Child and Sleep Problems

Question
I'm having some trouble working with a kid who won't sleep by himself.  He is driving his mother crazy!  Any ideas? 

Answer

            Regarding your client's great attachment to mother, seems like it is mother who needs the most help, or she'd see to it that he found a way to sleep alone.  I'm always amazed at people who are encouraged, these days, to take their babies into bed with them; it seems to me that this habit simply ingrains them into never being comfortable sleeping alone.  

         As for the child who doesn’t want to sleep alone:

             (1) You should dialogue, or use ideomotor responses, as to why the child doesn't want to sleep alone. You might be amazed at how many children, due to their awareness of the world and the News, fear being kidnapped from their own homes (and beds).  The child will need to be released from any fear he has before you can convince him that his bed is okay.

        (2)  Once that is done, you could use, as a metaphor, the caterpillar who creates a cocoon so he can feel safe, and what it's like for the caterpillar to become a free butterfly who isn't bound to a particular person or place. 

         (3) You might suggest that mom and dad, with the child, create a paper tree and hang it just outside the child's bedroom door (or purchased a small potted tree).  They can call it the "worry tree." It would have paper leaves upon which the child would either print, draw, or simply say what he's afraid of. If unable to figure out what the fear is about, simply print FEAR on a leaf that he'll then put on the tree.  This would be a nice little project for both parent and child to help him get over his need to sleep with someone. Also, it gives him a sense of power over the situation, because he can DO something about it.  It may not be how an adult would handle it, but with a child’s imagination, it may be enough.