Author Topic: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!  (Read 1772 times)

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Offline Laura_kap

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3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« on: February 23, 2016, 20:28:37 pm »
Hello mummies and daddies

I am loosing my marbles here…

**I also have a 1 year old that is a late-teether and cutting many teeth at once, so I'll apologize ahead of time if this is hard to get through.

my 3 year old shook off his naps around 5 months ago - when I do get him to nap (usually in the car) he is awake until 10pm!

so we've been trying to get him down earlier than usual since he started shaking his naps (around 6…)

BUT he's been getting up at 5am (maybe earlier, that's just when I start to hear him on the  monitor/video)  so we tried even putting him down at 5:30-5:45 some days….

I'm too tired from my teething queen to figure this out alone….

no matter what time he goes to bed….5-6-7-8-9pm..he seems to always wake around 5-5:30…I feel like when I put him to bed at 5:30….how could I expect him to sleep past 5am?

I need to get him caught up and back on track!!!! I feel horrible that he so tired.

I need to get the poor boy off this marry-go-round of overtired!  by 1pm he is so tired and grumpy its hard to deal with him, and he wakes his little sister and gets cheeky and trows fits at the drop of a hat. 

I'd really appreciate some help to get him back into a sane routine….Thank you kindly for reading my plea!


** FYI - he is a textbook with a little spirited thrown in for good measure, was born 1 month early, but was 99% for height and weight by 4 months of age. **



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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2016, 21:27:28 pm »
Hello and welcome to BW forums :)

Wow I'm not surprised you're tired.

Those late BTs, have you tried those consistently on no nap days or were they one off late bed times maybe because of car nap which meant BT came later?

Do you use something like a gro-clock or lights on a timer as a signal of 'morning'?  Many of us here have found these really useful in keeping LO in bed, quiet (preferably asleep) until a more decent hour.  At 3yo your LO is likely to understand the clock or lights quickly so it may be something to consider if you haven't already.


Offline Laura_kap

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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2016, 00:22:48 am »
hi -  thanks for the speedy reply!

Yes we have the Onaroo clock that glows green when it's out of bed time - my sweet little textbook does wait in bed (sometimes quietly) and even makes his little bed and arranges his monkeys…..BUT he wakes sometime between 4:30-5:30 every morning and then just plays to himself in bed.

on days that he does not nap - I have him in bed usually at 6, instead of his old regular 7pm….the days he falls asleep late (8-10pm) are days when he DOES nap.  I still put him down around 7-7:30….but he plays and tosses until 9ishpm those days.

lately, he usually goes out cold within 10 mins of put down - which is around 5:30-6pm…and by 5:30 he is SO tired most nights that its a real struggle to get him fed/bathed and to bed…everything is a melt-down! if I put him down later than 5:30/6pm…he has a very fitful/tossing night of poor sleep and usually wakes earlier than usual (4-5am)

I assume he is overtired….but I'm struggling to understand it.  I can't put him down much earlier than 5:30, can I?
and if so - how then can I expect him to sleep past 5am?

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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2016, 19:12:59 pm »
As he's managing something like a 12 - 13hr day and doing an 11hr stretch of night sleep, I would go for a later BT and keep it set, same time every night. I know he is exhausted by 5.30/6pm when you are putting him down but that's because he is waking at 4.30-5.30am so of course he is super tired.  It would be the same being super tired at 7pm and waking at 6am, but a more reasonable hour to wake up.  The thing is that he is unlikely to have the chance to adapt and shift his WU time if BT keeps moving and some days he gets a nap in the car.  My LOs nights only really lengthened properly once naps were totally gone and BT was consistent.
I would start out with something like 6pm BT for a week or so, regardless of what time he wakes in the morning, and do your best to avoid naps. If he nods off in the car then wake him as soon as you arrive at your destination rather than being tempted to let him sleep a while.  After a week or so of set BT at 6pm to get him used to the consistency of a set BT you could probably then move BT 15 mins later every 1-2 nights until you reach 7pm (so it would take a week).  I would expect an 11hr night although if it is set and he settles into it you might end up with more like 11.5 or even 12 hr night.

When he wakes early is he playing in the dark until his sun clock goes green?


Offline Laura_kap

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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2016, 01:57:00 am »
that sounds like sane advice….and yes - he plays in the dark, in his bed…usually he just plays with his blankets and sings songs to himself!  We have a rule - if he gets out of bed before his light turns green on his "special clock" he gets no morning cartoon….works 9/10 mornings! :)

this morning he woke at 5:30….so I put him down at 6:30 - but he tossed until about 7.

I'll try and keep 6:30 bedtime for the rest of this week and next (hopefully - we're travelling to Florida to visit family and see mickey mouse - but we're usually pretty consistent with the kids bedtimes/routines)

I do make him chill out for "quiet time" daily around 1pm - we pick a number on his clock, and he stays in bed playing quietly until the hand reaches our chosen number (he helps me decide on weather we wait for the long hand to touch the 8 or the 9…so he feels part of the decision)  and he does get some quiet time most days…

thank you for the advice! Really appreciate your thoughts here.


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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2016, 10:32:01 am »
You're very welcome, enjoy your trip :)


Offline Laura_kap

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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2016, 12:17:59 pm »
ok - sorry to bother again -

we had a really poor night again….he was eyes wide open when I checked him at 1am - and again at 4:30until his clock turned green at 6:30…around 5:30 he started calling me "mommy you forgot to rub my back"…which is part of our night time routine…which we did…but I don't think he is aware of what time it is.  I ask him every time this happens if something is bothering him, hurts, ears feel ok etc….al seem to be fine.

but there is no way an active 3 year old can get by on these scrappy hours of sleep.  I put a white noise machine in his room a few weeks before his baby sister was born, so that should kill any sounds of baby crying or street noise etc….its odd though - he wakes up in a fairy great mood - just falls apart after lunch……i'm at a loss.


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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #7 on: February 26, 2016, 12:31:05 pm »
How old exactly is he?  just turned 3? is he near the 3.5 half birthday?


Offline Laura_kap

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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2016, 23:49:53 pm »
nope - just turned 3 january 12th….

I've got him sleeping until 5:30-6 most mornings (as far as I can tell)  He usually stays in his bed until his special clock lights up green at 6:30….I guess I'm going to have to take it for what it is until his body gets used to having no nap….I just thought It should have been transitioned by now, seeing as he started shaking the nap at 2.5 - and totally stopped napping about 2-3 months ago….this transition is lonnnng and horrible.  poor baby always looks so SO tired.


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Re: 3 Year old - Overtired & early waking!
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2016, 18:31:26 pm »
5.30am is a horrible time, when LOs wake at that time it's so so hard to get back to sleep. have you tried moving BT later just to make him really tired for that 5.30 WU so that he either sleeps through it or is easier to re-settle with help?