Son refuses to sleep alone after a theft int he house

[Priya7473]

Hi, I have a son who will be 10 years old in November. He has been sleeping alone for the past 4 years until recently. We had a break into the house during the day a couple of months ago. He was fine for 3 weeks after the incident happy to go about as normal. Now he says that he hears noices and voices and refuses to sleep on his own. Both myself and my husband have been taking turns sleeping in his room and reassuring him ... we have secured the house, bought a German Shepherd dog, set up a security alarm for the house. It has been almost a month now and every time either me or my husband tucks him in and tells him that we will be back to check on him he will be at our room door within 2 minutes. We are now hardly getting any sleep and are not sure how to handle this. Please advise or suggest what we can do to help him overcome this.

Desperate mum

[Priya7473]

Hi, thanks for your help. Will try your suggestions and let you know how we went.

[jdtm]

One friend of mine whose daughter suffers from severe anxiety has the family's large dog sleep in the same room as her daughter.  Would this work in your case?

Since you claim your son has only been sleeping alone for the past four years, it does appear he might have some inherited trait of anxiety.  If this not being able to sleep continues, you may require professional help.  Anxiety issues are not the same as an anxiety disorder and if your son was able to function quite well before this event, then I suspect you're dealing with only "issues".  But, that may require professional help (through intervention and/or therapy) to assist him to learn how to deal with these huge fears your son now has (which may disappear on their own or may not).  If so, then contact your family physician and ask for a referral to a mental health specialist with experience in this area (and in working with children re "worries") as a child psychologist or specialized social worker.

Googling the term "anxiety in children" or "fears in children" or similar words/phrases should give more information re this topic.  By the way, anxiety is a very common issue in childen and highly treatable.   I wish you the best ....