Author Topic: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP  (Read 1494 times)

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Offline shinysarah

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3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« on: February 28, 2012, 08:39:12 am »
Hellloooo,
I'm literally in tears at work writing this so apologies if it doesn't make sense!!!!  I have 2 boys, 1.5 yrs and 3.5 years.....After being a relatively good sleeper, my DS has started waking all the time and I've no idea what to do!!!! There are no reasons why he's waking and tbh, I don't know how to handle it.  Last night (DH is currently away with work) he woke up close to 20 times and it was 3.20am before he went to sleep.  It's been a very tough week and I feel so upset because I wasn't very nice to him last night and I feel very upset about that...Sorry about the ramble.

If anyone can help then please share.... Again, sorry for the ramble. xx

Offline anna*

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2012, 08:46:00 am »
((hugs)) does he still have a nap? What happens when he gets out of bed, what does he want/how do you respond?





Offline shinysarah

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2012, 08:52:19 am »
Hiiiiiiiiii,
No he doesn't have a nap.  When he wakes he'll say all sorts from asking for a drink to wanting to toilet to saying he's lost his teddy etc....he says literally anything....  There's also no pattern in the times which he waking but it is getting progressively worse.

Offline anna*

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2012, 14:50:43 pm »
I'd make sure he has a clock or similar so that he can SEE when it is night time and when it is morning. And then be very very clear about the rules. When it is night time, it is sleep time. Mummies needs sleep and so do boys, so there is going to be no more getting up in the night. You could give him three 'tokens' for three callbacks, and once those are done, they are done.

I would also role play with him what to do if he wakes up in the night - yawn, roll over, cuddle teddy, close eyes and go back to sleep. If he needs to pee, he can get up and do that by himself, he doesn't need you.

At bedtime, make sure he has everything you can think of - make sure teddy is near by, there is a drink of water on his nightstand, he has been to pee - and after that I would do the Supernanny 'silent return' thing.

That means, the first time he comes out to you, you take him by the hand and take him back to bed saying "it's bedtime darling."
The second time, you take him back to bed saying, "bedtime".
Every subsequent time he comes out to you, you just take him back to bed without saying a word. And keep doing that for as long as it takes until he stays in his bed. Be prepared to get NO sleep the first night, but it should get better pretty quickly once he knows you mean business.





Offline shinysarah

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2012, 15:48:31 pm »
Thank you so much, my DH is back tomorrow so we've said we're going to make a 'plan' so thank you for the advice-it's HUGELY appreciated.  xxx

Offline anna*

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2012, 16:25:30 pm »
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.





Offline Tweakster

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2012, 16:29:15 pm »
Reading along as we are just getting the same craziness at 3yo.  He still sort of has a nap though so we're hoping we can fix this by dropping the nap but if not, I'll be checking out that token idea!  I like that Anna, and Finn totally understands what it all means now.

Good luck with your plan!  Keep us posted!
The tweaking never stops!

Offline shinysarah

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Re: 3.5 Year Old waking ALL night!!! HELP
« Reply #7 on: February 29, 2012, 08:52:21 am »
Hi AllforFinn....I would stay stop the nap around now if he's ready..Well, last night we had 2 wakes but I made sure we had lots of cuddles before bed and we agreed that if he woke he could cuddle his 'bo-bees' blanket to help him get back off to sleep...I'll keep going but am delighted with 2 wakes!!!!!!!!!  No tears this morning!!!!!!!!!!!