3yo up hourly, and has dropped his nap - HELP!

[KvetnutsRoastingOnAnOpenFire]

he goes to bed at between 6+7 every night, same routine for best part of a year now - story, cuddle, bed, and he goes to sleep on his own. We were assured by everyone that once he could self settle, he'd sleep through. HA fucking HA.

he will occasionally do a week or two of 8-10 hour sleeps, but by and large will be up between 9+11pm, then hourly. Bribery to get him just to stay in his room doesn't work btw. gro clock is seen as a distraction (he came through 3 times last night to tell us it was still blue, and that the buttons weren't making it yellow (we lock it!).

Every single time he gets up, he is returned to his bed. Without fail. for a year now.

short of sedatives, is there anything that has worked for other people?

(or recommend some sedation?!)

In our case? Stairgates and shouting.

Lots of shouting. Threats to remove beloved toys if he dared get out of bed again. But we have a reasonably plyable child - if you have one of those that just doesn't respond to threats/bribes/shouting then could one of you sleep on his floor for a few nights to try and break him out of the habit?

been there done that...

I actually broke one of his toys one night he was just being so fucking awful I threw it at the wall and it smashed. I was lucky I didn't throw it at him that night actually.

we have slept in his room before, and DH slept in his bed with him one night - still up hourly.

then he does a stretch of good sleeps, and we dare to think he's cracked it, and will sleep from now on - then back to square one.

Try turning the heating down in his room and adding an extra, heavy duvet.( so he has 2 duvets) Extra weight might help if it's sensory. Bit like a weighted blanket but much cheaper :-D

aww :(
Don't feel too bad - I've done similar.. sleep deprivation does horrible things to you.

Is there any pattern at all to his wakings, or when he goes through the spates of night wakings?

Does he have all his teeth? When DS was doing this we had a 3 wake-up rule. If he woke 3 times before midnight he'd get a dose of neurofen - it usually did the trick! The times we didn't he would be up all night.

I wonder if they get growing pains at this age... not enough to make them cry out in pain, but enough to disturb their sleep

(disclaimer - I am not advocating dosing with drugs every time he wakes, before someone jumps on me for that - just trying it)

he flings his duvet and blankets off, and there is no heating overnight - but I might try a heavier blanket. And yes, he may be getting cold, but sleeping bags also get fought with, so no win there.

he does have his teeth now - we did blame them a lot though! I have thought it might be growing pains, but we can't drug him every night, no matter how much we'd love to!! he has had ear infection in the past (those were fun, then he woke every 45 minutes if he bothered to sleep at all).

HV says he'll grow out of it, GP says it's not really a sleep problem if he can sleep through, so it's behavioural, and we need to see the HV.

sorry i'm so pessimistic - I have started this thread so many times since he was born!

Maybe he just doesn't need that much sleep. My DS who is nearly 5 and at reception still goes till about 9 before he sleeps. Last night till nearly 10! He wakes at between 7.30-8. When he goes down he's down like a log. So I know he's really tired. Good luck.

he does need some sleep though! and if we keep him up past 7, he just doesn't sleep.

he is so utterly hideous in the day just now, as he is so tired, it's impacting us all :(

Of you think he may be cold because he throws covers off, do you think he'd tolerate a fleece onesie on top of his pjs? Hope you find something that works.

Bumping this thread! I have a 2 year old who is just like this

oh poor you Laure.

My 'darling' son started sleeping 12 hour nights after I posted this thread - we did nothing different though hope it works the same magic on your DC!

Oh I do hope so! I'm cracking up!