My three and a half year old is struggling with sleep. Which means we are all struggling.
Bedtime is at 7 (baby goes down around the same time). It’s a coin toss on if he goes down nicely or if it’s a battle royale for hours.
Baby wakes for a feed around 3am and is usually back in his cot by 4am.
3year old consistently wakes between 4.30 and 5am. Nothing obvious is waking him. No noises. It’s not cold. The heating isn’t coming on. No noise from next door. He absolutely will not go back to sleep. He will get back into bed if one of us stays in his room but will keep himself awake. And he is shattered. His eye bags could hold a family shop. His behaviour is horrific. And it means I’m essentially up from 3am every day.
we have tried a nap (improved his behaviour in the day and the eye bags but made bedtime worse). We’ve tried no nap but earlier bedtime (just longer mucking about for the most part).
We have a good routine - dinner, bath, stories, bed. He’s never been a good sleeper (basically didn’t sleep through ever until after 18 months) unlike the baby who popped out one of those magical sleeping children - so I think it’s less us more he just needs more support.
But how?