Tell me about your three year old's awful sleep (or when it got better!)

[sarahb083]

My 3 year old has never slept well but it's worse than ever lately. She was wide awake last night from 12:30am to 5:30am! She wakes at least once every night.

I don't know anyone else who is still going through this at three - please tell me how awfully your three year old sleeps. Or if they weren't sleeping well at three, when it finally got better!

When he started school.

HTH.

I don't think waking once a night is unusual, but the split night is. Is that regular? Have you checked how much sleep she gets in a 24 hour period? Regular split nights are usually a result of too much sleep - although occasional ones can often be developmental.

Thanks @YouveGotAFastCar - we dropped her nap a few months ago, so she's not getting much sleep at all. Last night she slept 7-12:30 and then 5:30-8:30, so just 8 hours. She does the split nights once or twice a week, normally about 12am-3.

Once she's up for a few minutes in the night, she's wide awake for hours and can't go back to sleep.

Her sleep has always been bad so we gave up and let her come in with us a few months ago, which helped at first but now we're back to awful sleep, plus a kicking toddler! I think we need to get her out of our room, but it's tricky as she often has nightmares.

I have no advice but lots of solidarity as I have a 3-year-old girl with awful sleep too. 10+ wakings last night... I have a friend whose 3-y-o had awful sleep until he started nursery full time, so it's giving me hope that that might be the case for us too...

Would you try melatonin? It might be hormonal/vitamin deficiency causing her trouble? What does HV/GP think?

My DD woke several times a night until 3 and a half.

We bought her her own small double bed (not thinking it would help with that but she needed a new bed) and from that very first night in her new bed she slept through and has done ever since! (She's nearly 5 now)

Thanks all. Bump for more solidarity/suggestions.

Offf that sounds rough! Does adding her nap back help? 3 times a week is brutal.

DS has just turned 2 but is in with me a lot. He slept through for the first time ever this weekend but hasn't done it since. I can't crack his sleep either - although he mostly just wakes every 2 hours and wants to be cuddled back to sleep, he only has a split night every quarter or so.

We heard the nursery thing too, but it didn't help here. If anything, nursery days are worse for us because he's overtired, so tends to wake more. We've even adjusted pick-up time to be 4:30, to see if that helps, but he still doesn't really get enough time to unwind once we're home and have tea and do bedtime.

7-12.30 and 5.30-8.30 means she is in bed 13.5 hours!! You need to put her to bed later and/or get her up earlier. It is insane to let her sleep till 8.30 when she is regularly awake for hours in the night!

@ilovebreadsauce It's only 8 hours of sleep though. She was wide awake chatting for 5 of the hours. She's often exhausted at the end of the day so I'm hesitant to restrict her sleep any further.

When she doesn't have the split nights (which is most nights) she sleeps about 7:30 to 6:30 with one quick wake.

Mine used to pretend to be riding on a train from midnight through to dawn. Was totally black in his room so must have been the underground. It almost killed me but he was perfectly happy. He started sleeping at the end of his first full term at school. You’ll get there eventually…

Dd2 slept through the night at about 1, consistently has done ever since.
dd1 didn’t sleep through until she was 5, she’s now 13 and sleeps excellently! Still doesn’t need much though
ds has just turned 3 and is quite honestly Damien in disguise. He hasn’t slept through the night yet, ever, and despite going to sleep quite nicely at 7, is often up by half 9/10 and in our bed. Wakes about 1/2 for a snack, or full nappy, or just for a chat and a cuddle. Takes about 2 hours to get back to sleep and then we’re up at 6:45

it will get better though, because it has to!

My 5yo still doesn't sleep through - and co sleeps as hates being alone... He does just wake for a wee/milk (health needs)/to cuddle up though, he doesn't stay awake. He started school last year and while still wakes, his morning wake up time has moved from 5ish to closer to 6.30. Which I and his co sleeping 2yo sister (breastfeeding...) appreciate 😅

Thank you - it's genuinely helpful to know it's not just us. No one else I know is struggling still at 3!

Very open to any other tips or suggestions.