Hyper / OT 3 Year Old

[Llou]

Hi everyone

I just wondered if anyone has any advice on my little girl who will be 3 at the end of August.

In the last few months she has dropped her daytime nap, I would say she still needs it as she is up quite early but she insists she is a big girl and doesn't need a sleep!!

In the last few weeks she has been really hyper/ excited (almost uncontrollable) and then I end up shouting at her to try and calm her down.  I was convinced she was OT so I have made her have naps in the car on random days when she seems tired.  The only problem is if she naps whether it be 30 mins or 1 hour she will go to bed later. She is usually sleeping by 715 on a no nap day but with a nap its 815.  If she naps and goes to bed later she still wakes the same time the next morning which used to be 615 but in the last couple of weeks it's about 530-545.

I've stopped her naps again now as 815 bedtime is way too late especially as I also have a 10 month old little girl.

So her bedtime is back to 7-715 but she is still waking about 540 every day and then the rest of the day she is super hyper.  I'm sure she is trying to block out her tiredness.

In general she is a really good toddler but when she is hyper she can get easily out of control. She has a great bedtime routine bath, story time, sleep and to be fair goes to sleep very well.

I'm just worried that at the moment she doesn't even get 11 hours at night and I don't really know what to do!

I should also add in the day she is a very active toddler, she plays a lot, goes to the park and has bundles of energy.

Previous to this when she first dropped her nap she would sleep 715pm-615 which seemed manageable for her but now she is waking that little bit earlier it seems to be taking its toll on her.

Any advice or help is appreciated.

Thank you

[jessmum46]

Could you throw in just a 15-20 minute catnap occasionally if she's struggling?  I found one of that length didn't mess with bedtime too much, whereas any longer did.  If that doesn't work would you perhaps consider an earlier bedtime for a bit?  With her waking so early she may just need a shorter day for a while to catch back up again.  Do you have a geo-clock or similar to keep her in bed until a reasonable hour in the morning?  Are you doing quiet time in the day even if no nap?

[Llou]

Hi
Thanks for your reply.  Yes I could try a catnap, worth a go.  Funny enough last night I put her to bed earlier, she went to sleep at 650 and tonight it was 7.  I will continue with the early nights I think and also try the catnap.

Yes we have a gro clock, at first she loved it but now the novelty has worn off she just ignores it. She continually gets out of bed from 540 onwards, I just take her back to bed and tuck her in. I don't let her go downstairs until 615 which is our get up time.

If we can see she is tired we usually make her sit on the sofa or on her bed and we look at books together.

Do you think her OT is what is making her wake earlier and earlier ? Is it linked?

Thanks again

[jessmum46]

Yes often OT does cause early waking, they crash out hard in the first part of the night and therefore don't seem to sleep as long in the morning - not quite sure of the science behind it though!

How are things?

[mary12]

Hello

Your daughter looks much like mine. I have the same problem.  How did you resolved  it? How is she now?