Anxious child/nightmares
My son strugges with some anxiety in general but our biggest struggle for him currently is bedtime. He is 4 years old and very curious about the world, loves to learn, has a big imagination, etc. He has developed a fear of “monsters” and of the dark and I am unsure how to navigate. We believe in God and have lots of chats with him about God protecting him at night, God did not create monsters and they are not real, etc. We have tried to show him empathy and understand that he is feeling scared, but he now wants to sleep with a lamp on in the room the entire night and would love if we lay with him until he falls asleep. We are doing some melatonin to help him feel calmer at bedtime, because as soon as we finish our bedtime routine he will begin to get anxious and show signs of anxiety about us leaving the room. I do not want that as a long term solution though and would love any recommendations for natural sleep solutions that helped your anxious child.