Monster Under the Bed???

I have to agree with the Monster spray!! My son had a problem for a long time, so we got some Lavender linen spray, and we would spray it all around the room before bed, then leave him a spay bottle filled with water by his bed in case he needed to spray any other monsters away.

Hi Kritina. My name is B.. I have a little girl who is 7 months old. But I can relate to this problem because little brother had this problem. We bought him a dream cap. It has a lullaby and a night cap that "blocks" the bad dreams from getting to him. With my parents and my help... we taught him that he had to believe in it and the bad dreams wouldn't be able to get it. It worked... he loves it! I have their website address if you want it! Let me know.

We went thru this when grandkids were 3 and 4yr
I gave them a old TV remote..told them to click and Monsters leave forever!

My 3 year old has been convinced that there is a large scary pink elephant in his heating vent in the ceiling. There were times when he wouldn't even sleep in his room and for a few weeks he slept on a crib mattress on the floor next to our bed. Monster spray didn't work for him.. he knew it was phony and would have rather just played with the bottle. Somehow I got him sleeping back in his room and I am not even sure how I did it. But I did arm him with cool flashlights... they have those animal shaped flashlights that make animal noises when you squeeze the handle and they open up with the light. They worked GREAT! I told him that the pink elephant would be scared away by the light and growl of the flashlight. I also told the elephant every night to go away and bother someone else. I also talk to him about the elephant. I ask him to tell me what the elephant looks like and what does he do when he comes out. Talking about the elephant seemed to help a bit because he doesn't really talk about it anymore.

My 2 year old is now convinced that dinosaurs come around to bother him. So, every night he makes me say "Dinosaurs go away!" That makes him happy. He also has a lullaby cd that I have played for him since he was a baby. He still likes to listen to it so I told him that dinosaurs HATE music and that as long as his music is on the dinosaurs won't come around.

Good luck to you. You just have to try little tricks until one works. Every kid is different. :)

I AM SOOOO GLAD YOU WENT THE "THERE ARE NOT ANY MONSTERS!" ROUTE!!!! I'm shocked to see all the people saying to use a "monster spray". Why, why, why would you want your kids to go on believing there are these terrible child eating monsters out there!!!! Plus if you have a child with an imagination, they are just going to come up with a reason that the spray wont work...like the monster likes the spray, it makes the monster bigger.(all these came from kids of friends of mine!) My daughter was 3 when she started the whole monster thing and I sat her down and explained that they weren't real. I had her ask everyone she knew if they had ever seen a monster (grandparents, aunts, uncles) then said if no one has ever seen them and no child has ever been eaten by a monster then we know they are just make believe. I told her some people like to scare poeple and make things up and then I made up a story with fake creatures in it and then told her I made that all up in my brain. I had her make up a story and then said "Is any of that real?" She has never been afraid since. I also went this route because I believed in monsters until I was pretty old and then one day my mom said "Have you ever seen anything on the news about a child being eaten by a monster!?" That's all it took for me:)!!
WAY TO GO K.! THE TRUTH IS ALWAYS THE BEST CHOICE!!!!!!!!
-Brandi

I read about this one but have never tried it myself...fill up a spray bottle with water and maybe even a drop of lavender or some other calming scent and you or your daughter can spray the "monster repellent" under her bed without looking. Good luck!

When my boys went through that I started using the "monster spray" when I tucked them in at night. I just used a water bottle and told them it was monster spray and it would keep away the monsters all night. I sprayed it under the bed and in the closet. I would sneak around the room and act like I was surprising the monsters and that they were running away.

It worked for them. Hopefully it might work for you and your girls!

My friend bought a humidifier that looked like an animal. They sell them at Babies R us. She told her daughter that this animal was there to scare away all of the monsters. Just an idea. It worked for her.

Hi there. I have a 3 1/2 year old and he hasn't been scared of anything (yet!). We watch the movie "Monsters Inc" and that's been great because all those monsters are nice and friendly. If my little one talks about something being scarey, I always tell him monters are nice just like on the movie. It's worked for me....your little girl would just love the movie! Good luck.

My 3 year old twin boys go in and out of this stage. It has helped a lot to have a night light. Do you have one in your daughters room? They love to watch Scooby-Doo...which has a new monster in each episode, so I reiterate that monsters are only pretend....like on Scooby-Doo....it's always someone in a costume. They seem to settle down with this explanation/reminder. I hope this helps a little.

I just emailed out about something similar. As most of the responses you will see, a spray for keeping monsters away is a great tip. My daughter is scared of the dark and have been battling bedtime for the last week. Finally we let her have her nightstand light on and she went to bed with no problems. Because she could see in there is made her feel safe. I also gave her my pillow to use in bed for the feeling of safety as well. We gave her a mini purple flashlight as well for her nightstand to use as well if needed. Good luck, I know exactly what you are going through!

When my daughter went through monster under the bed (E.T.) I took her to her bed room door and said If there is a monster in this room, I am the mother. If you plan to stay here, you MUST clean this room right now. I closed the door. We went back in a half hour and the monster was either not there or left, because the room was the same. It worked.
I also told them that Jesus said fear not, I am with you always.

I have a 7 year old that was terrified of monsters! My mom actually found a recipe for "monster spray" in a good housekeeping magazine! It is just a mixture of orange oil, lavander oil, chamomile oil and a few other oils. My daughter sprayed it every night before she went to bed, and it worked! (It also smelled really good!)

You MUST get some "Monster Spray!" When you are alone, just put some water in a spray bottle and label it Monster Be Gone! Use this spray as needed, it really works!

I just saw your thank you and thought I would offer one addtional idea. My son went through the same thing - we did a couple of things. We made a sign for his door that said "no monsters allowed". Second, I took a can of air freshener and turned it into "Monster Spay". That way ever night before bed we woudld spray it together so they couldn't come in. All I did was print out a fake lable from the computer. I used a couple of pieces of clip art and put a slash through a monster, then taped it on the can. We used it for a few months. Added bonus it freshed his room every night. LOL - hope this helps.

K.,
I had a simialar problem before. I heard/read that a Monster Spray works really well. (My bottle of 'Monster Spray' was rose scented linen freshener from Bed Bath and Beyond!!) You could even use a bottle of H2O if you'd like no offending scent lingering.
Easy, a bit decieving, but it worked well for my family.

Also, please try to get to the bottom of her stresses to find out about the night waking. Going to bed is usually the problem with monsters, not waking up because of them. Could she use some more one on one time with you during the day? I noticed that you have a new baby and night terrors/waking may be a way for her to signal to you she is having a need that isn't being met.

Sounds like you got plenty of good advice, but this all reminded me of my daughter when she was about 5. She had monsters in her dreams (brought on, I believe, by the movie Anastasia). I suggested trying to see if the monster needed a friend -- offer him some cookies. I can sometimes change the outcome of my dreams, and I guess she learned to, also. A few months later she told me that she had indeed offered the monster some cookies, and he "became her pet."

Make monster juice, take a spray bottle make a label for it, especially for zapping monsters. I set it up at a local store, so me & my child recieved the last bottle of the stuff. And they kept the spray on their nightstand; for just in case. I would watch my child spray under the bed and then in their prayers thank god for keeping the monsters away. I never had to get a refill, and after awhile I didn't hear a peep out of them.

Hi,
Have you tried giving her "monster spray", which is scented water (vanilla?) in a sprayer? It helped my nephew.
C.

1. We do the monster spray (vanilla)
2. We do the "Mommy is here to keep you safe, and even though monsters aren't real... No monster would EVER tangle with Mommy! They'd lose!"
3. Our dog sleeps outside the door (or sometimes at the foot of his bed) and we tell him will bark like crazy if anything scary would bother him
4. A nightlight
5. A child's lantern (like a flashlight but illuminates better)for when he's afraid
6. Night lights in the hallway and in our bedroom if he's really frightened and wants to make the trip! Doesn't happen often, but when the wind is howling or thunder is loud... he'll do it!

Good luck! My son is 3 1/2, and the monsters aren't such an issue... now it's worrying about having bad dreams that keep him anxious before sleeping. I make sure to tell him that he just better not dream about balloons or kites (or something that he really loves) when I leave the room... and that reverse psychology helped him quite a bit! Of course he thinks about those favorite things as he's drifting off to sleep, and the bad dreams don't come.

L.

This might sound silly but have your tried "monster spray"? Fill an empty water bottle/hair spray bottle/etc., put a label on it that says "monster spray". "Spray" for monsters before bed, do a monster check then let her know that she can use the spray in the middle of the night.

This may sound strange, but I had the same fear when I was little. My mom (who was an early childhood/special ed teacher) would get out some Lysol spray. She told me that it was monster spray and tht it would make the monsters go away and never come back. It worked like a charm! Now, as a mom and a therapist for children, I'm even more impressed by her ingenuity. It's important to remember that her fears are real, she really thinks that there is a monster under her bed.

Hope this is helpful!

We used a can of Ozium air freshener & told our son it was to clear away any monsters. We sprayed it in his room just before bedtime & after a few nights he was fine.

hi K.,

You can tell her there is no Monster all you want, but she will still think that there is. It's very normal at her age - they see some scary stuff on t.v., we try to not let our daughter watch t.v. at all after 7pm.

When my little girl gets scared of monsters I stand in the middle of her room and in my firmest mommy voice order them out, I say - "All monster's you get out of ---;s room, and out of this house right now!", my daughter likes that, she laughs and it comforts her. Also, you might try to put her mattress on the floor for awhile - eliminating the monster place all together.

A lot of people spray stuff and say it's Monster Spray (my daughter didn't go for that one and just wanted to play with the spray bottle).

Of course, the more light in her room the less scary, and closet doors should be shut (another favorite monster place) ;-)

good luck,

W.

Good morning, K.!
I had a similar situation with my son, who's now 19 and perfectly 'normal' or as normal as a 19 year old can get! Here's some advice from a mom who's been there and done that.

First, DO NOT CONFIRM THE MONSTER. Don't pretend to talk to the monster, like saying 'you go away' or give them 'monster repellent' (a bottle with water they spritz when they get scared) or anything like that--that just confirms in their little minds that it does exsist.

What worked perfectly for my son is we spent a weekend and re-arranged his room and talked about why he thought there were monsters under the bed. It ended up that it was all to blame on the move 'Toy Story'--remember the scene where the cowboy gets trapped in the neighbor kid's bedroom and the botched toys come crawling out from under the bed? So, after rearranging the bedroom (we actually put his mattress on the floor for awhile) and talking about it, I made a point to sit down and actually watch what he was watching on TV.

So, my advice--go through and do some spring cleaning this weekend with your little one, throwing away all those scary broken toys and help your child make it a room of their own. Find out where the 'monster under the bed' came from and invest in a low wattage table lamp that you can leave on. I don't recommend a nightlight for the simple fact that they can make a dark room quite scary for a little one by filling it up with shadows. The money you pay in electricity is minimal compared to the peace of mind they'll have.

Hope this helps!
Live your dreams!
L. K.

Just a note for "Monster Spray."

Please, please DO NOT use chemicals for the spray! Lysol, Febreze, linen sprays--in other circumstances, you'd call it poison and keep it away from your children.

Just use water. If you need a scent, put a few drops of essential oils into the water and swish it around. It's safe and, if you use the right scents (lavender, vanilla, etc.), calming.

Good luck!

A book helped relieve my grandson's fears. It became his all time favorite bedtime story book. It is called, THE MONSTER UNDER THE BED.

I have heard of using "Monster Spray". This would consist of any type of air freshener such as Febreeze or Glade. You tell her that it is Monster Spray and spray it around the room or if she thinks it is under the bed, spray it under the bed. Monster Spray kills monsters. My daughter liked having a nightlite. This seemed to help her with the "monsters". I didn't have to move on to the monster spray! I hope this helps! Good Luck!
A.

hi! i can suggest that u take your childs hand and u both look under the bed to prove there is no monsters. also you can put a cute fluffy stuffed animal under the bed and when u both go to check under the bed at night she will see the cute animal and have a note by it saying that hi i am your protector at night and give the stuffed animal a name so every night u will both check to make sure that protector is under the bed.

There's a cute book we got at the library called the "Bravest Little Monster" about a little monster who is scared there is a little kid under his bed. It's a very clever twist on the story and the monster mom assures the baby that there aren't any scary kids out to get him. It's adorable and funny and may be a good way to show her some of the ridiculousness in the situation. At the very least, it's a fun book to read that you'll enjoy too. Good luck.

We read Big Green Monster and that has helped a lot, it takes the scariness out of the whole monster thing. It is one of our favorite books now!
Hope this helps
M.

Hi K.,

Aaw... poor little girl. I personally haven't had to deal with this but I did make a note of some tricks that other people have tried just in case my kids were scared of monsters. Here are a couple of things you could try before she goes to bed :

1. Use a No-Scare Spray (water in a spray bottle) to scare monsters away. Spray it in all corners of the room (or in her case, under the bed) and tell her that will get rid of the monsters.
2. Ask child to show you where monsters are and then catch them in a garbage bag. Throw the bag.
3. Tell her that the blinds/curtains in her room are magic blinds/curtains and when they are closed at night, no monsters can get in her room.

Hope that helps.
Aarti.

buy a spray bottle and fill it with something with a light scent (febreeze, maybe), and tell her it is monster spray. Spray under her bed before bedtime and her closet, etc. Keep it by her bed, and let her use it to spray again if she thinks the monster is coming back.

Also try an 'amulet'. See if you can find a long neclace (with a black cord, preferrably) and a natural looking shiny stone, and tell her it is a monster amulet that kills monsters when they come by....

I know these sound silly, but sometime we have to think like they do to reach them.

I think I'm responding after many others have...but I just recently remembered what I did when my daughter was younger. I had Monster Spray. I would make a big ordeal of dancing around the room and spraying all corners of the floor and ceiling and under and over all furniture etc. of course the spray bottle is invisible because it's magic. Not only was I able to make her laugh and forget her anxiety, but she believed it :)

Hi K.! What I use to do when my son was little and thought there was a monster under his bed, I would tell him the story of the tickle noodles that hid in his closet. These tickle noodles were hiding from the monsters so they could jump out of the closet and tickle the monster so much that the monster would leave and never come back. Of course, you'll have to add to it, but I wrote a short story about it and it did work. He would then start having me check to make sure the tickle noodles were in his closet. Good Luck! K.

We did the water bottle "Monster Spray" too and I left it (with just a bit of water in it) next to each of my kids' beds when they went through the monster in the closet or under my bed phase.

You know, I also made sure we prayed every night before bed and I taught them the 23rd Psalm. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want ... even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO EVIL for YOU are with me and your rod and your staff comfort me ..." I also explained that there were angels on each corner of their bed and even one above and below the bed and that God makes sure they are safe when they sleep.

I think that was the best comfort tool of the two I used.

Put the mattress and box springs right on the floor, take away the bed frame. That way there is no more under the bed. Have her in the room when you put the mattress on the floor and she will see there is nothing under the mattress.
If you watch TV or movies keep her away from shows that might have make believe characters that could become scary at night. Example: The dragons on "Dragon Tales" - Some of the Characters on "Sesame Street" could be scary if thought about at night. Soon of the Disney Characters could be also.

If she does not have a night light you could get one. Or a touch table lamp, that turns on when you touch it, no switches.

Hope this helps....

When my daughter was in pre-school she went through this. Her teacher suggested making monster spray. We used a spray bottle and she helped me mix up water and spices. We then sprayed her room every night before we went to bed. She had a water bed, so there wasn't really an "under the bed", just behind it and in the closet. After a little while of doing this every night she was no longer afraid.

M. King, Gandma to four.

Our children's beds sit directly on the floor. Box spring and matteress I mean. We did this for safety reasons and to eliminate clutter under beds. There is also no space under there for a monster to hide ;) You might consider doing this to eliminate the fears and find the peace again.

When my oldest son was very young, we "bought" some monster spray that he could keep by him in bed. (Plain water in any spray bottle.) We would spray around the room at bedtime, and leave the bottle next to his bed, or next to his pillow once we could trust that he wouldn't open it and spill. Just knowing that it was there must have been enough comfort, because this phase didn't last too long for him.
Let me say that we did always stress that monsters were not real, they did not exist. However, being a young boy with a VERY active imagination, he just could not accept that monsters were not real; he knew they were real, they just didn't like mommies and daddies, so we could never see them!!
He has just turned seven and still has great explanations for things.

When he had bad dreams, I gave him a very small blanket that my great-grandmother had made for me as an infant. I told him it was my old "dream blankie" and that it kept all the bad dreams away. He just has to snuggle it. The blanket is like no other we have ever seen and he and my 4 year-old son still use it every now and then to keep the bad dreams away. If they do wake up with a bad dream, it's because they have dropped the blanket in their sleep. I hand it back and snuggle them right back to sleep in less than a minute.

Hope these tricks give you some creative ideas to use with your daughter. She may just need to know that there is something she can do to keep the monsters away, besides calling for you. Good Luck!!

If it were me, I would open a dialogue to find out where the fear is coming from. ask her to describe the monster, ask her where she saw it and ask her what she thinks he's going to do. That way you can at least figure out where the monster is coming from... (TV, a book, halloween display?)

I have always tried not to let my kids believe that monsters were real in the first place. by using the spray, and the other tricks, we are telling them there IS something to fear. I have used this a couple times and not to say it didnt work, but in the end the fears kept coming back. I have tried to just convince my kids that I am their protector and would never ever let anything bad happen to them. If that means I have to sit in their room and show them the shadow is just a shadow and not being cast by a monster then so be it. I armed them with a flash light at night so they can quickly turn on a light and see whats so scary and it turned out, it was nothing.

If TV is the culprit, try to find a scary movie with a 'monster' in it and show her the 'making of' portion of the DVD - if she see's the person getting make up put on and transformed into a 'monster', she may not be so scared. this worked for my kids... i would tell them, it's just a guy in a suit playing pretend in front of a camera... some people like to be scared at the movies and that's why they do it, but it's not real.

Of course, every kid is different and ultimately you have to do what works for your little princess because in the end, that's all that matters :)

Good luck to you. It's so hard to see them so completely frightened.

We did the all under the bed monsters are afraid of the light. We decorated a flashlight for Samantha to shine under the bed when needed. It worked great.

For my son he has to have a night light.

Good luck on your adventure!

I used to be scared of the dark and of night-time shadows when I was little. I used to also have bad night terrors. My mom would often tell me that they were good angels protecting me and I should talk to them and ask them to help me when I was scared. It really worked for me....and my friend has now used this same tactic with her 3 year old- which has also worked.
Good luck