Separation Anxiety at Night

Most young children are plague with the idea that their parents will leave them and will never come back. When you notice that your children cry whenever you leave the room without saying goodbye or when they refuse to sleep without you beside them, your children might be having separation anxiety at night.

Separation anxiety happens whenever children feel less secure that you are staying with them forever. Sometimes children who were already able to fall asleep suddenly wake up in the middle of the night crying and looking for you. The best way to alleviate separation anxiety at night is to spend more time cuddling and comforting your children to make them feel more secure especially when they are afraid. Children need to be reassured all the time however irrational their fears are.

To help them cope up with separation anxiety at night, always tell them why you are going to leave them, where you are going and when you are going to come back. Never ever lie to them. Come back when you say so. That way, they will get used to you leaving them and returning which will lessen their anxiety.

Whenever you leave, make sure that they are already comfortable and well-fed. Never leave them when they are upset or it would only be aggravated. Worse, they will associate upsetting emotions to the fact that you are leaving.

However, lingering in your children’s room during bedtime more than you should does not help them deal with separation anxiety at night. Doing so is only as if you are tolerating their fears. Do not prolong your goodnight moments. Leave the room as soon as they are distracted with a toy or a thought.

More information about Anxiety Treatment | Back to Separation Anxiety Disorder.