6-year-old sudden sleep & anxiety problems

[mintybray]

My 6-year-old son has always been a great sleeper with a good bedtime routine - never had any problems with getting to sleep or staying asleep.  He's a very happy, confident boy.  However he saw a road safety advert on TV a few weeks ago and since then has been really anxious.  

He doesn't like being upstairs or downstairs on his own even during the day but at nighttime he is having huge problems with sleep.  He won't go to bed without one of us staying upstairs (or in his room) until he falls asleep and is waking numerous times in the night, extremely upset and worried about being alone.  The first few nights we allowed him into our bed thinking it was just a short phase (we have never co-slept in the past).  Now I am going into his bed to soothe him each time and reassure him but I don't want to make a habit of it. It's really hard to know what to do because if I try 'tough love' he gets more and more het up and anxious.  He keeps talking about the advert (no longer watching TV) but I feel it's maybe running deeper than that now.  

I've thought about putting a CD player in his room with stories to help him sleep, but again don't want to start bad habits when he's always slept so well.  We've started leaving the landing light on, and leaving our bedroom door open so he knows we're close by but it's not making any difference.  I'd like my happy-go-lucky worry-free little boy back!! What shall I do?

[KitKatLover]

My daghter is 11 and say a show called lost tapes and it was about vampires so now she thinks she has one in her closet she now hates the dark and she won't sleep in a room unless she can see it with light or she needs Someone to be awake or she won't sleep I'm worried and she saw that show when she was about 9.5 that's about one and a half years what should I do?

[KitKatLover]

My daghter is 11 and say a show called lost tapes and it was about vampires so now she thinks she has one in her closet she now hates the dark and she won't sleep in a room unless she can see it with light or she needs Someone to be awake or she won't sleep I'm worried and she saw that show when she was about 9.5 that's about one and a half years what should I do?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

This will take some time. It is not useful to develop the habit of his getting in bed with you, nor is it useful to lie down with him. Your idea of the story CD's is fine - if that helps him fall asleep, it's perfectly fine.