3 year old who wakes every two hours during the night...HELP!!!!

[mumtomiaandjas]

Hi,
me and my husband are suffering sleep deprevation.... again!!!
This is not due to our newborn not sleeping, this is due to our 3 year old daughter not sleeping!!!!
She doesnt sleep during the day, is excessively active, and goes to bed at a reasonable time, yet wakes up after about 5 hours, then every two.
Its like having a newborn all over again, and we are shattered, and our poor eldest is also, and she has school in the mornings!
The 3 year old shows no signs of tidness in the slightest, yes she may sit an watch a bit of tv quietly during the day, but very rarely has a nap.
She eats well, is healthy, but just seems to manage on thin air!!
Does anyone else have or has had this problem with their toddler, and if so is there something you can recommend?
Thanks for reading :)

I had this between the ages of 2 and 3, it improved significantly when he turned 3 though. The main things that helped were reasoning and bribery. I explained how unhappy it was making us. We started a reward chart for things that he really wanted and he got chocolate first thing in the morning if he slept well. I told him unless there was a specific problem (ie. can't find his bear, unwell etc), he mustn't call us. So he still woke up because we do all wake at night, but settled back to sleep himself. He is now 4 and really good at night. Thank goodness because I do have a newborn!

lol bless him, yeah im thinking of going down the bribery route tbh!!
She is very strong willed, and has a beastly attitude and temper at 3!!
Mainly the things she says she gets from her sister, who really isnt very nice to her sometimes, calls her names and whispers things and so she thinks this is alright, when it is not!!
Our eldset is 9, and we think we left it far to long to have another child , as they really dnt get on :(
So ontop of lack of sleep, we have to contend with arguments also :(
Oh the joys of being a parent hey? :)

God that sounds grim, what do you do when she wakes up? Does she have nightmares?

Sounds like you need to encouage some bridge building between the 9yr old and 3 yo as it maybe part of the problem esp if its making her feel anxious.

Hi girliefirend,
yeah it not nice them fighting, as both of them are really lovely girls.
I think it stems from us having our eldest and then 6 years later the youngest is born and things changed and the eldest isnt no 1 anymore!! Jealousy!
No no nightmares, just awake comes into us wanting milk, then goes back to bed, then wakes again and it goes on and on :(
The youngest is a tough cookie tho so she certainly is not anxious at all, its the eldest whos the worry wart :(
Just feel like its only us suffering :(

Do give her milk? I would stop that and keep any interaction other than 'its night time back to bed sweetie' to a mimimum.

Also reward chart, a sticker for every night she stays in bed all night and 5 stickers = a small reward type thing. Hope it improves soon.

yes it does sound like the problem my stem from relationship with her sister. Trying to exert her 'control' on family through the little ways she can?