sleep troubles

beenbizzy

Our 3 year old has no trouble falling asleep at night.  The trouble is STAYING asleep.  She usually is asleep by 8:30PM and wakes between 12:30 and 1:30AM.  Sometimes she goes potty, sometimes not.  Regardless, she ends up at the side of my bed. :-( I take her back into her bedroom and she crawls right into bed and goes back to sleep.  No fussing.  But on the worst of nights, she wakes again and again.  Never has trouble going back to sleep but just wakes and comes into our bedroom.  We've told her over and over if she wakes up to roll over and close her eyes, that she doesn't need to come tell us.  

This has been going on since Christmas.  I've played around with naps vs. no naps and the no nap days usually mean more waking; nap days less waking but always once.  She has probably only had 20 no-wake nights since Christmas.  She's been potty trained for over a year.  Doesn't usually wake to go potty and stays dry all night.  It's not sleep walking, we can have a coherent conversation and her eyes are open.  In the morning, she's very aware of whether she stayed in her bed or not.  

Any advice?  

TiffanyBerry

It's NORMAL for people to wake up in the middle of the night.  Adults or children.  The question is how they get back to sleep.  It's *not* in any way unusual for a 3 year old to have more difficulty going back to sleep without their parents, either.

So, the question is, what is going to meet the needs of the people in the house collectively.

Can she come into your room and sleep in your bed for the remainder of the night and everyone sleeps well enough?

Can she come into your room and sleep on a mattress on your floor for the remainder of the night and everyone sleeps well enough?

Can she call you over a monitor and you come tuck her in when she needs it, but she has to stay in her room?

Can she call you over the monitor for one tuck in but she has to stay in her room, and after that, you talk to her (via a two way monitor) and tell her she needs to go back to sleep on her own?

Have you talked to her about why she comes to your room?  About what things make it harder for her to go back to sleep?  About what things she might suggest in order to reach whatever goal you have for the present time regarding this behavior?

beenbizzy

Thank you TiffanyBerry!  I worry the most about the lack of good sleep she is getting because she is waking so much.  I've thought about the sleep on the floor in our room scenario, or in bed with us, but I'm not wild about eventually breaking another habit.  

I like the idea of giving her a something to do when she wakes up. 

TiffanyBerry

Eh... life is a series of habits.  Diapers were a habit for a while before the kiddos potty trained. :P  I wouldn't worry too much about "habits".  (My daughter has always had a horrid time sleeping.  We use whatever habit/crutch/tool/bandaid we find works to get the family sleep.)