End of my tether with 3yr old not sleeping! (sorry bit long)

[minkulus]

My DD is 3 and still doesn't sleep through the night
I just don't know what to do. she goes to bed around 7- 7.30pm, we follow a lovely routine every night, she has story and hot drink etc etc.
she sometimes goes off quite well, but ALWAYS wakes up in the night. a good night she goes perhaps 3 hours, then bam awake again....
I know there are hundreds of you out there with different and more difficult lives, but i'm soooo tired and i have no life because of all this. Also she is such a grouchy little moo - please help!
p.s did try CC when she was younger - not a great deal of success there!

Old enough for star charts?

Does she get out of bed or just call for you? Stair gate on bedroom door? It'll stop her appearing in your room!

What do you do when she wakes? Go in, say night night and walk out again?

hi gagarin. Thanks for the reply. My daughter has star charts for other things but never thought about them for night
She has a gate across the doorway and i have taken what I think is dangerous from her room. She has books etc and some dollies....
I do go into her, usually i try to say night and walk out but she gets in such a tizzy. Also she has got quite clever - " i've done a wee, I need a drink, I'm Hungry" etc etc.
I have tried to ignore her, but she gets louder and louder and I don't get any sleep anyway!

With sleep you have to break it down - it's prob too much to go for the "sleep all night" target you want - but steps like "lie down and say night night when Mummy comes in" moving on to "stay in bed all night" and hopefully the sleep will come with time.

Presumably you have a night light of some sort?

This is also the age of development of fantasy - being scared of things under the bed or behind the curtains. Have you tired the indirect approach of making up stories about "a little girl called (rhyme the name with hers) who used to lie in bed awake and had to call her mummy because...now why do you think she had to call her mummy?". If you're subtle enough she may tell you that the little girl in the story was frightened of Wolves under the bed or people in the cupboard etc etc. Or maybe not - children are hard to work out! Just don't put the being frightened idea into her head and make it worse....

Thanks gagarin - I am sorry I didn't reply sooner, I had an early night last night in preparation for onslaught! However, it was not too bad, only up 3 times, so a bit better!
I tried to be a little more firm and to make it clear I was there but not available for 'play' IYSWIM and it seemed to have a reasonable effect. She is shattered tonight after a very long day so I'm hoping for a good night tonight.
Thanks again for the tips. I will try the story approach when the next opportunity arises - its a great idea. It gives her the chance to tell me if there is anything worrying her without imprinting ideas that might not already be there!

yet again a MNetter to the rescue! Thanks! [ grin ]