DD2 wakes 2 to 4 times a night after midnight but she's nearly 4 years old, help

[duvet]

10 months on and I'm still suffering the same problem with my dd who is now 3,10! it did improve in that we got her down to one waking in the night with the rapid return but she still sometimes revert back to 3 or 4 x a night, fair enough when she's ill but not otherwise and now for the last few nights again she is doing this waking every hour or so, I'm so fed up with it not to mention tired.

I cant believe how consistent we've been with the rapid return (8 months!) and yet still she continues with the same behaviour nearly every night at least once evne my hv doesnt know what else to suggest bar keep doing what I'm doing.

The only thing i've tried differently the last couple of nights is that after the first waking I warn her that if she gets out of bed again then she will go on the naughty step. This worked to some degree but then she got all worked up and altho stayed in bed was crying and screaming for ages before i went in and calmed her down.

I've also tried sticker charts, rewards she's not interested,
tried sleeping in her room and sleeping with her sister, she still gets out of bed.

I know noone probably can suggest anything it just helps to express i.
I'm wondering if its worth me contacting my HV again she's probably not going to be able to suggest anything new.

This is the longest phase ever and I've had enough, I can cope with once in the night but no more. Anyway else had same thing at same age??

bump

where is everyone!

what does she say about it?

does she need to go to the toilet? try a potty by her bed? (my dd goes all hysterical and weird but won't go to the toilet)

does she want to be in your bed? could you try letting her sleep with you for a week? (i know this seems counterproductive, but if the rapid return not working..!).

FWIW dd is 3.4 and still wakes most nights once

is she just awake or actively wanting your time/attention?

DD3 did this most nights, turned out she had too much adrenalin. She would come into us and ask if it was time to get up and would happily but herself back to bed so it wasn't to be with us etc she would just wake up & feel wide awake.

The sleep deprevation was horrific for me, you have my utmost sympathies.

Hi duvet, don't know if I will be any help but just want to say you are not alone. My dd1 was 3 in May and has slept through ONCE in her whole life so far.

She goes to bed no problem and sleeps well for the first 3-4 hours and after that all bets are off. Sometimes she wakes once for 2 minutes and can settle back to sleep easily. Sometimes she does this 5 times. Sometimes she wakes once but stays awake for up to 2 hours.

She doesn't want to be awake. She just can't sleep through.

To be fair she has asthma/eczema/allergies and the paed said that often children with these problems don't sleep. We toyed with the idea of sedating her, with the paed's approval but could never quite take the leap.

She takes Phenergan sometimes which I've heard knocks some kid out but didn't make any difference to dd.

I wsa nearly at the end of my tether with it when dd2 was born 9 months ago but feel I am come to terms with it lately. I haven't had a decent nights sleep in years. You must be the same. I feel I can't relax at night because I am always waiting to be disturbed.

Have you considered sedation? I know it is extreme but anyone would say 3 years + is an extreme situation.

Thanks for th replies guys it's just good to know I'm not alone with an older child who still wakes. If I ask her whats wrong she usually replies with'I just dont want to go to bed!'

Yeah tried sleeping in her room but she still wakes up and disturbs me!

Suiledonn Wow you have my sympathies I can relate to what you are saying you are coming to terms with it I have phases like that where I just get on with life, dont focus on the problem and live in the hope that it will pass but nearly a year on it sometimes gets me down.

Sedation yeah I've read stuff on here mostly about people who tried it and it didnt work so it hasnt enticed me much plus the fact i dont fancy suggesting it to the doc or hv in case they frown at me. I'm hoping hv might suggest as she is s'posed to be contacting me about dd's sleep issues.

Thanks again for replying it's good to hear others situations and coping mechanisms.

Well after speaking to the HV she told me to continue with the rapid return but no to say anything which we did but there was still no improvement whatsoever after 10 days. Someone lent me Marc Weissbluth book and one suggestion is to shut the door a but we're doing Christopher Greens rope trick so the door isnt completly shut but she cant get out.
That's what we've done for the last 3 nights and so far she has woken up once each night and just cries out daddy, daddy for about 5 mins then gives up and gets back into bed, lots of praise in the morning. It's already a drastic improvement, we're all feeling a lot better for it and who knows she might give up completely soon. Thought i'd post in case this helps someone.