street makes lots of noises all day long.
The door in the house goes squeak squeak squeak,
Squeak, squeak, squeak squeak, squeak, squeak.
The door in the house goes squeak, squeak, squeak
All through the house.
The furnace in the house goes bump, bump, bump, bump, bump bump, bump, bump, bump
The furnace in the house goes bump bump bump
All through the house!
Then go around your house finding noises your house make and add it to the lyrics. Make it a fun adventure.
4. Spend fun time in your child’s room sitting on the floor and while you are playing and listen for noises, add those sounds to your song.
5. Do these fun activities during the day while you are with your child. These activities should not be done right before bedtime, but during daytime play.
Noises in the night can be scary, so exposing your child during the day to help desensitize the night noises. It won’t happen right away, but lots of practice, and reminders will help normalize the offending noise.
