Sleeping

[Gabby11]

Does anyone have an answer to the age old problem of getting a child to sleep through the night - I have a 3yo DD who has never slept particularly well but the last few months have been v. rough! Sometimes she says there is a dragon/monster in her room but mostly she'll just cry and whimper. We tried the ignoring but she then gets hysterical and it take ages to calm her down, we've tried the water bottle to soothe her back to sleep but this makes the problem worse as she then loses the bottle and wakes up upset because she can't find it - please can anyone help with this! I'm knackered and it's impacting on all parts of family life! :(

Got no advice sorry....my ds 5 mo isnt sleeping well yet. Hope by 3yo he may be though?!?! Fingers tightly crossedHave you tried posting under body and soul/sleep for advice. May be more relevant? Good luck anyway.

Does she have a night-light? My DS used to get upset if he woke in the night and everything was dark. We installed a cheapo IKEA wall-light with a tiny bulb and he was fine.

Perhaps she has nightmares? Being a sufferer myself I know I have to avoid rich foods, caffeine (probably not an issue for a 3yo!), and things like too-exciting TV late in the evening or I have problems.

Is her room very busy or full? Again speaking from personal experience, if you are someone who tends to sleep lightly and has an active imagination, ordinary objects can take on a life of their own. The coat hanging behind the door can morph into 'an intruder' and the slippers on the floor become 'a rat' when you're in that half asleep/half awake state.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice - we'll certainly try a night light - DD does keep talking about monsters and dragons. And maybe I'll cut out that last cup of coffee I've been giving her before bed (joke!!)