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Toddlers: 24 Months+
dimondwind
member
Desperately need sleep help for 3yo
dimondwind
member
My three-year old has started to wake up 1-2x per night with various requests?he wants his blankets back on, he dropped his stuffed animal, he needs to blow his nose, etc. He?s not waking up and calmly calling for me either, he?s waking up screaming and crying. How do I encourage him to just go back to sleep when he wakes up? I also have a 3 month old and between the two of them and working, I?m about to lose it.
I don?t feel that letting him CIO is the answer either. Any suggestions for a poor tired mom?
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Re: Desperately need sleep help for 3yo
I am sooo sorry! I've never been through this with 2 kids, but my DS went through this when he was about 2 1/2 and it was awful.
Anyway, I keep a water/juice mix in my son's bed for when he wakes up at night. He's like me and DH and has bad allergies and wakes up with a dry mouth, so I do leave him something to drink. He has a small pillow "po po" that has to be in his bed and one of those puppies that light up and stars go on the ceiling. When he wakes up, as long as he has those, he puts himself back to sleep.
Good luck
My 3yo son did the same thing about 4 or 5 months ago. He previously slept 12 hours a night and then suddenly started crying out a couple times a night. We, also, had a baby! We did a lot to see if anything help. We gave him extra stuffed animals to sleep with, turned his blanket sideways and tucked it underneath his bed, so he couldn't kick it off, and various other things. But nothing seemed to helped. My sister said it was just a growth spurt and he would grow out of it. I wasn't so sure, but about a month later, he started sleeping through the night agian all on his own. Hopeful it'll be the same for you and he'll start sleeping agian soon. Sorry I don't have much advice, just a similar experience!
Thanks for this...I think I'm just going to have to power through this stage, but boy is it hard!! It helps to know that other people are experiencing the same thing.
I'm a mean mommy. I would lock him in his room & not respond to him requests. You are creating a bad habit for him. He will continue to do it as long as he gets away with it. Kids are smart & will manipulate!
Ditto...we did sleep training on our son at 4 1/2 months. Not full blown CIO, but Dr. Feber's method. Worked great and still does. I agree with this statement.
Mom to Carter (6), and Calianne (1).
Proud VBAC, natural birth, breastfeeding, cloth diapering momma!
I think it sounds like he is manipulating you. The blanket and the tissue I can understand, but obviously he can pretty easily pick up his stuffed animal by himself. I think you can come up with some creative solutions to the legit requests. DD1 got a cold and would wake up crying for a tissue. My solution was to take an empty tissue box and put 3-4 tissues in it. Then she had a tissue if she needed it, but I didn't have to worry about a whole box of tissues shredded all over her room. However these solutions should happen at bedtime, the he should be told that it is time for sleep and that you will see him in the morning. Sometimes you just have to be the bad guy for everyone's sanity.