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| MY DAUGHTER IS ALMOST 3 YEARS OLD AND SHE IS HAVING PROBLEMS GOING TO BED NOW. sHE WAS DOING FINE THEN ONE NIGHT SHE WAS FREAKING OUT NOT WANTING TO GO TO BED AND EVER SINCE THEN I HAVE HAD TO SIT WITH HER IN HER ROOM UNTIL SHE FALLS ASLEEP. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING FROM BATHS TO HERBAL MEDICANE. I AM AT MY WITS END. PLUS SHE STILL DOES NOT SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. PLEASE CAN SOMEONE HELP ME WITH THIS ISSUE. |
| Posted by Tracy on 10/15/2007 06:49 AM
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Start a routine at bed time to help her wind down. Continue to sit with her in her room, but sit in a chair and not on her bed. Once she is doing well with the routine, start to leave just a little bit before she falls asleep. As she does well with this, gradually leave earlier and earlier until you are able to sit just a minute or two after you tuck her in.
As for sleeping through the night, do the same thing. Tuck her back in bed, then sit until she is almost asleep. If she seems to be afraid of the dark or lonely, get her a night light and play some very soft music.
She may not always cooperate, but as long as you make sure that she is safe and has what she needs, you need to be firm and consistent. Every time you give in when she cries will make it that much harder to get her to go to sleep on her own.
Also, try talking to her to see if she is having bad dreams, is scared, or if something else is going on that caused the sudden change. If you can find out if there is something else, talking to her about that will help. |
| posted by Marcia on 10/15/2007 09:47 AM
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You might also consider how she has been napping. If her naps are very long and deep, or late in the afternoon, it might be interfering with her night time sleep. My daughter started phasing her nap out at 3, but since I had a new baby right about that time I really resisted it, until I realized it was costing me night time sleep as well.
Another thing that we did to help her teach herself to relax was to allow her to have a couple of books in bed and a designated "reading in bed" time. We'd give her 10-15 minutes when she HAD to stay quietly in her bed, but when she could just read to herself or to her baby dolls, and that did seem to help.
Don't try herbal medicines, as they can have very unpredictable effects on small children. You could try taking her for a short walk (with her walking, not in the stroller), if your weather permits, after dinner/before bedtime. Whatever you do, it should be a calm, relaxed activity (no crazy dancing, etc., which will amp up the adrenaline), even better if you can get her talking to you. My daughter came up with a really amazing, involved story about "crooks" (rhymes with whoo) that she had clearly been considering for more than a couple of nights and that completely terrified her out of nowhere. It took several nights of working out the story and looking for every positive portion of the story to work her way out of it. (turns out there are "nice" crooks who were willing to protect her, and I told her to talk to them about getting the mean, scary crooks to go visit the family across the street that had bigger kids -- only thing I could come up with).
Good luck -- and remember that when it comes to small children, everything is temporary! |
| posted by Cindy on 10/15/2007 10:15 AM
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All little kids fight going to bed at night. If she is scared of something in her room try to make a game of flash light shine and shine a light on what she thinks is scary to her and she her it may be just a toy from her toy box. Ask her why she is scared to go to sleep at night and find some fun way for you both to get a good nights sleep. Did you recently move or move her to a big bed those might be somethings that are causing her to be scared? try to google 'fun ideas to get kids to sleep.' I hope that you get her to sleep well again at night. Good Luck. I might also just be a phase shes going through.
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| posted by Carmen on 10/15/2007 02:16 PM
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