3 and a half year old still doesn't sleep through the night :(

[t1lly]

Hello, has anyone experienced this? And survived?
My 3 and a half year old son has probably only slept through the night on a handful of occasions. He used to be an absolutely horrendous sleeper till he was about 2. These days he might do things that I think are not unreasonable - calling because his blanket's fallen off, or he can't find his soft toy - and he also cries out a lot due to dreams, sometimes getting quite distressed.
Whatever the reason I am invariably up 2-3 times a night to him. Am completely exhausted after 3 years of this and worse.
In a (hopefully not schadenfreude) way, it would make me feel better to know if there is anyone else out there that has experienced this? I have tried bribery to no avail.

No advice but huge amounts of sympathy. My dd is 6 and has just started sleeping through. I was a bad sleeper as a child but clearly remember being left to cry sometimes (not neglected in any way) and also my feelings of horrible anxiety at night (for no reason) so I have never tried to do any sleep training with her. Just co slept. Is that an option?

i couldn't do co sleep, just couldn't do it but thank you.
Yeah I used to have awful nightmares as a child and anxiety, and remember that feeling too, so i couldn't ever leave him without going in to him (plus he would wake the street!) but it is so exhausting. I think there probably isn't a solution, just wait it out. I do worry about when he starts school though, although perhaps the exhaustion from that might help him sleep better, who knows.
It's so hard because it strips all the enjoyment from my days because i am just so so tired.

I know how you feel

I have a just turned 3yo DS who is the same, he wakes up if his cups empty, wakes up if his toys moved, blankets on,blankets off. I've started to count to 5minutes and if he's still crying I will go in. If he's obviously distressed I will go in but still average 2-3 wake ups a night along with the whining every hour or so for no reason. He sleeps at MIL every other Saturday with no wake ups and manages maybe 2 nights a week with only 1 wake up for us. It's knackering but I know he can get through a whole night and I'm too soft so no advice just

My DD is also 3.5 and has just started sleeping through the night, she use to wake about 2-3 times as well! She would go straight back to sleep but it was that interrupted sleep that would kill me. A few months ago we moved her out her toddler bed into a normal size bed and within a week she started sleeping through. No idea if the two are related but the bigger bed seemed to do the trick.

What bed is your little one in?

I have a 3yo who is the same. Except I choose the path of least resistance and let him get in with me. He then sleeps happily till morning. He'll get there in his own time. DD was exactly the same and from 4yo (when she started school), she went to bed at 7.30 and stayed there happily all night.

I had terrible night time anxiety as a child and my Mum ignored me and then finally had me put on tranquilisers. I will never, ever do that.

thank you everyone it really helps hearing your stories, though god i feel for those of you still going through it. I have said to a few friends in real life that he wakes 2-3 times still and they looked at me in complete disbelief and horror and assumed i am doing something completely wrong. Which is a bit disheartening. So I've stopped talking to anyone in real life about it now. His sister slept through from about 12 weeks and still sleeps for 12 hours now.

He goes down really well, i don't think there's anything really sleep training would help with, other than i try to encourage him to pull his own duvet back up etc.
He's in a toddler bed. Could think about a full size bed.

Try the bed it might help. My DD was an amazing sleeper as I baby but as soon as she turned 1 she started waking 2-3 times, no idea why. As I said previously since she has been in the big bed she sleeps from 7:30 through till 7, she might wake to go to the toilet but that's about it.

However, I am patiently waiting for DS to be born so I am just going back to sleepless nights ??

Good luck OP

ah good luck, enjoy the sleep while you can!