What's her current routine?

Belle - (Add As Friend) - Posted: 3/8/2010 5:07:10 AMComment ID: 60176- Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment

is she having alot of sugary foods? this may keep her hyper all the time. my toddler was the same i just made sure there was a gate on her room and left her to amuse herself she soon went back to sleep. it must be exausting for you though, broken sleep is awful. if she doesnt sleep through the day maybe ask your health visitor for advice. dont feed her b4 bed, this may wake her up in the night needing the loo ,try giving her horlicks at bedtime its suppose to aid sleep, keep her active all day so at night she tired, if she comesinto your room put her back in her own room, you may do this twenty times a night but keep at it, eventually she will get the idea. shewill sleepthrough eventually too, some children are just more hyper than others. im sorry i cant help more x

Anonymous - Posted: 3/8/2010 5:15:41 AMComment ID: 60177- Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment

You need to cu out the 2 am juice for 2 reasons, a) it'll ruin her teeth (even if its sugar free the acid in the juice or juice based drink will rot teeth) and b) Its becoming part of her acceptable routine. Leave her a beaker of water (anyway up cups are ideal here) have a dimmer switch in her room so that its set low. When she wakes at 2 am go in after 5 mins for the first few nights (don't speak to her) pass her the drink and leave immediately. Extend this to 15 mins after a few nights and then half an hour and then don't go at all.

At the moment she is in control and you need to regain that. Its fair to say that some children dont need as much sleep, my 6 year old is the same. He never ever napped in the day as a small child (even a as a baby he rarely napped at all). Now a days he doens't sleep before 10 pm and is always up between 5 and 530 am. BUT he does know that 730 is bedroom time and he stays put playing quietly. He does well at school had boundless energy and is never tired and rarely ill.

It may be she is similar, but routine is still crucial - she needs to learn that if she wakes in the middle of the night she must stay put until getting up time and that mummy, play and juice are not going to be available. She'll soon enough get bored and either drink the water and go back to sleep or stop waking altogether.

Loobie - (Add As Friend) - Posted: 3/8/2010 9:21:40 AMComment ID: 60181- Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment

What are you doing giving juice to a toddler at night!? What is wrong with a glass of milk or water? I saw a documentary on this where the kids had to have all of their teeth pulled out because of decay (their parents let them suck on juice at bedtime)... and it basically had an awful effect on their adult teeth too (when they finally cam through)... It is not something you want to put your child through! Plus, juice will only give your child extra energy. I would get your child to a dentist ASAP! Bedtime is a quiet time and toddlers still need alot of milk to help with growing bones etc, so at the very leats replace the juice with milk, or water is perfect if your child gets enough milk during the day. Allowing your child to play and talk and watch TV is all part of the problem. You need to teach her that bedtime is bedtime and they do not get up in the night to play. Loobie has a great technique about going in there but ignoring her... do sit her down and explain this to her though before you do it (what you are going to do and why and that there is going to be a change because night is for sleeping etc) as she is probably so used to you giving in. There will likely be tears and screaming the first few nights as she starts to realise she isn't getting her own way, but this will only continue if you are inconsistent (as in give in one night). You have to be a bit harder and let her scream without going in and making a deal with her to try and get her to stop...as she knows exactly that she has you around her little finger! You are the adult and you are in charge. If you can get through the first few nights she will settle down alot quicker and realise that you mean business... kids will only kick and scream and cry if i they feel like they will get their own way eventually! Definetly cut out the juice, kids should only be having 1-2 glasses a day with meals as it is very high in sugar and will end up rotting her entire mouth... then you will hear proper screaming when she has to have all her teeth out!

Sttuffy - (Add As Friend) - Posted: 3/8/2010 3:29:21 PMComment ID: 60190- Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment

Ideally a 3 year old should be sleeping 11/12 hours through the night. So this would make bedtime about 8pm. So dinner at 5pm, a little bit of play time to work off the calories they've just eaten. Bath and story to get ready for bed before 8pm.

Ideally juice should be taken with meals as the vitamin C in fruit juices is good for children as it aids iron absorption from their food - but it can be high in sugars.

The other reason that you want to start knocking out the drinks at night is that as your child is 3, and should be toilet trained during the day then they should be starting to recognise when they need to go to the toilet and working up to being dry through the night. This often starts the night waking and the feeling of being up in 3 year olds who have previously slept through the night since they've been babies.

If she must have a drink then a small amount of water is fine, but as little as possible - because otherwise you will have bedwetting if she continues once she is trying to go dry through the night.

The other thing that you might want to consider is how her bedroom is set up. For some children there is something that happens at a particular time that leads to them waking up - whether it is a chink of light coming through the window or something else. If her bedroom is too light at that time that she is up then it will signal her that it is time to be up and about - make sure that there is either no light on or a very small and very dim nightlight or a special children's one that she can turn on as and when needed.

The other thing that you want to look at is whether her room is a restful place. I always advise that children's rooms shouldn't have TVs in - it gives them the message that they are in charge of that TV and can have it on as and when they like and it will bug you even when they are older and up at all hours watching things that they shouldn't be watching.......same with DVDs and computers. But also how her toys are placed will count as well, if she is waking up in a room where the first thing that she sees is the toys then she will wake up and want to play with them. I'm not saying that the room should have no toys in, just that they shouldn't be right infront of her when she wakes - tidied in a corner out of direct sight or up on shelves is great. Also, as nice as the bright pictures are, they aren't very restful and shouldn't be in direct sight of the bed if possible.

As adults very few of us find bright things restful and wouldn't have them in the bedroom in direct sight of the bed. Children are just the same.

If she is getting up and out of bed then you are going to have to take her back to bed a hundred times in the first week before she starts to get the message and she is probably going to have horrible screaming tantrums, but it will all be worth it in the end. You just have to not give in.

Your health visitor will be able to help you out with similar advice and can help you to draw up a routine which will help sleep and give you advice on the dietary issues as well. Or you can approach your local children's centre who can also give advice and you can have the support of other mums who have gone though the same thing. This is a query that often comes up at the children's centre that I do sessions in - and a lot of the mums have found that rearranging the bedroom had a real improvement that they weren't expecting! And, as an added bonus, the children's centres have lots of activities for 3 year olds to run the legs off 'em and tire them out for the evening.

Alternatively, if you want to look at books for advice on routine and how to establish good sleeping then Gina Ford has a really good book on toddlers that has routines written out and goes through how to get them to sleep through the night step by step.

Belle - (Add As Friend) - Posted: 3/8/2010 4:15:38 PMComment ID: 60191- Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment