Any suggestions for hyper behavior and bedtime struggles ?

[Chloevalentine]

I feel like I'm posting like crazy these days. My 3 year old is showing some odd behavior lately. He's so wild during the day can't sit still or focus. He's referring to himself as "he" all day. He wants pancakes or he wants mommy. It's just bizarre behavior and I can't quite seem to figure it out. Yesterday I thought maybe it was the chocolate ice cream he had. Sonetimes I blame it on red dye #40. But none of those things are relevant lately. He won't go to sleep at night without crying when you try to leave the room. It's already after 830 and he's still awake talking nonsense in his room. This is def an odd post just thought I'd see if anyone had some ideas? Thanks

[deb]

Can you give us more details? You said that the food coloring isn't relevant - does that mean he isn't having red coloring right now? What about other colors? Other foods? what about exercise during the day, or screen time? Is he still napping during the day? Lots of different factors can impact bedtime.

Also, has he had antibiotics lately?

[Skadiver13]

Honestly my son would do the same thing. We just kept to our routines and eventually passed. We also had to start capping his naps around that time as well

[Chloevalentine]

No I mean he had no food dyes. We avoid them at all costs because he has an awful reaction. He has not napped in 9 month. He does a 12 hour night but lately he's been sleeping later in the morning unless I wake him.  Screen time ..well yesterday he barely had any mostly outdoor play and today due to weather and me not feeling well he had more than usual. But his behavior was the same both days.

[becj86]

Have you considered the possibility he's not sure how to handle the impending arrival of a sibling / starting summer camp? Maybe he's looking for some reassurance...

He's referring to himself as "he" all day.

This can just be a normal way of experimenting with language - has he been hearing you speaking about him as 'he' lately?

[cath~]

has he just turned 3?  it could be associated with the birthday developmental leap.  DD1 went a bit crazy around that time too but settled down again soon after.

[deb]

has he just turned 3?  it could be associated with the birthday developmental leap.  DD1 went a bit crazy around that time too but settled down again soon after.

All other things aside, this is probably the most likely culprit. If his sleep pattern is changing - you having to wake him - that can be part of that.

Come to think of it, it was after one of the birthday leaps that we had to institute a rule of no roughhousing after 6PM or after supper (we usually finished supper 6-ish, although not always). Otherwise mine would be too jazzed come bedtime. We instead started making that time window more low-key and quiet - although I found I had to ramp up the exercise BEFORE supper, especially mid-afternoon, to compensate.

[Chloevalentine]

Thanks everyone! He will be turning 3 end of June. He might be unsure about the baby and summer camp but what can I do to help? I honestly wasn't sure if he was too wound up at night after dinner or if he needed to burn off more steam.

[deb]

There may not be anything you can do to "help" per se more than allowing him time and space to process all the big changes going on in his life.  Josie was 3-1/2 when her sister was born, and we went thru some "stuff" around 3YO as well.

[Chloevalentine]

The past few days we've been waking him earlier around 730 to try and get him used to waking for summer camp which starts next week. But the earlier I wake him the later he's up at night. Ifs taking him forever to fall asleep. Today we woke him by 740 tonight we went up for bedtime routine around 7 into bed around 735 and he's still up at 830?! Which will mean that he will be tired tomorrow morning when I go to wake him at 730 because he's used to a 12 hour night. Help this is a vicious cycle.

[Lindsay27]

Does he ever nap?  I know you said he dropped it but he honestly sounds a little OT to me...that hyper OT behaviour ya know?  My DS hasn't napped in a long while but the odd time mid-afternoon he'll crash on the couch watching a movie and I'll just let him sleep, if he's crashing I figure he needs a little catch up.  Does he have a quiet time in the day? Even after we dropped the nap I insisted on a 1hr quiet time to help him re-charge...a movie, reading stories, or anything low key really.

Like Deb said, we also try to keep things after dinner relatively quiet.  Like she said, no horsing around or anything of that nature or else he's legitimately bouncing off the walls come bedtime.  Usually my DH will play Lego with him or something of that nature...to keep him busy but not be burning tons of energy which in my mind can lead to that crazy OT shenanigans.

[deb]

The past few days we've been waking him earlier around 730 to try and get him used to waking for summer camp which starts next week. But the earlier I wake him the later he's up at night. Ifs taking him forever to fall asleep. Today we woke him by 740 tonight we went up for bedtime routine around 7 into bed around 735 and he's still up at 830?! Which will mean that he will be tired tomorrow morning when I go to wake him at 730 because he's used to a 12 hour night. Help this is a vicious cycle.

Can you work out when the "second wind" starts? If you can get him calm BEFORE that it might help. When mine were younger a second wind would start any time between 7-8PM, soi t was crucial to get them into a bedtime routine before then. Come to think of it, that might be when we started adding a massage to the bedtime routine - which we still do at 11 and even 14-1/2YO!

Have you seen this? http://www.amazon.com/OClock-Bedtime-Early-healthy-playful/dp/0060988894  No, our kids don't go to bed at 7PM, BUT we DO make sure things are low-key by then, at least during school year as much as we realistically can.

[becj86]

With all that's going on, he may need an hour to wind down - I'd be aiming to have him in bed ready for stories, chats, etc. at 6:30/6:45

[Chloevalentine]

Thanks everyone. Yesterday he didn't have that crazy jumping off the walls behavior but it took him forever to fall asleep.  As I mentioned. We've been asking him in the morning which is really the only thing different I can think of.  We always do low key things after dinner although sometimes dinner is early around 5 and bedtime isn't until 8. But normally hell go to the garden with is dad when he gets home which is good fresh air time and he gets to let go any of that remainding energy. Then usually once back inside we wind down with his fav tv show lights low music off etc. we've been doing this forger and then typically upstairs for bath pjs books and a song with his dad into bed between 730-8. There will be a week that goes by where he literally passed out during a song and then s week where he cruise every night when you leave the room and then like this week where he's wild and just can't calm down enough to fall asleep. The best bedtime was when we were letting him sleep until 8/830 and doing bedtime a bit later (12 hrs) but as I mentioned with camp starting next week we need to be out of the house by 845. I figured if I could get him up earlier I could get him into bed asleep earlier but it's backfiring and I wonder if I'm causing the ot in the end? Lol

[Lindsay27]

I honestly don't know if I'd wake him in the morning.  I know you are trying to prep him for camp next week but I think what you will find is that even though he needs to be up earlier for camp, the day will be exhausting (but fun!) for him and he'll go to sleep earlier while he's in camp, ya know?