3 Yr Old Constantly Waking up at Night.. Any Suggestions

My 3 yr old daughter was constantly getting up too. This may not be the best advice, but it worked for me. She slept in a toddler bed in her own room. So for a little while, I took the mattress from her bed and put it on the floor next to my bed. She started to sleep all night and I was glad to get the full nights rest. After a couple of weeks, my niece spent a few days with us, so we set up her bed back in her room next to my neice's and she's been sleeping in her room since then with only a few times waking up. Hope this helps!

How much is she drinking after supper, or before bed. We had to cut down drastically when my children were small. Just a few sips after 6pm.

A.,

You are a wonderful mother to be concerned about your daughter but tough love is what you need at night time. She does have you trained to respond whenever she acts out.
Ignore her!! If she is loved, clean, gone potty and warm, then ignore her. Don't talk to her or yell from the other room at her, that will only fuel what she wants, more attention. It will be a tough road but you can do this. Stay consistent with your bedtime routine, lots of cuddles before she goes to be, limit drinks after supper and say goodnight. These little blessings have MUCH ENDURANCE!!! You have to even more ENDURANCE with them. You are in control of the nights not her! I am proud of you for seeking advice! Be tough, show her the boundaries and sleep well. Blessings, A.

My daughter is going through the same thing!
I would look into her schedule. I find that my daughter pulls that stuff when she has had a nap or not enough physical activity during the day. We hike for two hours a day, but when its rainy or too cold we have to skip it. Then she turns into a terror at night. So, I would look at her nap schedule. Mine quit the naps at two and I found that a strict schedule of exercise and activity helps her get to sleep at 7 o'clock!!!!! YEAH!! And she sleeps soundly through the night. When she acts up I just go to her and do the whole try to pee pee thing. Better than punishing her for asking to go to the bathroom which is GREAT and better than having a kid who isn't yet potty trained at three. I have ignored her before and then had to clean up the mess when I couldn't get to her fast enough! WE BOTH FELT TERRIBLE!!! So hang in there! Eliminate late naps and wear her butt out with exercise! She will sleep, and better. You will even notice better behavior during the day if she gets all the rest. And your Mommy behavior will be less cranky too!!
Good Luck and God Bless!

Have you made sure she does not have a bladder or kidney inflamation? 3 is young to be that intensive in acting out. Why is she waking up that frequently during the night? Does she sleep during the day? Make sure whoever cares for her during the day does not allow her to sleep excessively. Short naps (20 to 60 min. is sufficient) if she is taking long er naps she may be waking up and having trouble sleeping. Does she have apnea? I find it unusual that she wakes up so frequently at night...

Sounds like you have a night owl on your hands.

Turn the baby monitor off. Close the door, and give her a stuffed toy to sleep with.

Reduce her nap time, hold fluids 2hrs prior to bed, and no caffine or sugar before bed.

Make sure she goes potty just before bed.

You also, might try giving her a little extra attention just before bed. A bed time story, and a prayer can't hurt and might help.

I have a daughter who did the same thing and even though she is 29 now, I won't ever forget that time of her life. It turned out that my daughter has ADHD. The nervousness and anxiety kept her from sleeping. The old remedy to help our babies sleep was a mixture of Benadryl and Tylenol. This did help tremendously. Knowing more about medicines today, I would only try the Benadryl. Benadryl is not addicting and doesn't stay in your system so it is safe. Too much tylenol can give your liver problems. The other thing we had to let her do was cry. She does what she does because she knows you will come to her each and every time. My pediatrician told me to leave a crack in her door where I could see her but she couldn't see me. I could check on her while she screamed and cried but as long as nothing was wrong, I didn't let her see me. It didn't take long for her to quit. You are rewarding her for waking up and calling for you. As she got older I had trouble with her and her brothers going to bed at night. I used a token economy behavior program to get them to comply with bedtime rules. I would tell them at 8:25 that they had 5 minutes until it was time to be in their rooms and I would set a timer. When the timer went off, they each received one token for being in their room (they had to have gone to the bathroom and gotten a drink of water prior to this time). They could have the lights on for 30 more minutes so I would set the timer again. When the timer would ring, if they were in bed with the lights out, they received another token. If they got out of bed or called for me after this point, they lost a token. The tokens, we had decided in advance, were equal to one ticket at the Kart Ranch where they could ride go-karts. This was something they loved so they were eager to get the tokens. The date to go to the Kart Ranch was set in advance as well-like three weeks later. After this three week period, all I had to do was set the timers. It worked like a dream. Afterward, the internal reward of feeling better in the morning was all that was needed and I no longer had to use the tokens. Maybe you could reward your child by setting a clock for a specific time that you would come to check on her. If she doesn't call for you before that time, she earns a reward (keep it simple and manageable but visual in some way). Then start extending the times before you check on her. Work in increments until you get through the whole night. You may even get a cute alarm clock she likes and set it with her each night at bedtime, then put it by your bed, not hers, so she knows you will check on her at the time decided. This puts you in control instead of her. Your consistency is extremely important. Sometimes it is more that we need to train ourselves and not the children. Best of luck. Let me know if you try and how it goes.

This 3 yr old waking up has nothing to do with not having enough attention. She has created a bad habit and you are now a part of the habit. Just like any bad habit you work not feeding the habit. When she goes to bed at night the first night let her scream for almost 15 to twenty min. before you respond. Go another 30 min the next night. Each night increase the amount of time you respond to her needs. If you need to put a pull up on her then ok. Most children do not potty train at night untill the age of 6. She will be fine screaming. You on the other hand will think she is not. Go sit out-side and DO NOT RESPOND. It will work. It seems heart-breaking; however we moms have to stay sane and sleep is the only way. I am a mom of 6 and one on the way.

Have you had her checked for Pinworms? I know that sounds gross but the symptoms you describe are what accompany pinworms. My daughter and granddaughter had them when they were young. The doctors tend to fail to check the more simple and obvious problems with children now days. It is easy to get rid of.

Hi A., you are one busy lady...i take my hat off to you...as far as your daughter....do you remember the game of dropping something on the floor from the play pen or off of the high chair tray cos Mom would pick it up and give it back to you? Well, you have a game going on here and as long as you continue to play the game will go on. Your daughter knows that you will come. It sounds to me like it's become a habit, a norm, now. My suggestion is not to go to her, if she's screaming for you and you know she's been to the potty and she's ok then let her scream...tell her she's ok and to go back to bed and cover herself up....she's a big girl...sounds like you're doing all the routine stuff right, she's just figured out how to get you to play in the middle of the night...think about it...in bed for 30 minutes and screamed to go the the potty 3 times? That's game on and Mom's playing...it'll take a few nights to correct but eventually she'll figure out that the game is over and you're not coming.....if she wakes up and it's been several hours take her to the potty put her back to bed and don't go the next time she yells for you....it'll be harder on you than on her....it's just retraining...but you'll both start sleeping again, she'll learn how to turn over and go back to sleep rather than yell for you....good luck...R.

As a recent graduate and mother of 5 I understand what you are going through. You might try changing your routine just a little. I had the same problems and my doctor told me to change things up because just as we form habits and routines, so do babies. Your 3 yr old also has formed habits in her behaviors. He had also told me to feed my son cookies and milk before bath time because of the enzymes contained in both the cookies and milk, my son became tired easily. The play time after your daughters bath may give her the impression that it is time for your quality time with her. I would bump that play time up to an earlier time in the evening (before the cookies and milk). hope this helps.

How long has she been sleeping in her room alone? So you think maybe she i s afraid of something like a shadow of a tree that she can see through her window at ight or something? My son is 3 almost 4 and he used to be like that also. How i dealt with that was to let him play himself until he just can't take it anymore sometimes i even had to involve myself or even other children just so i made sure he was so tired he could barely stay woke through his bath at night. After i gave him his bath he would fall asleep so fast it wasn't funny and since he was already so tired he would sleep through the night and when he got up to go use the potty he was so sleepy that he was anxious to get back into bed and go back to sleep.

Hello A.,

The good thing is she is not bed wetting, the bad thing is she has her own mental alarm clock that for one reason or another is getting her up every few hours. I would make sure she didn't have anything to drink before bed. She may need less naps during the day, a later bed time and an earlier rise in the mornings. One thing that I did with my son when he was little is I would wake him up before he had a chance to get up, he then got use to me getting him up and he slept till I would wake him. Good luck

Hae you limited her fluids prior to bed as to after 5-6 pm? Thought about what types of liquids as juices or soda with sodium may make her go more/ Does she hae any pain which may suggest a UTI as little girls get due to their anatomy and bathing in a tub. Any new eents or changes in her life or family in past 2 months? I too am a nures with 15 years of Pediatric nursing.

Hope you get some relief soon and Congrats on you going to school

A.;
I would wonder if your child is in daycare and taking too long of a nap. At this age she needs lots of activity and maybe she is watching too much t.v. just a thought. Good luck and most likely when you figure it out, she will find a new trick.

M.

something has to be waking her up at night you may need to sit down and figure out what it is,.... is there a tree tapping the house when the wind blows or is it b/c you are giving her too many fluids during the day my son slept through the night since he was 3 months old unless he has night mares if you cna not figure out what it is you may need to contact your doctor to see if it could be a behavioural problem

A. - You are amazing! Wow! I have a 3 year old and she did this a couple of times too. Once I realized she was just wanting to be with me, I explained that if she did not "tinkle" when I put her on the potty then she would not be allowed to watch her favorite kid's show in the morning. When she did not "tinkle" I explained that I was sad and disappointed that she would say she needed to potty when she did not. I then reminded her the next morning why she would not be watching her favorite program. This worked for us. (I also am a light sleeper and have a monitor in the room still. I've turned down the monitor volume, once I realized I could still hear my daughter when she cried/screamed during the night..that helped me not awaken with every little sound. Also, I don't rush into the room, b/c most of the time she is dreaming when she cries out.)

One more thing. If your daughter is still taking a nap in the daytime it might helpful to quit the nap, so she sleeps through the night. You can substitute naptime with quiet playtime in her room. This also worked for us.

I found the book: THE NO CRY SLEEP SOLUTION very helpful.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Hi A., My daughter has three little girls 4,3,2 stairsteps! recently she was having trouble with the middle one not sleeping at night and totally destroying her bedroom at night pulling the sheets off the bed, pooping in the floor and wiping it on the walls and furniture. We tried everything. They had just moved to a bigger house where each of the girls had their own rooms and that is when the trouble started so after a couple of months we decided to put abbie in with Lizzie the youngest and all the nighttime craziness stopped. So you might consider letting you children sleep in the same room for awhile and see if that helps. I realize that the other child is a boy but since he is only six it shouldn't be a problem for them to sleep in the same room for a while. She might just be needing some extra comfort at night.

Boy shes got you trained!
Next cover time say to her do it yourself your a big girl now.
And mean it.
Dont give in.
If shes pottied fed watered covered she needs to learn to rock herself to sleep.
Sometimes its tough i know
a granny