3y 8m sleep-is this normal???

[grainmum]

So my DS who is 3y 8m old sleeps "through the night" on average 2-3 nights per week. We have defined this as not calling /crying for us between midnight and when the alarms go off - 6.10am during the week. He doesn't nap, goes outside most days, we praise him when he does sleep all night. Any suggestions?

[FATEdestiny]

That's not normal.

What happens at bedtime and what do you do during any wake ups?

[grainmum]

Thanks for replying. Bedtime on the whole is OK- bath, stories and glass of milk, into bed. Since new single bed and few weeks ago there has been a bit more in the way of delay tactics e. g. Another song, another drink, lie with me for 2 minutes. Wake ups are usually short lived - will respond to just being told to lie down again, tuck covers in and cuddle/kiss goodnight. We had one magical week of 7 nights in a row in January and we made a big thing of praising when he slept all night. Sadly it was short lived.

[Cinnamon2013]

In that case my son and nephew also not normal - same age, same deal.

[MrsNuckyThompson]

Sounds exhausting. My DS is a similar age and we recently went through a short spell of a similar thing - waking and coming through once or twice a night. Before that he'd been 7.30-6.30 for about 2 years!

In the end, I threw the whole arsenal at it including:

• instant reward when he woke up if he had stayed in bed: 2 x gummy bears before breakfast
  
• big treat at the weekend if he had done the whole week: trip out to one of his fave places or a new toy
  
• turned off the hall light so that he was not tempted to come out into the dark hallway
  
• sprayed his room with 'monster spray' every night before bed
  

This sorted it within a week or two...

[FATEdestiny]

It's praise he's likely to respond best to, since there doesn't seem to be any reason for waking.

How do you feel about bribery?

Some people disagree with using sweet treats to modify behaviour. But what I'd do is offer a biscuit straight away if child stays in bed quietly all night. Immediate rewards work better than sticker charts for toddlers, I find.

Does the child have a comforter? Something he can cuddle up to if s
he wakes in the night?

Have you tried leaving a lamp on for him?

[LiveThroughThis]

I have a non normal ds too!! He has slept through odd weeks before but this bad period is dragging on a bit! Like your ds he goes back off quickly but I think it is night terrors so comfort him and try and get us both back to sleep asap! Sometimes I bring him into bed with me if he's really upset.
My dd was similar and by 4 she reliably slept through and now at 10 I have to force her from her bed for school!
If he's clearly messing you about then set some boundaries like putting him back to bed repeatedly until he gets the message! But if your thinking it could be nightmares just give him some comfort from his mum.
It will pass

[grainmum]

He has a favourite bear that he cuddles. He also has a gro clock which acts like a night lite.

[AreWeThereYet000]

My son is 3yr 6months and it sounds pretty much like his sleep ... he goes 8pm - 6.30/7am with usually 1-2 wake ups through the night. He shouts out for us, we stand at his door and he lays back down and drops off quickly. He has only been sleeping this much for the last few months though - previously it was 5-6 wake ups so your son doesn't sound unusual to me x

[melonribena]

Ds1 was just like this!
I did nothing and when he started school at 4.2, it suddenly clicked

[grainmum]

Thanks for all the reassurance. I am now 10 weeks pregnant with DC2 and was kind of hoping to be able to implement some sort of fix!

[yikesanotherbooboo]

Normal in my house too... also never expected to lie in after 7 am.2/3 DC woke at least nightly before school and fairly regularly until old enough to sort selves out with a drunk or whatever without involving us. I'm fairly sure they continued to wake.

[grainmum]

yikes lying in past 7am is a long distant memory and definitely not part of my expectations!