3 year old regression ???

[JacquelineChan]

Hi all. My ds is 3.5 and has been waking in the night for the past week, the first time since he was a tiny baby !

he never did this before , he'd go to sleep at 7.30 and wake at 6.30 with no wake ups (unless poorly) , we'd have the odd early morning but no night waking.

he is going to bed with no fuss , i read a story and he goes straight to sleep. However , the past week he's been waking crying loudly around midnight - me or dp go in , cuddle him and he settles to sleep again. but within 10 minutes it's happening all over again. this can happen 3 times over an hour , he'll eventually go back to sleep but i often can't !

ds is tired during the day and being naughty because of it and we feel shattered , like having a newborn all over again .

DS has no major changes that i can think of , he's moved up to the preschool class at nursery but that was about a month ago

i meant to end this with - has this happened to anyone else and did it resolve itself or should we be doing something ?

Anyone?

Sorry I can't offer any advice but could it be nightmares? Would a nightlight help? X

thank you for your reply. We have a gro clock and i have turned up the light on it so it is a night light . Funnily enough he did not do it last night !
the difference being that he goes to my mum's on wednesdays , and she let him have a nap from 3- 4.
he doesn't get this at nursery, so i think it may have been overtiredness!

My DD is nearly 3 and we're having a lot of night waking at the moment and it's for hours at a time. Interesting what you say about overtiredness. She does have a bad cold, and dropped her nap recently, sometimes she wants a late nap but we usually try and keep her going and she's out like a light at 6.45 or 7. But then waking at 00:30 and last night the back and forth went on until 3am!!! I'm pg with twins and DH is working long hours at the moment and we are both exhausted. Plus DD is obviously knackered too.
She is a very 'good' girl; and usually if she is being a bit difficult it's easily dealt with using a combination of bribery / withdrawing treats / distraction but none of that is really appropriate in the middle of the night. I don't mind being woken and going to her room to soothe her but all 3 of us being awake for 3 hours every other night is just ridiculous.
Potty training hasn't helped as if she is awake she wants to have a wee on the loo / potty (though nowhere near being dry at night). Plus now the side is off her cot she can just get out and come into our room.
Hope your DS sleeps through again tonight!! DD is at my parents' overnight tonight so we will get a whole nights sleep at least.

hi moggle
i feel bad for moaning - you must be shattered - pregnant with twins !

i find my DS officially ' dropped' naps about a year ago but if he needs one we let him have one now .

enjoy your night's sleep x

My children all became scared of the dark around 3 years old, despite sleeping in backed out pitch black from birth.

Have you tried leaving a lamp on all night?

Also the change from cot to bed can cause these kinds of wake ups. Sometimes there's a delay before child eventually realises that they can get up and come into your room whenever they want to, a novelty that will never have been the case when in the cot and had to call you first.

Good point Fate, but we have always had the gro egg on in her room so it isn't pitch black, these days we usually leave a landing light on too. She did have a definite phase of being scared of the dark but that was about 6m ago now.
We've also been trying to reduce down dummies a bit so she only has two in her cot rather than 6-8 (!). she often comes into our room saying she can't find her other dummy (despite first dummy being in her mouth). God knows how we're ever going to tackle that properly.

I checked with nursery and they confirmed that they have cut out naps now he's moved up to the preschool class. So I definitely think it's over tiredness, he will adjust in time I hope !

Moggle I think we are sharing the same life at the moment I have just posted a thread with very similar issues!
I definitely think nightmares are starting to factor into sleeping at this age as my 3yo always wants her big light on despite having a rather bright night light! All the reassurance in the world doesn't seem to help though and patience wears thin after a while. God I hope it's just a phase, I feel your pain ladies x