Pre-schooler who wakes up tired every morning

[mogwai]

Our daughter is 3.6. She was never a good napper as a baby and tried all sorts of tricks to keep herself awake during the day (including pulling at her eyelashes!).

Our childminder was driven beserk by this non-sleeping baby. She spent most of her babyhood tired and grumpy, never smiled and was incredibly hard to be around at times. She would, predictably, sleep for upwards of an hour on a long car journey though would wake up if the car slowed down (which always reminded me of that film "Speed").

On the plus side, she always slept well at night.

She dropped her daytime naps at 2.5 years after we'd struggled (and cried) for the previous twelve months to hold onto them for the sake of our own sanity.

At 3.6 she is now much happier and a joy to spend time with. She's had the same bedtime routine most of her life, including a bath around 6.15pm (after supper), story around 6.45 and into bed at roughly 7pm (by which time she's really flagging).

She goes to bed happily and sleeps well all night, however, she wakes up looking tired (with dark circles under her eyes most days) and by 11am she's getting cranky.

Today she slept for 1 hour 10 mins because we deliberately took her out in her buggy, covered her up and made her close her eyes. She wasn't ready to wake up when we got hme from our walk and would probably have slept for another hour.

We have no idea what time she's actually waking up. She doesn't come to get us until her clock says 7.00 (though we have craftily put it back half an hour) but by 7.30 it's clear she's played with several toys including re-arranging her dolls house, acting out Playmobil scenes etc. On the odd occasion I've found her awake at 4am, nappy off (yes, not dry at night yet), lights on, sitting in her armchair reading a book. I'm a light sleeper so I think it would wake me up if she did this regularly.

My husband is wondering about her tonsils. They are incredibly large and though we don't think she's got tonsilitis, he's wondering whether she might be snoring and waking herself up. We check on her before we go to bed and I don't think she snores excessively during the evening.

Anyone have any experience/thoughts to add? My husband is wondering whether to request her tonsils be taken out. I feel so sorry for her when I drop her off at nursery (3 days per week) with those dark circles under her eyes.

[mogwai]

ought to have added, we've tried putting her to bed at different times. There seems no point putting her to bed later and hoping she sleeps later and (1) she's too tired and (2) it never seems to work.

Also, 7pm is about the earliest we can get through her bedtime routine when I've been to work.

[mrsgboRingOutTheOld]

I think first you should investigate exactly how often she does wake in the night and when she wakes up in the morning.

Can you disable her light switch somehow (tape a yoghurt pot over it or something) so that if she gets up and tries to turn light on she either gives up and goes back to bed or comes to find you.

I think it would be exceedingly rare for tonsils to be an issue here. Far more likely she's getting up early to have a little play.

[Frizbe]

I don't want this to go unanswered, but not sure I can help! Dark circles can be due to different things other than sleep, a friend of mine has had them all of her life (she's a nurse and very healthy) It sounds like it would be worth getting the Dr to check her out re the tonsils though, as they can be a problem when left if they are bothersome.

[Frizbe]

i know sinuses can cause the dark eye thing, so poss tonsils too = kinda linked.

[mogwai]

Thanks for replies so far

Her skin is quite pale. I've always thought the veins in her wrists/neck are incredibly visible so perhaps being pale has something to do with it.

Some days the circles look worse than others.

That's an interesting thought about her lamp, though I wouldn't trust her not to start fiddling with the electrics.....

[Tiggiwinkle]

think it highly unlikely that any doctor would agree to take her tonsils out when she has not been suffering from tonsillitis. They only do so these days when a child has had repeated attacks and then reluctantly in my experience.

Agree that you first need to establish exactly what is going on with her during the night.

[Tiggiwinkle]

Another thought-it might be worth getting the GP to check her iron levels-pale skin/dark circles/tiredness could mean she is anaemic.

[mogwai]

thanks for your replies.

I ought to have said that my husband is a hospital doctor. He doen't think she's anaemic but thinks her tonsils are huge. He's going to ask his ENT colleagues to consider taking them out.

I'm still wondering if it might be something we could change about her routine?