Spiders??

My ds has just turned 2.

He has really good language and is able to express himself well.

A week or two ago after he woke up from one of his day sleeps he said something like

"The spiders came out of my sleepy suit Mama." I thought he might have had a dream about spiders, or I guess he could have seen one (I haven't seen a spider in his room and it doesn't seem the season for many of them to be around. I didn't think anything more about it.

Last night he was a TERRIBLE sleeper. (He's never been a great sleeper, but he goes through phases and usually he is not too bad these days.)

He was really distressed when we tried to put him down, and even after I would stand there for ages patting him till he relaxed and was half-asleep, the instant he heard me leave he was awake and screaming again.

He wanted to lie down with me (we have a mattress in his room near his cot.) so in the end I said he could lay down with me for a little while and then he would have to go back in his cot because that is where he sleeps. (He always goes down in his cot, usually sleeps through. If he doesn't he sometimes will end up in bed with me if he doesn't settle easily.)

So he was happy and had a cuddle with me, and then he said "The spiders will get me in my cot." (!!!) I told him there were no spiders in his cot etc, and then he said "There are no spiders on Daddy, and there are no spiders on you, and there are no spiders on me."

After a bit I put him back in his cot (sleepy but awake) gave him a few pats and then he let me leave and went to sleep.

He then woke up yelling at about 11.30pm (VERY unusual for him these days) and would NOT be settled by any means so I ended up taking him into our bed where he slept the night (he never comes into our bed that early unless he is sick or something, he might often come in at 5 or 6 in the morning.) But before he went to sleep he said "M (brother) has spiders in his shirt, and I have spiders in my shirt."

That's a lot of talk about spiders! Maybe he saw a spider and it freaked him out? But the first time he mentioned it was a couple of weeks ago, then he didn't say anything till now? Something is going on in that little head of his. Maybe a nightmare? But he was soooooo hard to settle originally, and he hadn't even been to sleep to have any dreams at that point iykwim?

Has anyone else had anything similar with their LO?

Could be a bad dream or just waking up and seeing shapes and thinking there are spiders. We went through this early this year with dd2, she has a night light/ torch so we used that to show her nothing was there. And again recently ds had a spider land in his hair in the car so he hated the car and going to bed for a few days, we had to hold him and show him there were no more spiders. I know others have made up special monster and bug spray which has worked too.

DS is 4 and we have just gone through this with him as well. Do anything you can to reassure him and let him know he is safe.
DS refused to sleep in his bed that night, he wasn't comvinced it was a dream even though he squealed in his sleep. He is a bit older but I bought him a dream-catcher and had to spray the whole house.
Goodluck