Help 3 year old overtired!

[pgibb]

Since my daughter started preschool her sleep has gone downhill. She used to sleep 6.30pm-6.30am + now she takes ages to fall asleep at night,wakes early every morning so some nights she only has 10-11 hrs sleep. She dropped her naps completely about 6 months ago but will nap in the car if she's tired enough so I have been trying for a nap some days (although sometimes she just fights it + wont even nap in the car) Sometimes her napping helps + she'll sleep well for a night then I'm back to her overtired again.

I know she's pprobably so overtired she can't sleep now but its been 7 weeks + I don't know what to do!

[Ima shel Alon]

Have you tried for an even earlier BT, like 18?

[pgibb]

Yeah I've tried an earlier bedtime, been trying to leave her about 6pm or just before + it might work for one night then the next night will be up early again! If she falls asleep in minutes like in the past she will have 12 hrs but if she takes ages to sleep i know she'll be up early + not sleep well. Feel like I must be doing something wrong!
When she wakes early she stays quietly in bed till her clock says its morning (which is 6.30am) but she just won't go back to sleep even if its 5am she wakes! She's so tired but can't seem to sleep properly anymore :-( x

[Ima shel Alon]

You said in your first post that when she does nap in the car then the night is fine, right? It sounds like she does still needs a bit of day sleep. Is there a chance she will nap in daycare?
When my DS started daycare he was as well 2yo and he often refused napping there, but just the fact that he was lying down in a pretty dark room, chilling out, helped him with the evening.

If there is no way she will nap in daycare then I would try for a nap in the car or once you are back home. I would even AP it if needed.
Do you use AP at all? Sure it's not great, but often at the 2-1 transition which she obviously still going through there is no other solution.
If you know of an AP that will work for her could you try it for BT when she fights sleep (and is probably OT)?

[pgibb]

Having a nap doesn't always help her,it can take so long for her to fall asleep at night then she wakes early too then. The other weekend tried both days for a nap, drove round for 45 mins even one day but she was just wide awake + she'd only had 10.5 hrs sleep that night also!!
Things did seem to get a bit better last week some nights she started sleeping 12 hrs again although still had a brief nw every night. Could see the difference in her so much happier. Friday she had a party so bedtime was about 40 mins later so she ended up waking in the night for 1.5 hrs,she was in bed 12 hrs but obviously missed out on 1.5 hrs sleep. Was gna put her to bed early last night but remembered about the clocks changing so did it a little later although she was asleep after she'd been awake 11hrs 45 mins but this morn she's been awake since 5.20am which means she's had 10.5 hrs sleep + with the clocks changing been awake since 4.20am.

Feel like this is all to do with having a slightly later night Friday but can't understand why she's gone so sensitive with her sleep + I'm getting so frustrated when she waking so early + won't go back to sleep. Really don't know what we're going to dotoday now!xx

[HenaV]

Hey! How's it going?

We had this with R not so long ago (3 on July 8th) and it lead me to believe she was ready to drop her nap. So having tried to cut it to 30mins with a resounding uuu-ummm! We decided to go CT. Result an OT big sploge of a 3y old. You expect some OT but this was ridiculous. Anyway, we went back to napping. Why am I telling you all of this? Yes I get there eventually - the nap was not the issue - IMO it was developmental. For R it felt like she had lost the art of going to sleep and staying asleep (not helped by the OT granted) - I think their brains at this point his overdrive and they can't stop them whirring. That IMO will be made worse by the fact that she's jut started pre-school.

I'm not suggesting that you should introduce a nap again if you don't think that's right for your LO - but it may help get over the OT in the short term. But it may be the painful game I riding it out that you may have to consider.

Personally if car nap and stick to a normal bedtime for. Couple of days. That said my girl is a big sleeper and struggles to function when OT

What do you think?

Hena

[pgibb]

I do think its developmental as this week she started sleeping 12 hrs again going to sleep really quick but after a slightly later bedtime its all messed up again :-( Its so hard when she wakes around 5am as she never goes back to sleep. When we went through the 1-0 transition it was a much easier transition compaired to the 2-1. If she naps today I have no clue how long to give her + when to put her to bed now as with naps even 45 mins she only has a 10.5 hr night but don't wana put her to bed too late + her be too overtired!! As soon as she dropped her nap its the first time she's ever tacked on sleep + some nights would have 12.5-13 hrs!
I want my sleeping child back lol!xx