Help with split nights please!! (Again!!)

[Sleepyhead1010]

Hello Lovely people!!

Please can I have your help on split nights which have reoccurred in my nearly 3 year old.

My DD started doing split nights (being awake for 2-3 hrs in the night) from 12-18m and this group was really helpful in helping solve (at this time we were trying for too much sleep and so reduced the daytime nap).

She is now almost 3 (35.5m) and they have reappeared with a vengeance and would be very grateful for any help as they are slowly killing us!!

She goes to bed at 6:45/7pm and is up around 7am. She doesn't generally nap in the day (other than maybe 10mins in the car/buggy) unless she has had a split night in which case we give her 20mins around 1:30/2pm).

We had capped her nap to 30mins for about 3months (had been gradually reducing it) and then instigated dropping it as it seemed to be triggering split nights and she has generally been fine without it.

However the last month she has been regularly waking around 2am and then cannot get back to sleep until c.4am. She is great at self-settling at bedtime and isn't wanting attention in this period - she just can't get back to sleep - will lie there for an hour and then call out "Mummy still awake."

It is starting to make her (and me!) tired and grumpy during the day and would be very grateful for any thoughts/helps on how to solve!!

X x

Sorry this is happening - my daughter did it too and it’s exhausting! The only thing that sorted it for us, age 3, was a later bedtime of 8pm. In our case, the issue was she was insufficiently tired to sleep through the night.

Yes. sounds like she needs a later bedtime.

Can she fall asleep independently? I'd just take her back to bed each time quietly, no conversation.

Does she have a dummy? Are you feeding her when she wakes?

For you guys are you both working? If so I'd take it in turns - one does one night, the other the next night. The person planning to get up goes to bed around 8pm to get a bit of sleep.

Thanks all - that's really helpful. I may try a later bedtime although have been putting that off as she is normally exhausted at 7pm and asleep instantly - @WateryBottle could your LO happily last till 8pm or did you push it back gradually?

She falls asleep completely independently - with her beloved thumb and a muslin. First time she wakes she often says she needs the loo so we have a quick wee and drink (all in the dark) and then it's straight back to bed. She normally lies there quietly for 45mins-1 hr but then calls out she is still awake!