It can be hard to get a child to go to bed. It can be near impossible to get them to bed after a nightmare. There is no cure for the bad dream, but you can help your child overcome their fears and, hopefully, turn those nightmares into sweet dreams.

A child’s overactive imagination can be a blessing at playtime. But when night falls, that same imagination can quickly become a curse. Nightmares are common among young children. Some experts believe that as many as 25 percent of children have a nightmare at least once a week. The causes are as varied as the dreams themselves. Stress and illness make a child more susceptible to having nightmares. Experiencing a frightening event in real life can lead to bad dreams at night. And those bedtime snacks do little to promote a good night’s sleep – the food boosts a child’s metabolism and increases their brain activity.

Most children will outgrow their nightmares. Unfortunately, this fact does not help parents whose child is waking up scared every night. While nightmares have few medical side effects, they can put a strain on an entire family. No parent likes to see their child frightened and suffering emotionally. And the lack of sleep, for both parent and child, can make it hard to function the next morning. There are no easy cures for nightmares, but a dose of creativity can help your child sleep through the night.

First, make sure that your child has a routine before bedtime. A routine that is predictable can give a child a sense of security. Read them their bedtime story in the same chair every night, and tuck them into bed with the same stuffed animal. A teddy bear alone may help ease your child’s nightmares. Try telling your child that their teddy will guard them while they sleep and protect them from their nightmares. And don’t forget that nightlight. Children often think that bad things live in the dark. A nightlight can let them see that nothing is lurking in their room.

When a child does have a nightmare, don’t ignore it or pretend it never happened. In fact, talking to your child about their dreams can help ease their fears. Ask them to describe their nightmare to you, or have them draw a picture of what they saw. Acknowledge that the dream must have been scary, but reassure them that nightmares are not real. If your child is still afraid and refuses to go back to sleep, help them think about the dream in a different way. Tell them to picture the monster in the dream as a silly creature who walks around on their hands and eats with their feet. Or have them think of a happy ending to their nightmare. Maybe that scary dinosaur is really a lamb wearing a Halloween costume. Anything that takes their mind off their fears will help them forget the nightmare.

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