Waking in the night

[Debbs]

My friends little boy is nearly three years old. For a while now he has been waking up two or three times in the night crying, but he soon goes back down. Then he wakes up at 5.30 a.m. goes into Mum's room and won't go back to sleep - he's wide awake. Problem is mum is getting stressed and she is getting no sleep herself. Has anyone our there got any advice for her?

Is your friends child possibly taken a too long of a nap in the daytime? Maybe he is going to bed too early. Maybe for mow 5:30 is going to be his normal waking time in the morning. My kids went through all sort of sleep patterns when they were little. She might have to indure this for a little while but eventually he should get on a more normal sleeping routine. I feel its just something he may be going through right now.

Redecorate his bedroom/buy new covers? Make bed time later? Issue him with a tape recorder with story tapes and firm instructions to stay in his room until 7 at the earliest? Can he operate the video recorder yet?