Sleep deprivation in 3.5 year old - affecting behaviour...

[Ieatmypeaswithhoney]

My son is just over 3.5. He has always been an early riser but in the last few months this has gone from 5.30 back to more like 4 / 4.30. We have a Gro Clock, and this keeps him in his room but once he has woken up in the morning there is just no getting him back to sleep. I had hoped that starting pre-school would have tired him out sufficiently to make him sleep a bit longer, but at the moment he is just getting worse.

It affects his behaviour massively - we have started down the route of getting him assessed for possible SEN but I suspect a lot of his issues are caused, or at least made worse, by the lack of sleep.

He goes to sleep fine (he's exhausted!) and generally doesn't wake in the night, or if he does, he comes to me and I take him straight back to bed and he goes back off again. It is not light-related, because its dark in the mornings now, and it is not connected to any noises etc.

He is still in nappies at night - I am trying lifting him for a wee in the middle of the night in case he wakes because he has a full bladder, but so far no change.

I am considering using a sleep clinic / specialist (Millpond etc.).

Has anyone else had a similar experience and managed to crack it? Any help would be much appreciated. Am also going to post in Sleep.

I would say he is overtired? Does he nap? If not I would try trying a nap again for a while.

Wht do you do at 4am when he wakes? Can you not at 3 just tell him it's time to sleep. No tv/ fun games etc, only him looking at some books alone quietly until he gets bored and goes back to sleep.

Treat anything before 7am as night

He is definitely overtirred! He will only nap if he is literally at dropping point, which tends to happen towards the end of the week, or if he falls asleep in the car, which often happens at the weekends when we tend to drive to places.

When he wakes, I hear him turn his light on, so I get up, turn it off and tuck him back in. He generally gets straight back up again once I have left the room. I have tried lying in bed with him, cuddling etc., but once he's awake that seems to be it - once he has had a chunk of sleep he very quickly goes from asleep to 100% awake (as do I). I usually give up on lying with him at 5.30, then leave him to look at books / play on his own in his room till 6.30, when his Gro Clock sun comes up.

I am considering taking the light bulbs out of his lights and taking all toys out of his room, although I suspect that will just lead to him coming into us repeatedly....

I would try taking all toys out of room tbh. Only leave him with ' boring' things like books and teddies that he can't really get overexcited by.

Have you tried ' quiet time'. Ie after lunch he Goes into bed/ on sofa and either tries to nap, looks at books himself or lays and listens to a story tape. Start with 20 mins and try and increase to 1 hr eventually, so at least he has time to wind down and relax.

This rings huge big bells with me. My 3.3 yo wakes around 5 most mornings and its getting really problematic. I also have a 7 mo and anytime from 3am onward they are likely to wake and disturb each other and getting them back is a nightmare. The poor boy's days are just too long, even if he goes to bed at 6.30. I feel so sorry for him and so frustrated as it has a massive impact on the rest of the day for the whole family.

I am seriously considering 'waking to sleep' with my son. Have you heard of this? I don't have time to go into detail now (bf baby to sleep!!) but will come back later

I have the opposite problem, my 3yo won't go to bed. She hates her bed/bedroom. We are going o move the kids around so the 2 girls go into the largest room together (currently DS's room) but DH wants to decorate and we need to cull the kids junk before swapping them about.

So far I have done DS's clothes last weekend and DD1 this weekend. DD2 planned for next weekend, plus trip to charity shop (did one run last Saturday). Also need to get the changing unit cleared so that can go in the loft until the girls room is ready for DD1 to use as a desk.

I could have written your post except my ds is 4 and we've been looking at potential sen for a couple of years. It is bloody relentlous the early waking and nothing I have ever done has made any difference! People always say "it's winter it's darker he'll sleep later", no he is worse in the winter he's been awake between 4.30 and 5.20 for weeks now and never goes later than 5.50.

It's a difficult one because he just cannot go back to sleep when he's woken up but these days he tries so hard to be good and I put on a calming audio cd and he will at least lie in his bed until 5.50. But neither of us go back to sleep as he calls me every 10 mins or so.

Now I am convinced its because of whatever his underlying sen is that he has sleep troubles. It massively affects his behaviour though too but he will still nap at lunch time for 20 mins. But he is exhausted before lunch