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my 3 year old son's sleeping problem

1 reply

mayumi · 01/03/2007 14:54

Hello.

It's about my 3-year old son (3 years and 4 months old precisely). He always used to sleep very well, but suddenly about 3 weeks ago he started to cry and become very unsettled whenever he goes to sleep. Until then, we didn't even need to stay with him until he fell asleep, he sent himself off to sleep on his own. But now, he says he does not want to sleep, and whenever we leave his room he jumps out from his bed crying. We have to stay with him until he falls asleep. That is not a real big problem but then, he does not sleep through the night any more either. He frequently wakes up crying. Last night he woke up at 11pm, 12pm, 1am, 1.30am, 2am, and finally 3am when we finally ended up bringing him into our bedroom to sleep with us. In the middle of the night he starts crying then gets out of bed and asks for me. I then go to his bedroom, then he goes back to his bed himself and goes to sleep (sometime I think he's still half asleep even when he's crying). But sometimes even within 5 minutes since I leave, he gets up again and cries. My husband and I are really tired as we hardly manage to sleep. I do not know what we should do. Is there any way we can get my son to sleep better? He never used to be like this but suddenly he changed. He is a sensitive child by nature and I think he is fragile. He is easily scared of things. We want to avoid sleeping with him but will sleeping together be the only solution? If anyone could give me any sort of advice, it will be really appreciated. Thank you very much.

OP posts:
loopylou6 · 01/03/2007 15:34

hi, it sounds very much like your little boy is suffering with night terrors, my little girl went through something similar only i dont think she was having night terrors she was just being akward, thing i would really avoid though is putting him in your bed, believe me i know how tiring and difficult this can be we had no sleep for 3 nights straight when she was going through this in the end she was so tired she was dillusional, but anyway once u start putting him in wioth u its gonna be verrrrry difficult to get him back in his own bed, i would suggest a fun bedtime routine winding down slowly with a bubble bath and a cozy story, maybe think about investing in one of those ball things that projects stars etc on the ceiling and around the walls, also u need to try to talk to him (as far as his vocabulary will allow anyway) just to find out if theres anything that has upset him, does he go to playschool? maybe hes had an experiance there that has bothered him?

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