My daughter will be 3 in April. On occassion when she does not fall asleep for her nap which she will be in her bed for over 2 hours and does not fall asleep for a nap I will put her to bed earlier. She is put down for a nap everyday. Almost like clock work after an hour asleep at bedtime she will wake up screaming in a panic. The problem is she is a cryer that crys so hard she barfs. I attribute the waking to maybe a bad dream. Has anyone else every had this happen and does anyone have any ideas how to fix it.
My son woke screaming frequently when overtired. Sounds like you should commit to her nap completely. I know it can be challenging when they seem ready to lose the nap but my guy really needed his until 4. I find that he works me because he can but will always sleep for his dad because he requires it. Be patient have a solid routine and just help her get that sleep.
Hi S., I can only recommend that she may be having night terrors. It seems to be pretty common at this age. I'm going through it myself with my 3yo. Other than comfort her and reassure her and be patient, I don't have an answer. Good luck.
YES! My daughter used to do that to (She is almost 4). She still does occasionally. In fact, she just went through a phase of it for a couple of weeks, but just started staying asleep now. I think it's just a cycle kids go through. My daughter had reflux when she was a baby, and since then, still vomits very easily. I would recommend making sure she gets that nap everyday, even if it is inconvenient- or if she does miss, just keep her up until her normal bedtime even if she is fussy.
it's a night terror, my daughter sometimes has them when she hasn't napped as well. my doctor suggested waking her up shortly before it would happen, give her a drink of water, and then lay her back down. that should avoid it from happening.
she is having night terrors, when you put her to bed earlier, wake her up about 45 minutes later and disturb her sleep cycle and it will stop the screaming and barfing....
Routine and schedules are important and that may be part of the problem. I think if you see that she's needing the sleep at her regular naptime, you might want to try different things to help her get to sleep. That way she will be able to stay up the extra hour and go to bed at her regular bedtime. It may sound mean, but we have one child in our daycare who sometimes needs us to just hold his hands and feet still until he settles down to sleep. He fidgets to try to stay awake even when his poor eyelids are drooping. Once we hold him still by gently, but firmly holding his feet in one hand and his hands in the other, he goes to sleep within about two minutes, and wakes 2 1/2 hours later rested and in a chipper mood. The trick is to help them lie still just long enough for the body to settle down and relax. Find what it takes for your daughter. It could be a back rub, simply putting on quiet relaxing music, or whatever. We've encountered kids who responded to having their fingers or their feet rubbed. Others liked the backs of their heads rubbed. For some simply sitting nearby and perhaps putting our hands on their chest would help. For others, just having us sit nearby was enough. I think one problem with non-nappers is that they may have a feeling of abandonment and not like being left alone. Just being nearby until they go to sleep may be the answer. You'll have to figure out what will work with your daughter. Now there are going to be times when nothing works, and she doesn't sleep at naptime, but at age three most kids who have had a reasonably active morning do need some rest around mid-day. On the days when she doesn't I would still keep her regular bedtime and see if that helps.
On occasion my daughter would have something similar happen and I also realized it could have been too much sugar during the day. Sometimes you don't realize how much sugar is in all the snacks we give. My daughter is also extremely oversensitive to chocolate which really does not bode well for naptime or bedtime. We also have to use relaxing spa music to calm her down for her bedtime routine, which helps.
maybe skip the hour early and see if this helps. Our son is 2.5 and he didnt stop the crying-barfing thing until about 2 months ago. So, she will grow out of it...just hang tight til then! Also might try distracting her when she is about to get really upset. Just do something completely different. We did this w our boy and i think thst is how it stopped. it will b hard to think of things at first but youll get the hang of it. Good Luck!
Hello,
My son who is 3 1/2 also goes through spells where he wakes about an hour after going to sleep and is very upset with a nightmare. I've noticed it helps if I keep him a little cooler at night. But sometimes it still happens regardless of temperature. I'm glad you posted this question and am relieved to see that it happens to other kids and they eventually grow out of it. It's so sad to see them wake up so upset!
