Anyone out there with a 3 year old still not sleeping all night?

[BlackCatTryingToFly]

Just wondered if there were others with 3 year old's who disturb in the night?
If I'm lucky it will only be once a night but last night it was four times .
I think I haven't had many full nights sleep in the last 3 years and feel like I'm on the edge of going crazy!

You have my sympathies! My 3 year old will not sleep all night in her own bed, but if we sleep together in the spare double bed, she's fine. So guess what I've been doing.......

She was determined to sleep in her own bed again last night (after months and months) but at 3.30 she wanted me to come into her bed.

She really wants to sleep in her bed, but feels frightened. She was just crying softly at 3.30, (but it still woke me up). We have to work on some comforters, so far nothing's worked.

Do you think your dc is scared, wants comfort? Maybe you can work on something to comfort her like a night light or teddy?

A reward chart worked for 2 nights for us, maybe that could work?

Good luck, I know how awful it is not getting a good night's sleep.

You have my sympathy, BlackCat - my 3-year-old has never been a good sleeper and at the moment she's in a phase of waking up every night, often multiple times. Last night it was three, over the course of two hours, so just as I was finally drifting off each time, she came trotting in again. It's driving me insane, and I have no idea why she does it. I don't think she has, either, since I've asked her and although she's pretty articulate, she just doesn't have an answer. I wish I had some advice, but I can only offer lots of sympathy. I know they'll grow out of it, just don't know when...

Oh Black Cat I really feel for you I do and surprised that there are not hundreds of comments on here already!

It is hard and I'm sure you are on the edge, there is nothing worse than broken sleep. I feel like this everyday. I can't finish a sentence for myself am getting so forgetful its now really upsetting me and well i just find it hard getting through the day sometimes.

I think we stop sharing these problems once they are out of the baby stage and it's a bit of a taboo to talk about it. But surprising how many toddlers do have irregular sleep patterns.

If its not possible for family/ grandparents to have a sleepover so you can have a rest then use the weekends to have duvet days and just chill out on the sofa watching movies.

Otherwise I could suggest a hot bath before bed and a soft massage with lavender oil and put a few drops on the pillow.

I hope that the sleepless nights will pass soon for you

Me! He's always been a bad sleeper, only recently got him settling himself on a regular basis, usually wakes two, sometimes three times a night, and then he's up for the day at 5am...
I just have to think about getting to bed myself and he's awake and it takes an hour to get him back to sleep. He is a screamer too, so we have no option to let him up or he wakes the whole house.
Thankfully DH does the early mornings, but we can't go on like this as we ate bad tempered and shout all the bloody time :(

I feel your pain :(

My dd is four in august, and she still does not sleep through,

Here...

Dd will occasionally stay asleep all night, for a few nights in a row, but generally she is up at least once. Recently it has been more as she has had a bad cough, which woke her on several occasions.

She also like to sleep in with us, something that now needs to stop & so in the last few weeks I have been bribing her to stay in her bed. A cheapie shop locally sells big interactive Chuggington trains for $5, so I am using those as her reward. She did well for 3 weeks, got this cough & now we need to start again, but she seems to be slipping back into her new pattern (wake for a few mins, but back to sleep in her bed)

I don't think she is scared, she never mentions it..just that she wants cuddles. But I am going to be getting a her a night light as she say it is too dark now.

My ds didn't sleep through regularly at 3. I think he did sometimes - it's hard to remember exactly but I think he was waking every night at 2.5, and gradually reduced that until by 4 he was sleeping through the vast majority of the time.

He is nearly six now and almost never wakes in the night (as long as you don't call 5.45am 'the night'!). Hope that is somewhat reassuring. You have my sympathy.

I am going through the same thing. I have a newborn, just 2 weeks old, and he is less of a problem at night than 3 year old DS. Like others have said, he doesn't seem to have any reason for not wanting to be in his own bed, he would just prefer to be in the bed with me, but as I'm up half the night feeding DS2, he doesn't get any sleep when in with me. He has gone through phases of sleeping through till past 7, but not for a while now. Maybe he is feeling unsettled due to DS2's arrival, though he has been as good as gold around him, not showing any signs of jealousy at all. I am now thinking about putting the bars back up on his cot, just in the short term, until he gets the message that he needs to stay in bed all night. Have tried various bribes - e.g you'll get x, y, z if you can stay in bed all night. That hasn't worked. He has a gro clock. That worked for a while, but now he just ignores it. He fully understands the concept of night time and daytime. He has blackout linings on his curtains, so the room is fairly dark. His waking times are random - last night it was midnight, 2am and 5 am. Am knackered. Good to know I'm not the only one though and words of hope from alarkaspree, hopefully he will grow out of this soon enough. It's very annoying at the moment though!