3yo sleep issues (and a newborn)-HELP!

wheelenl · February 2010

I usually don't hang out on this board but I know you guys give good advice, and I need some.

DS is 3 1/2; seemingly he gave up his nap. He had trouble falling asleep at night, but if we didn't force him to nap, no trouble, and most nights he slept 11-12 hours straight. But he does have to take a short nap at daycare 2x/week, and when he does, he's always tired and the first to fall asleep.

Anyway, in the last few weeks he has started a new trick of waking up in the middle of the night. At first I thought it was LO (who's 12 weeks) but he even did it the night that LO stayed over at Grandma's. He's also said "thunder," but it will be on nights when there is no storm of any kind.

Last night, he was up and down, up and down, from 1:45 to about 4. He said his wall letters were moving by themselves. We haven't changed anything about his room or anything like that.

Anyone have any suggestions? Last night was terrible. Baby has a cold and was up 3x; and when you add in basically 2 1/2 hours of being up with DS, it makes for a very restless night.

TIA!

Zenya · February 2010

DS went/is going through the same thing. For him there is a robot in his room. Poor child! He just comes into our room and sleeps with us but IDK what I'd do if we didin't do that.

stacynikki · February 2010

I wish I had some advice. DS's sleep issues have been a nightmare since we moved him to his big boy bed last month. He gave up naps on the weekend and since he still takes naps at school he doesn't fall asleep until close to 10 on the weekdays. He wakes up at least once and then wakes up early. I hope this resolves itself before DS2 gets here!

Temp108743750006959 · February 2010

We went through something similar and I think it's pretty normal. They start dreaming and start having fears. Things to try: a dimmer (which you can leave on the lowest setting when you go in his room at night) or a nightlight he picks out.

We also started taking him for 'dream pees' (peeing around 11pm when we went to bed so his bladder didn't wake him).

It took us about 1-2 weeks and we gave him a lot of extra reassurance and sat in a chair by his bed till he went back to bed. The time spent in the chair got shorter and shorter and now he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night. But those weeks were rough! GL.

AnnapolisLari · February 2010

Unfortunately, it's pretty common. DS has scary dinosaurs in his room, or "got lost" and mama couldn't find him. 3 is big for bad dreams and new fears. We just comfort him and tell him it's not time to wake up yet.