Having a Hard Time Getting 3Yr Old to Bed

When our son had sleeping problems at 2 1/2 3 years old. We tried everything. He would go to bed at 8pm and would be up at 2am and stay up all night long until 8pm the next day. We finally resulted to giving up sleep. Then our sons teacher reccomended calms forte'. It's a homeopathic remedy. You can get 32 pills at walmart for around 4 dollars. You cut 1 pill in 1/2 and crush it into applesauce or a drink give it to your son and 1/2 before bedtime. It should relax your son and make it easier and happier for him to go to bed. It will relax him. Make him a little sleepy but he will get a good night sleep. My son uses them still when he goes through no sleep and he is now 6 years old. They are safe for kids as young as 2 years old.
good luck, M. petersen

What time is he going to bed? Sounds like he might be overtired. Kids have a very hard time settling and going to sleep if they are over-tired, and also have a hard time staying asleep, so the fact that he's waking up at 5 and again at 6:30 also might point to over-tired. (At his age he should be getting at least 12 hours/day).

Try putting him to bed 1 to 2 hours earlier. This was miraculous for me with my 9 month old daughter 3 years ago, and I notice even today that if she gets to bed even a 1/2 hour after her bed-time it can take her up to an hour to fall asleep, vs the normal 10 minutes. At his age you might have to start a night when you can take the time to lie down with him. I don't have the experience with doing this with a three year old, but the book I read about this from (Happy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child, by Dr. Marc Weissbluth), recommends it for older children as well. It also says that once the sleep is caught up on, you can start moving the bedtime back to the original time, so you don't have to have a permanent early bed time.

Good Luck!

I.,
I highly recommend the book "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Kim West, it deals with sleep issues at all different ages. We used it with our two boys, age 5 and 3 1/2 to get them to establish a good sleep time routine. Some kids really need less sleep than others, my 5 year old still needs more sleep than my 3 1/2 year old. My 3 1/2 year old son is up, bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 6:30 every single morning - and my 5 year old loves to sleep in and still takes naps. Our 3 1/2 year old gets up at night when we put him to bed, but he is just not tired yet. My 5 year old is totally out within minutes of being put down. The best advice I can offer is take a deep breath and I promise this will pass. For the 3 year old, I advise getting him a digital clock that he can see from his bed. Let him know what time he can get out of bed - for us it is 7 a.m., and set a reward for following the rules. He can stay in bed and play with his animals, etc., but cannot come out of his room, expect to pee or get a drink. Get him a cup near the sink so that he can get his own drink of water and then go back to bed until 7 (or whatever time you feel is acceptable.) Also, at night, we have a one time rule - he can get up once for water and/or potty, without a problem, but after than he will lose a priviledge. But, he gets rewards, extra minutes of a movie, a special treat, etc. for following the rules. I just had to put my 3 1/2 year old back to bed and let him know he may not get up again, and he is asleep. It takes practice, patience, and a few times of losing a special priviledge, but it has worked for us. Best of luck to you.

Hi!

My son gave up his nap at 2 years 9 months. He is almost 4 now. Good thing is that bedtime is easy now for him. So, don't beat yourself up about the nap. Just concentrate on the bedtime routine!!

Sounds like you are trying good strategies. I try to tell my son something "fun" we are doing the next day so he can "dream" about it. It could be something as simple as painting out side or going to the library or park, fun for him. He talks himself to sleep happily. Maybe would work for your son? Good luck! I feel your pain! I have a baby too and there just is not enough time when they are both asleep!

H.

We too had a hard time getting our 6 month old to sleep. She'd pitch a huge fit whenever we'd put her in her crib at night...so we decided to try the Ferber method. Our daughter never cried for more than the 1st 20 min break, and by night 3, she stopped crying all together. It worked like a charm for us! Here's a link that describes the method and answers some questions/quells some rumors in case you want to look into it further:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-ferber-method-demystified...

It worked for us, she's now 9 months old and is sleeping beautifully. His book also has techniques to try for toddlers. Your 2 month old is a different story...she's too young for this method, but I believe he has some recommendations for starting good sleep habits at her age...
try it all til something works!! -L. s.

I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old. When the 3 year old was in his crib he slept great - I could read some books, sing a couple songs and he would lay down and I could say good night and leave the room and he would go to sleep (or play a little in his crib and then go to sleep). When we switched him to a toddler bed (a little after he turned 2) that didn't work anymore because he could now get out of bed. For 1 or 2 nights I tried the putting him back to bed routine and it just escalated into sheer frustration. What we do now is we still follow a very standard routine - bath, brush teeth and 3 books then say good night to dad and then turn off light and get into bed. Usually I sing a little bit and then I stay in his room until he falls asleep. We have a futon couch in his room so I just lay there - it only takes about 10 minutes until he is asleep and then I quietly sneak out. In a perfect world I wish I could say good night and leave and he would go to sleep but we've come to settle on this routine and it works and is not combative in any way. I'm not sure if when you say "falls asleep with him" if you mean laying down in his bed with him or just being in the same room. If you could get it to where you could hang out in his room (without having to lay in bed) and he would fall asleep its a pretty good compromise. My son sometimes gets up by 6 and other times sleeps until 7. I think anytime between 5:30 - 7 is a pretty normal time for little kids to wake up. Naps for my 3 year old are becoming a thing of the past - he naps fine at preschool but on the weekends we usually drive him around but then he is out for a good 2 hours. I'm not sure I have any brilliant advice other than to sympathize with you :) I think at this age they are definitely looking to see how you will react and they test and test. I do think sleep is really important and we just have to keep being creative and changing the routine until we find something that works. Good luck!

Hi I.!

My boys were the same way. No matter how "bad" of a night we had, they were still up at the same early time each morning! I was the only one who seemed deprived of sleep back then.

I used to lay next to my boys when I taught them to go to bed in their bed. I'd lay there regularly until they fell asleep each night. Once they were "good at it", and they consistently fell asleep within 10-15 minutes, then I knew I was ready for the "next step".

My "next step" was to "lie".....Yep, I had to "pretend" that I forgot something and I had to go get. Like, "oh shoot, I forgot to turn off the oven...I'll be right back". I always whispered when I spoke, like "I was breaking the rules" if I spoke too loud. Then I would come right back and lay down until they fell alseep. After a week of that, I had to check 2 things with longer gaps of time between the 2. It takes alot of time each night getting in and out of bed, but it's only for a short period of time really. They began to fall asleep while I was "checking" on something because I gained their trust always returning to their room. Once we had that down, I brought TV's into their room.....that's another story!

Today my boys are in bed by 8:15, and asleep by 9pm like clockwork almost every night. Dinner has changed to an earlier time to accomodate my strict routine. They wake up by 6:45am without an alarm clock, and seem well-rested each morning.

Anyway, sleeping habits are constantly changing at your son's age. There is truly no RIGHT answer, except the answer that WORKS for you and your son.

Good luck, I.!

:o) N.

Watch what he is eating and doing several hours before bedtime. Our internal clocks program our bodies. If we eat too late or have a high level of activity too late in the day it tells the body it is earlier that what it is. Try a few days with an early evening meal, and quiet activities for the evening and see what happens. Good luck.

No advice but please summarize any responses as my oldest daughter (3.5) is brutal too! She just does not sleep that much. My youngest sleeps so much more with almost no hassle so sometimes I think it's just what it is. People are different, kids are different etc. 2 of my sister's children have never slept all that much either. But if you get any good advice, please summarize. Thanks!