Ok forgive me if this is full of misspellings, grammatical errors and anything else that requires brain power.
I’m running on very little sleep.
Well, “very little” might be a bit of an exaggeration, but definitely less sleep than I need.
Kate’s three-and-a-half (as of today, actually) and she is really a pretty good sleeper, but lately she’s been waking up in the middle of the night a lot and it’s killing me.
I think she might be having a lot of dreams or something, because she’ll often cry out in her sleep and say things about her friends/school/etc. that don’t make a lot of sense. She doesn’t always wake herself up when she does this, but she definitely wakes up me and Andy.
That’s another part of the problem – she’s not completely awake, but when we get up and go check on her, we wake her up. She did this at least four times last night, and once when I came back to bed I told Andy that I thought me going in there actually made the situation worse. He said he had thought the same thing the last time he checked on her (which was all of about 30 minutes earlier). Oh, and I should mention that even though she’s not all the way awake, what’s going on now isn’t night terrors – we went through that this summer and fortunately this is different (and not as awful).
So… I need some advice. How can we get her through this stage? How can Andy & I get more sleep??? Should we continue to go in and comfort her, even if it wakes her up? Invest in earplugs?
I’m anxiously awaiting your comments, readers. I have a short (ha, remind me I said that) six months until it’s newborn time!
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By the way, Jenny has the featured post on TopBlogMag this week! It’s called Beautiful Risk. Please do her a favor and head on over to TopBlogMag to check it out and let her know what you think!
I recommend you stop going in. Give her some time to see if she drifts off to sleep on her own. I know it is hard…but most of the time she will be able to drift off to sleep on her own. I would only go in if she truely wakes up and calls for you. Another help is soft music. My son is 7 and has trouble staying asleep. We keep a cd playing soft music repeatedly through the night. It helps him to drift off again. Good luck!
My son does this for a week or so every few months. I don’t wake him up, but I do check on him and reposition him in his bed, cover him up, and stroke his hair until he calms down. When he asks to watch Harry Potter the next day, it’s a No.
My 3 1/2 year old does this every once in awhile, too. Sometime I go in and just rub her back gently until she calms down, and it doesn’t usually wake her up.
Check to see what’s going on in your daughter’s life. Mine usually has bad dreams after watching some movies. Maybe there is something happening during the day that is setting her off.
Poor thing! This non-parent has no advice for you, but I am sure others will! And “a short six months” is now in writing!!
Jane, Pinks & Blues
I would agree with the suggestion to reevaluate her life. A random bad dream here and there is expected, but continuous bad dreams are a sign of external stressors. These could be due to a developmental stage, or something controllable. Either way, if she is having bad dreams about school, perhaps she needs to be home. At her age, preschool can be undue hardship. She won’t be any less likely to be valedictorian if she waits a year or so to begin her education.
Sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
With that being said, my now 6 year old daughter went through this same phase … and I am not a great sleeper to begin with. I agree with what Sharon said. Kids at this age or starting to dream and get more vivid imaginations. She probably needs to just work this out on her own, unless she is calling for you.
Maybe before bedtime you could help her clear her mind of her day and plant some happy dreaming thoughts.
I read the other day that kids her age dream more. I feel for you. My 1 1/2 year old daughter has been having night terrors since she was six months.
okay, take it or leave it.
I think you should go out of your way to solidify the bedtime routine, make it obvious with each step what is happening…telling her that she is going to sleep sweetly…don’t forget to say prayers! I do a very repetitive prayer that my boys count on, and have memorized for themselves as comfort, it’s actually a scripture…it works!
Then, in the night, if she wakes a little, or a lot…you are going to have to power through it. Stop checking on her, let her deal with it, make her not depend on you like this…it’s becoming a habit for her. Of course, if she cries for an hour it will be a different story.
Put your foot down with yourself, she will fall in line with the expectations.
What do I know though? I know you are an awesome Mom!
if any of this works let me know – we are having the same trouble with our 3 year old…..i feel your pain of no sleep. Our baby (10 months) started sleeping through the night and now our 3 year old gets up at least 1 or 2 times at night….