At my wits end!!!!

[crazydazy]

My 3 year old DD has gone from sleeping through to waking up every single night and refusing to go back to sleep without me cuddling him until he goes back off, then when I sneak out he wakes up again and starts to cry. He will then only settle if he is with me in his bed or mine!!!! It is driving me and DP mental!!!!

Any suggestions gratefully received? We can't do the controlled crying as DS shares a room with DD and she needs her sleep for school so don't want to disturb her, plus the fact that if she wakes up and DS has gone into our bed she wants to come in too and I end up with both of them whilst DP sleeps on his own in one of their beds!!!!

Crazy, sorry no advice, but am in exactly the same situation with my DD2 (she's 3 soon). Have had this for at least a year and shows little sign of improvement. We've used a 'happy face' 'sad face' chart and get short bouts of her sleeping through, but the waking inevitably returns.

Will be watching this in case you get any pearls of wisdom....

bump

My DD is now 7 but I remember her going through a period of waking and wanting me to be with her. In the end, I put a mattress in her bedroom and slept on that when she woke so that she had the reassurance that I was there but without being in the same bed. I just used to go back to sleep so I didn't feel too bad either

It went on for a few weeks if I remember correctly but it eventually passed and she went back to sleeping through.

Don't know if that's any good?

A nightmare situation that I have been through. Dont know if this will help at all but here are some suggestions.

1. make sure that he is warn out during the day. Lots of activities to burn all the energy off
2. limit sugar intake
3. Try rewarding as an insentive. Lots of "you are such a big boy sleeping all night, heres a sticker"! I am thinking perhaps the more praise about how good it is to sleep through and what a big boy he is could help

I have a similar problem with controlled crying as we are a terrace house and if ds cries I worry that next door could here. The problem is though that if you get into a routine of passifying him to keep him quiet at night then he might get to expect it and realise 'If I make noise mummy comes running'. Does his crying actually disturb your dd?

Does he have a daytime nap?

I feel for you as I think that disturbed sleep is like a for of torture!

Thanks buzzy and emily for your responses. I wouldn't want to sleep by him because I don't want him to get used to me being there all the time. TBH I love my own bed and sleeping just with DP,we feel it is our time together as we don't get much time on our own!!!!

Yes Emily he always wakes DD up too and then I have both of them to sort out, it really is a nightmare!!!!

Am going to try the controlled crying this week whilst the kids are off school, don't want to do it but more so don't want him to wake up every night.

Thanks again!!!

Yikes, just found this thread and it is identical to my problem. DS slept perfectly until he turned 3. I now have to sit with him until he falls asleep (only 5 mins), he wakes each night and won't settle without me. Sometimes even if he comes into our bed he won't settle for 1-2 hours!

We have a spare bed in his room and sometime I end up sleeping there but he still insists in getting into (single) bed with me. It's driving me wild.

My only thought is that he is over tired, won't sleep during day unless we go out in car.

It is all driving me mad!