3 year old turning into a bad bad sleeper!!

[lbooth89]

Hiya guys, my 3 year old has always been such a good sleeper, sleeping ffrom around half 6 to 8 in the morning with no wake ups (bliss!), but lately between 10 and 4 she will wake up screaming my name because shes lost her teddy in bed and cant find it. I go in whisper, find it, dont turn the lights on and give it her, and then she tried to get up then. i tell her its night time but as soon as i shut the door she will scream blue murder for about half an hour to an hour, sometimes waking up my 5 year old. i dont want her getting into this habit when i have my 6 year old son at school the next day. any advice or is anyones child the same? I need advice, im 12 week pregnant too and the last thing i need is her to start this awful routinne with sleep after doing so well. i cant get back to sleep once she wakes up and if i do its not for long and shes up again. Hope someone can offer advice, sorry for the rant lol xxx

Glo Clock!!

what r they x

just had a look on amazon, they defo seem worth a try xx

My little boy sleeps in til 8 with his! You get a story book with it which is nice and we say goodnight to the sunshine every night. Part of our routine! If he does wake he just lies there and dozes or chatters away until the sun comes up xx

Hi there lbooth89

Is the waking in the night, or early mornings? The Glo Clock is ace for a baby waking an hour or so too early to be taught to stay in bed on their own. But not exactly useful for a 1am wake up, for example.

Is the lost Teddy the thing that wakes her up most? You need to find a way to help her find it. Could you sew something glow in the dark onto it? Could you leave her a nightlight so she can find it? Make your you go into her room when you go to bed and position teddy where she can easily see/grab it when she wakes.

Assuming her room is not pitch black, it is reasonable to say a 3 year old is capable of locating her teddy herself and this should not need you. So you need to enforce it. Go into her when she shouts, but get her to find her own teddy so that she gets used to doing this for herself.

Aside from that, you just have to be consistent. Sticker charts work well at this age. Even better is bribery. I would do daily (a chocolate button upon waking if no night time get ups) and weekly (a special toy treat if she manages a weeks worth of stickers for staying in bed).

Look through the argos catalogue together and choose a toy she can have if she stays in bed all night for a week. Make a sticker chart together. Choose the stickers together. All the time explaining what will happen and what you expect.

It may take a week or two until she earns her toy for a whole week - so set her expectations right. Many young children don't 'get' that there is a chance they won't get the prize. Explain that she won't get the toy straight away if she cannot stay in bed all night, but that she'll be able to try again the next week and she would still get her daily prize for every single night she manages to stay in bed.

Thank you for your help.
She has alwys slept in darkness, so maybe sewing the glow in the dark button on he bear may help or a small night light. It some how gets right to the end of the bed under the covers. I was thinking of doing the chart has i have done one with my son and it wored a treat.

You know three is a weird age for darkness/lightness when sleeping.

All three of my elder children have black out blinds and slept in pitch black from birth. But with each of them individually, they get to about 3 to 3 1/2 years old and very suddenly become scared of the dark.

I feel it must be a developmental stage, to do with emotional development - since I know several children who suddenly become scared of the dark at around this age.

When my children started doing this, we introduced a low level night light and suddenly they felt much more at ease during the night.

So I would definitely recommend a nightlight, this may all be related to shouting Mummy because she is scared of the dark. But instead of vocalising this to you, she is using the lost teddy as an excuse from some reassurance. It is not unheard of that she might be deliberately hiding the teddy (in the corner of the bed under the covers) because she wants you to come into the room to reassure her in the night.