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Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

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Original poster

Overtiredness in 5.5 yr old - could Phenergen help ?

64 replies

Norah · 19/05/2006 17:36

My dd seems to be extremely overtired at the moment - but nothing I do seems to make her sleep any longer ! Lie-ins are unheard of in our house !

She is 5.5 - and goes to bed at 7pm each night - she wakes at 5.30 every day and will not go back to sleep ! I have tried keeping her up later - but she becomes very stroppy - just too tired !

We have blackout blinds etc - and the house is very quiet - nothing apart from her own body clock is waking her up from what I can tell !

She no longer falls asleep in the car - so we can't even resort to driving her around !

So - I don't know what to do !

I know she needs to have a really good long sleep - but how can I get her to have one ?

A neighbour has suggested giving her Phenergan to "break the cycle" - has anyone tried this ?

OP posts:

MeAndMyBoy · 23/05/2006 13:32

Well done Norah and Norah's DD - sounds like you had a good night. Fingers crossed for another one tonight and that she feels better for not being so tired.

H x

wishfulthinking · 23/05/2006 14:02

Could someone tell me more about the night time milk please? Very intrigued. My dd (2.2) is an early riser - always has been. Also interested about the protein thread; I'm going to try this immediately!

MeAndMyBoy · 23/05/2006 14:33

It's milk that has added melatonin - the sleep hormone, so helps you get to sleep more easily - I thinkt that's the theory. It's available in a couple of places by the looks - it's in the milk Aisle in a dark blue carton.

glassofwine · 23/05/2006 21:23

Norah, Have been following this thread as DS 31/2 is an early waker and therefore overtired - has been falling asleep some afternoons for about 20 min as so tired. The problem is that it can be as late as 5pm and obviously too close to bed time. I totally understand your need to break the cycle. I totally understand the idea of using medised or similar to get her to sleep in the SHORT term. I really don't think this would do her any harm if used for a few days - you would give it to a child with a bad cold and it won't harm them. It is designed for children and not some kind of Devils medicine like some people seem to think. If you were using it every day - yes it wouldn't be good, but that's not what you've been saying.

As my DS has only recently been so tired I'm going to start with the nightime milk suggestion and keep fingers crossed.

Good luck, sounds like you're a great Mum

MeAndMyBoy · 24/05/2006 09:46

Norah how did last night go?

all this talk about night time milk, I ended up suggesting it to a colleague who has insomnia lol think I need to take out shares or get myself on commission. lol

Original poster

Norah · 24/05/2006 09:46

Oh thanks glassofwine - too kind !!

Well - gave her the Medised again last night and she didn't wake up until 7.45 of her own accord and declared "Yawn - Oh I've had such a lovely sleep mummy !" and she is happy as larry - so I think it has worked !

I will let her do her own thing now for a while - specially as is half term next week - but on the whole - I think the Medised has done it's job !

OP posts:

Mercy · 24/05/2006 09:50

Great news Norah!

MeAndMyBoy · 24/05/2006 10:15

Oh fantastic so pleased for you both. How are you feeling today? Hope you got some good sleep too.

H x

alison222 · 24/05/2006 10:49

I've never used medised, only ordinary calpol and baby nurafen. Might be worth a go to break the cycle and get a couple of extra hours into my Ds (who is the same age as your DD Norah).
is it just available over the counter?

clumsymum · 24/05/2006 11:16

I'm glad you are getting somewhere Norah, I don't think the odd dose of medised is going to do any harm, as long as it isn't every night.

I have an early waker, now aged 6 1/2 , but we have now dealt with his early waking. During week-days he may not get up before 7 a.m. (except for the loo, we are struggling to get dry night-times ATM). If he wakes early then he may lie in bed and read. The way I see it, his body is resting even if his mind is busy.

At weekends he may get up after 7 a.m., but must not disturb us before 9. We leave him milkshake in an anyway-up cup in the fridge, along with some breakfast (his choice, a blueberry muffin and 2 babybel cheeses). Then he watches telly (and dozes I suspect) or plays with his play-dough, or the computer until he comes and gets in with us for a cuddle at 9 o'clock. He gets rewarded for being good and quiet at these times.

He has discovered that we are much nicer parents if we are allowed a lie-in at weekends!

I think he is starting to sleep slightly later tho'. This morning he was still reading in bed when I got up at 7:20 .

If he does get overtired, then I bring bedtime forward by 1/2 and hour for 2 or three days, and try to be much quieter and more cuddlesome with him for the hour before bed to get him to settle better.

My mother always said, you can't make children sleep or eat. Just find ways to live round it when they won't.

glassofwine · 24/05/2006 13:43

So happy for you Norah, it's amazing how much nicer we all are after a good nights sleep.
Clumsymum - we also do the weekend lie-in thing, with all three, last Sat my DD 6 was teaching DD4 how to write the alphabet! when we got up. I don't think it hurts them to have a short time in the morning and they get full on quality time for the rest of the weekend.

daystroller · 07/06/2006 20:09

hello, new to Mumsnet but have just found this thread. My DS (3 months) isn't a keen daytime napper (understatement :) In our room we have a black out blind but the light really seeps in round the edges and it's sooo bright in there it might as well be daylight. As a light sleeper (when I can get some!)myself I can hardly blame him for wondering what on earth I'm thinking expecting him to sleep. Where did you get this blackout material? Anyone know if I can buy it online as don't live near a material shop. Any suggestions much appreciated.

sarahhal · 18/06/2006 20:42

Norah - know this is quite an old thread now but DS1 has exactly the same pattern as your DD. How are things now? How long did you keep up the Medised and did it break the pattern?

jambot · 19/06/2006 09:32

Get Dr Marc Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.
He will tell you to put your child to bed earlier rather than later. Apparently the idea that putting them to bed later will help them sleep more deeply and later actually has the reverse effect. Overtiredness causes the body to excrete more adrenalin into the system to help keep you awake, making it even more difficult to obtain good quality sleep. To be honest, I would put her to bed as soon as she starts showing signs of being tired. If it's 6pm, so be it. He found that in general children didn't wake up any earlier because of the earlier bedtime - if anything they slept for longer.
Letting her get overtired will just spiral into a vicious cycle of too little sleep, erratic behaviour etc.
Hope the above makes some sense. Good Luck.

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