So, it's 6am, and like clockwork, my 3-year-old just woke up. She has always been as early riser, which is fine. The problem is, she didn't fall asleep until 11pm last night!! In the past few months, she is suddenly having such a hard time falling asleep at night. We have had the same nice bedtime routine forever. We are very active, and don't do any tv after dinner. She goes to bed at 8pm, after a bath and stories. Then, she lays in her bed, sometimes for hours, talking and reading. I am feeling so worried about her, because she is not getting enough sleep! She tells me during the day how tired she is. She still takes a 1-2 hour nap, but I make sure it is in the early afternoon.
Any thoughts or ideas on helping my poor girl fall asleep at night? Thanks in advance!
If she is in bed and quiet, talking and reading, I don't see any harm in it. You cannot force sleep, you can enforce bedtime.
Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.
What is her sleeping environment like? If it is too light in her room she will not naturally produce melatonin which is the hormone that induces sleep. That may also be why she wakes up early if there is light that is starting to come in her bedroom window. Get blackout curtains for her windows. If she needs a nightlight then give her a flashlight instead that she can turn on when she needs it. Cover any clock radios at night. Also, evaluate the temperature differences in her room. Is she getting too cold or too hot by early morning?
Maybe it is the nap, or maybe you are putting her to bed too early. I know if I go to bed when I am not tired I have a really hard time falling asleep. Try putting her to bed at 9:00pm instead, and try dropping the nap. 11:00pm to 6:00am with a two hour nap is 9 hours, so she isn't far off from the norm. She needs 10-12 hours sleep a day in total at this age. Maybe she is getting all the sleep she needs. Does she act tired during the day?
To me, it sounds like she may be going to bed too late - if I miss that Window of sleepiness at 7 to 7:30, they will stay up longer/get a second wind after 8. Mine are always up at 5:30-6 no matter what, too, even if we keep them up way later. They also still take naps, my 4.5 year old takes a 2 hour nap from 1-3 pm and goes to bed at 7:30. My almost 7 year old doesn't nap on weekdays, since she is at school, but weekends, we still have her lay down for an hour or so in the afternoon, and she goes to bed at 7:30 also.
We also walk to school every morning, 9 blocks, and they play outside with our dog every afternoon, in addition to their school recess/P.E. time. We have blackout curtains on their windows and white noise in their rooms at bedtime to block out outside noises.
She needs to keep the nap. Especially if she's going to Pre-K or Kindergarten. They still take naps through kindergarten, well, ours stop laying down for naps after Christmas Break in kindergarten.
I'd say she's just too wound up to fall asleep. Try doing quiet things later in the day with no physical activity. I know, that sounds opposite.
When I was in college I was quite the exercise enthusiast. One thing I learned is that our bodies react to exercise with a chemical reaction. These chemicals stay functioning for up to 12 hours. So if she's running amok all evening her body is still pumping adrenalin and other stuff into her and it's like she's on speed.
Perhaps you can find some information on Melatonin and other natural chemicals that our body is already producing to make us sleepy.
Talk to her Pediatrician. Ask if Melatonin would be a good option for your daughter. Some children are high energy and need assistance in falling asleep.
She sounds like both of my kids! My kids usually don't fall asleep until 10:30-11:00 or even later some nights. And rarely do they sleep beyond 7:00-7:30. My 4 year old son is getting to the point where he doesn't really need a nap, but yet he still does. My daughter gave up naps when she was about 3. She wouldn't nap for anything! I really worried about it, but our doctor said that as long as they were still eating well and growing that it wasn't something to worry about. Some kids just don't need as much sleep.
Maybe try to change things that could be disrupting her sleep--amount of light coming into the room, noises outside the room, temperature of the room, etc. Maybe a little white noise to lull her to sleep.
With my kids I finally gave up fighting it too much. Yes, I miss out on quiet time for me in the evenings, but I look at the positive. I'm getting to spend a couple more hours a day with my kids since they don't go to bed as early. It works for us.
Exposure to daylight helps regulate the body clock, so that darkness tells the body to go to sleep quicker. Try that.
She's in transition. That's a tough spot and will take a few weeks to find the perfect hours to sleep. She probably needs to drop that nap. The problem comes from being sleepy from not sleeping enough the night before so she's really tired at that nap time.
I'd try to plan for three days of no nap. That means being busy at nap time and preparing for lots of whining in the late afternoon but if you can handle it, she will go to sleep when she goes to bed. Your only other option is to make naptime earlier and shorter, till you phase it out. I'm sorry, naptime is such a great time for moms, I know you hate to lose it!
Well since birth my kids always woke up in the morning at about that time.
It is just them.
Regardless of how much sleep the got at night.
Anyway, at 3, I remember my kids having a sleep tweak.
They are changing etc., and developmentally too.
And my kids still took naps regularly at that age. They needed it or they'd get TOTALLY fussy by even 4:00pm.
Anyway, they still went to bed just fine at night.
But was more active at that age.
So, during the DAY time, especially in the morning, I made sure my kids got LOTS of physical activity. Running around, going outside, etc.
Kids at that age and older, need lots of gross motor, things to do.
And then we had lunch and nap. And it was fine.
Per night time, what I did was: after dinner, key things down already. Make EVERYTHING dark and quiet. Only 1 lamp on. To set the stage, for bedtime. I did not do the bath/bedtime routine AT bed time or right before bedtime, but PRIOR to it all. So even 1 hour prior to their actual bedtime, I got my kids ready for bed. Hence, the actual bedtime routine, was not rushed. And then they had time, to relax/key down/chat etc. For my son, a bath actually got him, MORE keyed up and active. It did not relax him. For example. Anyway, I never did the bath/read stories thing, at or right before bed, but AHEAD of time. Prior. So that, right at their bedtime, they were already.... ready and keyed down. And bedtime was on time.
My kids took a 2 hour nap. It was just how they were.
But they still went to bed just fine.
Also, overtired kids... sleep worse.
Being overtired, actually makes sleep more inadequate. They don't sleep well and wake more.
With my son, for example, being overtired made him more HYPER and keyed up. Even if he was, tired.
And he needed to be keyed down, before the actual bed time.
And I taught him, to TELL me if he was tired.... and he would. And at those times, he would even go to bed at 7:00pm. Instead of the usual 8:00pm. Because, he needed it. And when hitting growth spurts, he actually would sleep more.
I made sure he went to bed, before getting too overtired.
My son also, liked to watch 'Little Bear" before bed at times. Its a real cute cartoon by Maurice Sendak, on tv. And it is so relaxing and nice to watch. I even liked watching it. It relaxed, my son when he was a Toddler. And I kept the lights, off.
