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My 3yr old wont go to bed at night and then when she does wakes up all night.

Dee - posted on 05/01/2010 ( 3 moms have responded )

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My youngest Natasha has had issues with sleeping for a long time, well as long as I can remember. She has had her tonsils and adenoids out and I thought that might help but it hasn't. She just wont go to sleep. She will get up constantly and complain of sore legs to sore fingers to I'm scared to I want to watch TV and much more. This goes on till 8.30pm and sometimes later. She will then wake through the night and come into bed with me and if I take her back to her bed she cry's loudly and keeps coming back. Tonight she has topped it all. Went to bed at 7.30pm and again kept getting up and crying and wanting me to stay with her and still not sleeping then she comes out and says I have wet the bed. We go to her room to check it out and sure enough she is all wet and so is her bed. She see's her bed with the light on and says well I can't sleep in my bed now. I think she did is deliberately so she didn't have to go to bed. Anyone have any idea's please.

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3 Comments

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Dee - posted on 05/04/2010

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Tashy will be 4 in July and doesn't sleep through the day any more and hasn't for at least a year or so. I find that if she did then she was up even later at night. I usually have to wake her in the morning at around 6.30am 7.00am and if it's the weekend she will sleep till at least 9am or so. So is grumpy through the day and seems to be so much work. Thanks for the reply I will try the chart and see how it goes.

Kathy - posted on 05/03/2010

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hi, sounds like limit testing to me. toddlers will go to great lengths to stay up and that includes making up excuse after excuse not to go to bed.

is she still napping? one reason that she's wakeful at night is that she's overtired. if she's not napping, a 730pm bedtime is probably too late. what time does she normally get up for the day?

one trick that might work is a reward system aka sticker chart. invite your daughter to help you make it and let her pick out the stickers, markers to draw the chart etc. talk to her about what the sleep rules should be and then write them down. when you're done, pin it up in her room where she can see it and then work that into her sleep routine (both of you read the 'rules' before bedtime).

if she goes to bed at lights out and stays in bed (no stalling, no getting out of bed etc) she gets a big sticker. you also want to reward her for good behavior even if she calls out for you sometimes but she stays in bed or if she gets out of bed once but stays in for the rest of the night - this is positive reinforcement - then she'll get a smaller sticker. if she gets out of bed all night, protests sleep etc etc then she gets no sticker. at the end of the week, if she has all big stickers, she gets some kind of prize - you can determine what the prizes are. if she has some big some small, then she would get a smaller prize etc etc. the prizes are incentives for her to stay in bed and enjoy being in the room.

let me know if you hvae any questions

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