Joanna Fortune: My child is haunted by a nightmare 

"Nightmares can happen at any age but seem to be especially common between ages eight and ten. They tend to occur in the second half of the night, and if woken, some children will struggle to get back to sleep."

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A year ago, my nine-year-old had a bad dream. In the dream, she was in the hall and stairs area of our house, and a scary character teased and stopped her on the stairs. Now she’s afraid to go out to the hallway or upstairs or into dark rooms on her own. What would you suggest?

Nightmares are not unusual in childhood and it is common for children to have bad dreams about things like: