Dear All,
I am new to a forum but am desperate for some advice & would value any help. I have a 4 year old who has never been great at sleeping through the night; but over the last 6 months this has got progressively worse.
It started off that she would call out 1 or 2 times a night & settle quickly when I opened the door & told her to go back to sleep.
However, we are now at the stage where she calls out 3 times at bed time, settles, then has been calling out during the night from between 2 times a night to perhaps 2 hourly over night. Needless to say I'm exhausted, getting to work is a night mare.
She does sleep in her own bed, I have a bed time routine consisting of bath, story & bed, taking no more than 20 mins. She is usually in bed by 6.15pm. She doesn't get out of bed. She has never come into our bed & I have never picked her up to cuddle her.
I'm just at a loss as to what to do to break this cycle. I have tried controlled crying, but she just makes herself sick.
I have use reward charts, pennies from the sleep fairy; these last a few days & then the effect wears off. When I ask her about it all, she says she doesn't know why she wakes.
The calling out sounds sleepy to start with, as if she is doing it in the light sleep cycle,but then I think she must wake herself up because her calling just gets louder.
Whenever I read anything like this on forums, it generally seems to be for younger children, or those where there is a new baby, new house, etc. there has been no change in our household since we moved 3 years ago. She has started primary school, full time, but this started a good month before September.
I am desperate for some advice or guidance that perhaps I could try. I would be very grateful for any help.
Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings xx
P.s. My husband is very hands on too, but we've run of ideas!!