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4 year old constant night wakings being scared- help

1 reply

miniworry · 29/07/2024 03:33

I'm at my wits end. Totally sleep deprived and it's showing no sign of getting better. Can anyone offer some advice?

My 4y/o girl has never been a good sleeper but over the last month it's just become the worst it's ever been. She says that she's lonely/scared of the dark/ scared of shadows/we are too far away (our room is down the landing). Tonight we've been awake since 1am and she's still showing no signs of going down.

We also have a 5 month old and I do think it's probably gotten worse since he arrived. Whether it's the fact he shares a room with us I don't know.

We've probably not helped matters by at times lying with her again until she falls back to sleep but the last week or so we have done the whole gone in and reassured/back in 10 minutes etc. but still after 5 minutes we get tears again of being scared about the dark outside or not liking the shadows above her curtain pole. It's not dark in her room as she has her nightlight on plus the bedroom door open and landing light on. She also has her Tonie box, Peter rabbit and dummy.

I'm honestly at a loss of what else I can try but between her and the 5 month old I can barely function anymore on the sleep I'm having. I also think it's affecting her too as she's so tired by mid afternoon her emotions are all over the place.

Please can anyone offer any tips or advice?!

OP posts:
Yaty · 29/07/2024 04:37

We have a similar situation with our almost 4 year old and a 6 week old baby. I've set up a camp bed in our room, and we've told her that if she gets scared she can come in and get into the camp bed . We've also started a reward chart for sleeping in her room. Doesn't always work and if she's had a particularly scary dream she will wake me but 5/7 nights a week she is sleeping in her own room till at least 5am ish which is much more manageable.

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