Tired 3 year old - any ideas?

[bangersmashandbeans]

My DD is 3.3 yrs old and dropped her daytime nap probably coming up to a year ago and has always been fine with this. She sleeps 7ish till 6ish with normally one short wake up for a lost teddy or covers at some point during the night. Recently she just seems to be exhausted all the time though. Very tearful and clumsy with it. She has recently started pre-school four mornings a week so I know that has an effect but it seems to be getting worse not better. I can't give her a daytime sleep as it hugely impacts on her nighttime sleep so other than giving me an easier afternoon is counter productive. Does anyone have any ideas on why this might be happening and any tips to give her more energy? Maybe ideas about diet? Thanks

I take my dd1 3.6 for a spin in the car after preschool to give her the opportunity to snooze. I only let her have 10-15 mins so it doesn't affect bedtime but is enough to recharge her

You may need to move bedtime earlier for her to catch up. My 2.5yo goes to nursery 2days per week and is shattered afterwards. She goes o bed earlier those days.

My DS1 was exactly the same when he started pre school. What worked for us was getting him to have a nap a couple of times a week - this didn't affect his night time sleep as long as he didn't nap everyday. While he was adjusting to pre school we also had very chilled afternoons that often involved 'down time' where he just watched a movie or something. Maybe you could consider reducing her days at preschool so that she adjusts more gradually? Instead of 4 mornings just do 3 and if possible not on consecutive days? My DS1&2 also get very crochetty when they're about to have a growth spurt so maybe that's the culprit?

My DS was v similar at the same age - looked peaky and exhausted. I ended up taking him to the drs for blood tests but nothing showed up and he just grew out of it. Hope it is the same for your DD but a trip to the G P might be a good idea.

Don't discount just how much preschool wears them out!! It's knackerinf for them.

Thanks everyone. I did wonder about a growth spurt too as she's permanently hungry. I think I'm possibly cramming too much into our week because I don't like to be stuck indoors much (have 3 month old DS). Mondays she is at pre school 9-1 then swimming lessons at 4; Tuesdays is the only non pre school day so we usually do a day trip somewhere; Wednesday pre school then play date, Thursday pre school then gymnastics; Friday pre school then melt down!!!

You can have trips to the library - gets you out but not too energetic? I did find though that ds needed a day at home doing nothing to recharge.

We?ve just had to accept that ours (2Y 8M)is often v tired at weekends (Fri-Sun) - i work 4 days a week sop she is in childare and out at playgroups 4 days a week, and so we often do not go out, or just have a short park visit as she needs long naps at weekends but often wont settle ? if she doesn?t have a nap she gets very, very cranky and needs 100% attention which is tiring for everyone. Quiet activities like crafts and reading are nice and not energetic. Often jigsaws are good too though if they are too hard she gets frustrated as her concentration starts to wane with tiredness. I think you have to accept that if they are tired you cant do much, no matter what big plans you might have made. Just go with the flow - do quiet activities at home, baking, crafts, puzzles and reading etc if she does not feel like going out. Maybe add some outdoor play in the garden if you need some fresh air. Also agree that a trip to library less tiring (for everyone) then trip to park/running around.

Can she sleep later at weekends to "catch up" on sleep? Ours can if she doesnt hear us up and about she will go back to sleep for an hour or two and snooze till 8am+ on weekends but in the week we are up at 6 for going out at 7. She also has blackout curtains in summer (as do we) which help let you sleep later.

She wakes early irrelevant of the day. I guess she's had some big changes in the last few months - arrival of baby brother in Feb and pre-school starting in April - so maybe it's just a case of her needing to adjust. I agree I do need to have more down time with her - the difficulty is that my 3 month old doesn't nap brilliantly at home so it's hard to focus on DD.
I let her have a proper nap today, about 45 mins, and we're pushing bedtime back to 7.30-45 so will see if it makes any difference (will do the same every day this week as far as possible)

My nearly 3yo has been falling asleep every Friday on the way back from preschool/nursery and doesn't wake up at all, will sleep from 5pm to 6am straight out. He gets 2 bottles (!!!) of milk in his sleep and he wakes up happy!
No afternoon naps, plus 4 days of 7 hours each at nursery exhaust him. I am now planning to move dinner to 5.30 and bath story bed to 6, just to see if that works.
He does sleep for 4 hours each afternoon on sat, sun, mon and again at 8pm-6am at night.

Your pre-schooler has 4 hour naps and still has bottles of milk??!!

Yes he loves his milk and spends far too much time messing around in the morning with it to be given a glass! He drinks juice, water, shakes and smoothies from a glass/cup. But not milk.
4 hour naps - bliss on a weekend. We all eat an early lunch and shut down