Should I Worry About My Son’s Nightmares & Strange Dreams?

This post is part of a series where our team of child mental health professionals answer real questions submitted by readers like you. This post deals with topics related to nightmares and night terrors. Please take care when reading.

We recently received a question from a mom worried about her son’s dreams and nightmares. Below is the question, and a response from our child mental health experts:

“My 4-year-old has nightmares or strange dreams almost every day. For example, he dreamt of himself watching his favorite YouTube videos when suddenly he saw two frogs, and then their legs got separated from their bodies. After strange dreams like this, he sometimes wakes up crying. What should I do?”

- Y., Hong Kong

Thank you for your question.

Young children, around the age of yours, have common fears about their bodies and the integrity of their bodies, so this type of dream is not abnormal at all.

If anything, the dreams represent very common fears; for example, he is too young to understand how the body holds itself together and is afraid he could lose parts of it.

He is probably crying because the dream was scary. I recommend reassuring him and telling him that he is not like the frogs in his dream and that his legs will not separate from his body. That does not happen.

I would also make sure that his favorite YouTube videos do not have scary content.

If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Little Otter.

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