Nearly 3 year old and awake for hours every night

[Bryony]

sounds good!

We have fairy lights on a timer that come on at 7:30 am - and fortunatey K is very good now at entertaining herself until the "sparkly lights" come on - at which point she comes running down the corridor shouting "UP TIME!!!!!!!"

[Mom_to_L&S]

We´ve entertained that idea too, but just haven´t gotten around to buy a timer 

[* Paula *]

Bryony / Sophie, sorry that you are going through the same thing too.

When Abi started having these 3 hour NW's they were driving me mad, and then of course she did not want to get up in the morning either  Abi still has 2 molars coming through and I was wondering if these were the reasons for her long NW's and I stated giving her pain meds before I went to bed, but these were a bit hit and miss too. 

I moved her bedtime out by 30 mins, and touch wood things seem to be a bit better.  We had an EW this morning, but have not had any of our long NW's for a few days.  Fingers crossed this is the trick.  I had to put her to bed early tonight as she woke early, refused a nap, so had to aim for an early bedtime.

[Bryony]

Paula - I read your post and it sounded v similar to us! Glad things are going a bit better for you. No sign of K's last molars yet but of course they could be contributing from under the skin... 

I think I was just getting so paranoid about OT that I was putting K to bed way earlier than needed - she's doing much  better with a later bedtime ....

fingers crossed we all get some sleep xx

[* Paula *]

Great news that she is sleeping better for you.  I did not think that Abi's could be her teeth as they did not seem to be raised at all, but about 3 days after the long NW's her gums did seem a bit swollen.

I know what you mean, I was panicking that DD was going to get horribly OT, and between Xmas and New Year she did, and was still refusing her nap, I had to rock her to sleep late one afternoon, just to get her to nap.

Keep us posted 

[* Paula *]

Hi Bryony,

Just wanted to check in and see how things were going with DD and her sleep at night.

Things are so so on our side    We have a few good nights where DD is sleeping 13+ hours and then followed by a few nights where she is up for hours.

Last night was one of the worst nights we have had - DD went to bed at 7pm and fell alseep immediately (no nap day), she woke at 11pm, and did not go back to sleep until 4:30am  I had exactly 2 hours sleep last night  I am soooo tired. 

I really don't know what to do.  After having such little sleep last night (7 hours in total), I thought she would zonk out at nursery, but she refused a nap there too I could not believe it, I thought she would be a wreck when I picked her up from nursery, they said she had been cranky, but she was just bouncing. 

She fell asleep at 6:45pm this evening, later than I would have liked but needed to pop round to MIL and FIL as one of their family had just passed away, and I am just hoping we have a better night.

She still does not have her bottom two 2 year molars and am wondering if this is what is causing the problems, or if there is anything else that could be the problem.

Hope things are going better for you Bryony

[Bryony]

Hi Paula, thanks for your post - funny I was just wondering how things were going with you the other day!

Here things are definitely better since i moved bedtime later -  but still not great.  K now going to sleep around 8:30pm or 9pm each evening and sleeping until  7 or 7:30 the next day. But we still get random nights - maybe one night in 3 or 4 - where she is awake for hours, singing, telling stories, intermittently calling for me for drink / cuddle / bla bla bla...   we also had our worst ever night a few weeks ago when she was awake from 1am until 5am.... but sounds like your DD wins with her marathon wakeathon!!      It's grim isn't it.  I really think Katie just needs very little sleep and I just need to face up to that - maybe she would do better going to bed even later but I can't bear the thought of not getting any grown up time in the evenings - I go to bed around 10pm so already I only have an hour in between K going to bed and me going to bed.... 

I am trying to embrace the advantages of having a child who needs very little sleep and taking her out for dinner sometimes in the early evening or to social events which I enjoy 

We don't have last 4 molars yet either (although I think one may be coming) but teeth never seemed to bother K and giving pain meds doesn't make any difference - so in our case I doubts it's teeth that are to blame.

Keep us posted too - and if you crack it, let me know the secret 

[* Paula *]

Hi Bryony,

Thankfully that marathon of awake time has not been repeated and fingers crossed it won't.  She has slept well for the past couple of nights.  She has not napped in the day this week, so has gone down like a dream.

One thing I wanted to ask you, does Katie have a dummy?  Abi does, which she is really attached to since it helped soothe her reflux, and of course she got really addicted to it.  I have started to wean it, and she does not have it at all during the day, but still has it for sleep.  I am wondering if this could be one of the reasons for the long NW's.  I am wondering that if she does not find it while still half asleep, that she wakes up fully to look for it, and then when she is awake, it is like she has had a nap and is awake for hours on end?  Just something I have been toying with.

I am hoping to have the dummy completely gone in the next few weeks, so guess we will find the answer to that theory.

Hugs, it is rough not having much alone time in the evening.  Does Katie nap at all during the day?

Keep us posted on how you get on

[Bryony]

Hi Paula  No, Katie has never had a dummy - I did try one with her as she also had reflux as a baby but she never showed any interest in it. Preferred my boobs unfortunately!!  Will be interested to see if that helps with you.... 

Katie doesn't nap in the day at all - she gave up her naps in April last year - so I think she must just have very low sleep needs for her age. She's STTN the last three nights though - so fingers crossed we are both onto a run of good nights now!

[* Paula *]

Abi has given up her naps too.  I too think she is on a much lower end of sleep.  DS is nearly 5 and he still sleeps 12 hours + a night

Fingers crossed, we have had a few good nights too.  The dummy weaning is going well, although she is still asking for it at night.

She is not well today, has had a really high fever, and a bad tummy, so she has been sleepy.  She napped today for about 25 minutes before she woke up, so will see how it affects her tonight.

[Bryony]

DS is nearly 5 and he still sleeps 12 hours + a night

Wow!  Nice!!   I was like that too - according to my mum I was still napping at 4.5 years....

We have had two not-so-good nights with K awake for an hour or so - then wanting to sleep late in the morning.

Hope Abi is better soon and that the dummy weaning turns out to be the answer!

[* Paula *]

Hugs, sorry about the rough nights, Hope that Katie sleeps well for you tonight 

Thanks, her temp is up and down today, even with a nap she was still asleep just after 8pm tonight, she must really be feeling poorly.

The dummy weaning is great in the day now, even with her being poorly today she did not ask for it.  Was going to try this week end without it at night, but with her not feeling too well, I did not want to chance it.

[jackco]

hi bryony,

i have come across your post back in jan 2010 about your night waking with your daughter - reading your initial post what you experienced is identical to what we are going through at the moment with our daughter - even down to their characterisitics from birth - this is the first time that i have found anyone with an identical problem to us - nobody seems to be able to help and it is having a devestating effect on our family which has been going on for almost 8 months now - i am writing to ask how this problem resolved itself because we have tried everything we can think of and nothing seems to be helping.  my daughter still has her day sleep, she is 3 in a couple of months and this lack of sleep is having a huge effect on her daytime behaviour and ability to cope with life - any advice would be much appreciated many thanks ellie

[Shiv52]

Hi Ellie

How long is your LO napping for? Is your DD an independent sleeper?

[gaimer]

did sophie's sleep resolve my daughter is exactly the same and its stressful!!! 
any comment would be appreciated