My 3 yr 1 mth old is now not sleeping

[chelbelle71]

Hi there, new to site and desperate for advice. I have 2 sons, 3yr 1 mth and 16mths. Am expecting also in 10 weeks. For the last 3 weeks my 3 yr old has decided he doesn't like sleep. Before this he slept without any trouble from 7-7.30 through to the morning between 7-8. Our routine has not changed and nothing has happened to disrupt him.

He gets really upset now and won't go to sleep unless either me or hubby lie with him. He finally goes to sleep but wakes up half dozen times. Again having to stay with him until he falls alseep. There is no same time he wakes, the timings are all over the place.

He has slept in our bed a few times but that because he insisted and screamed the house down. Sometimes he sleeps ok but then wakes early and othertimes, he's tossing and turning and moaning.

We have nice bed routine, bath, story etc. We have tried soft approach and supernappy approach but nothing working.

Did by the gro clock last week but although he loves the clock he ignores the fact he has to stay in bed and comes into our room anyway. When you ask him what moon/stars and sun means he answers it right so he understands what he has to do but he can't.
We are on night 5 of the clock. I reinforce the meaning through the day and at bedtime and he does say he'l stay in bed until the sun but never does. Hours later he's up, sometimes just sleepy and you can put him back fairly quickly and other times he's whimpering.

We so so tired and I need to try and crack this before new baby arrives as I co-sleep with baby until they 10mths which is what I have done with my other 2.

Luckily my 16mth is sleeping through all the noise but sometimes end up bouncing between the two boys through the night as little one is teething like crazy at moment.

I ask him what is wrong, has he had a bad dream, is he scared etc but he replies no. When I ask why can he not sleep he says he doesn't know.

I'm playing relaxing mozart at bedtime as well now hoping that will settle him but no affect.

He does not sleep in the day, he hasn't since he was a baby. He's very active, we always out playgroups or out visiting or go walking so he's plenty of exercise to wear him out.

It's like a switch, come bed time he turns into a monster and is just hysterical so we have to lie with him to get him settled.

Should I stick with the clock or try something else? Any ideas greatly welcome. Many thanks

Sorry I can't offer any advice, but my 3 year 2 month DS has suddenly started doing the exact same thing. In fact I am typing this whilst sitting in his room as he has already woken up this evening. He wakes up in such a frenzy too. Just wanted to say you are not alone and let's hope someone posts a miraculous solution!

Yes we had a rough night too, DS woke up 4 times very early on and I walked him back to his room and explained he had to stay in bed. He says yes but 20 mins or an hour or so later he's up again. He gets ever so upset and I have to stay with him until he falls asleep which sometimes takes upto an hour, then he's only asleep a short time. By about 3 we let him sleep in our bed but by that time hubby snoring his head off and DS figeting so I ended up in DS bed but didn't sleep a wink. By younger DS teething so was up with him half the night too.

I'm taking DS to docs this morning to get him checked over and see what they say. It's only been 3 weeks but it feels like months and months. It's really affecting us cause hubby so knackered he's always late for work now, self employed and his performance has slowed so not doing his daily graft.

I've ordered a sleep hypnosis CD specially for toddlers so hoping that will come in the next day. I'l post on here how we get on with it.

We at our tethers at moment and literally trying everything, from reward chart to bribes to gro clock to music, oh what else is there to try.

Good luck and if you find something works please post it so we can try.

Many thanks

Hello.

You two are describing what DD was like about 6 weeks ago, on the advice of another MNer I googled the Millpond sleep clinic and within 4 weeks she is back sleeping through the night with no problem at all after a year of hell. They are pricey but I know they do a book. I have also described what they told us to do in a couple of sleep threads recently if you can trawl through them.

Great thanks for that FiveGoMadInDorset. We are setting ourselves up for CC this weekend. Fingers crossed we'll have this cracked within a week. I played DS sleep hypnosis CD especially for Toddlers tonight and although he was only half listening and I did lie with him he is now in a deep sleep so the night ahead will tell the tale - does he wake or does he sleep all night! I've also removed his nightlight thinking that may have disturbed him through the nights when he woke and now bought him a little lamp today which is set on a switch timer. The timer shut off the lamp so I explained sleep now and only get up when you see the lamp back on. Moving into a positive direction I hope.

Hi there,

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Hope to hear from you soon!

Nastasia
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