I feel like I’m losing my mind.
My 3 year old DD has always been a fantastic sleeper. Could guarantee 7pm-7am unless unwell since 8 weeks old. Since she was 18 months old, we could have a cuddle and a little book then at that time into cot and lights off, say goodnight and she’d be asleep within 5 minutes of putting her down. She now won’t sleep without one of us laying with her cuddling her which can take up to an hour.
For the past 3 weeks, she’s been getting up anytime between 11-3 and getting in with us. We live in a 2 bed, DS who is 1 sleeps in a cot next to my side of the bed, not a large bedroom so is pushed up to the wall then the bed is pushed up to the cot. DH or I end up going and getting into her bed or one of us will just go to sleep on the sofa in living room so we don’t have to be disturbed as she just climbs in and goes to sleep.
DD says she is scared of monsters and the dark. She chose a nightlight that we leave on for her, we’ve gone over and over that monsters aren’t real, we’ve read books on it, we monitor what she watches on TV.
The problem is, DS will make one single noise at around 4:30 in his sleep sometimes when sleepily searching for his dummy then he’ll go back to sleep but then DD is awake and will then proceed to talk loudly, no matter how many times I tell her to whisper not to wake her brother, she’ll keep asking if we can get up, in the end it disturbs DS and I give up and get up with both of them. As a result, she’s grumpy by 10am, her behaviour gets hard to deal with as she’s tired, DS is struggling to stay awake come 5pm at dinner time even after a 2 hour nap and I’m shattered constantly. She struggles with her Mon-Weds at pre school because she’s so tired, she’s become tearful, shouty, not doing as she’s told.
How do I get her sleeping in her bed again? Any tips/tricks?
Then there is the eating, we are down to about 8 things she’ll eat at home, plain pasta, jacket potato and beans, fish fingers corn on the cob smiley faces, sausages and mash, omelette (sometimes). The only fruit she’ll eat is an apple or a banana and she’s tempremental about that. Any veg aside from corn on the cob is an absolute no go. She won’t even try anything, she won’t eat meat other than a few nibbles of a sausage. Breakfast is limited to dry cereal, toast and jam or a croissant. Lunch consists of breadsticks, cheese strings and yoghurts. At nursery she tries more but doesn’t eat a lot. She won’t even eat a sandwich. I’m at my wits end with it. I give her a multivitamin every day but I’m so worried about it and she’s been like it for around 14/15 months now.
We eat normal, home cooked meals, bolognese sauce we do from scratch with blended hidden veg in (courgette, pepper, carrots), same with chilli con carne sauce, we have roasts, we have veg with every dinner, DD sees us eat lots of fruit like kiwis, strawberries, melon etc as well as different veg. She was weaned on all of this, fruit and veg and home cooked meals, just like DS eats but she won’t even entertain it now.
What do I do? She’s not underweight but if she lost any then she would be, she eats like a little bird and it worries the life out of me. Do I take her to drs at this point?!