Hi. Moms
I have a very busy 3 year old son who don't want to go to sleep. My husband and I both work and I take my son to school. We get up early due to the fact that i don't drive. My son gets up about 6:10 am in the mornings. So he at day care by 7 and i start work at 8. We get home between 4:30 and 5:15 . We have dinner he does his homework we play and he watches about and 1hr of cartoons. We it's time for bed he has a melt down every night. We talk about what times he has to go to bed and why he needs his sleep. Nothing works it take his toys and the tv and still the same things. He crys and then he calms down but he does not go to sleep he sings to the wall his self plays with the cover and his fingers, feet.etc. Please help In the morings it hell he crys and it's a struggle.
For my daughter, we make a routine of things she has to do before bed, Brush teeth, go to the bathroom, put on pajamas, pick a book, read a book, then we sing twinkle twinkle. She looks at it like a game, but it works and she goes to bed with no problems at all.
Does he nap at daycare? My 3yo is also giving us a terrible time at night and I think it's because they take long naps at daycare. He can stay up until 10:00 easily lately. And it's not that he wants attention, either - he will stay in his room for hours - but awake. It's driving me crazy, so please post an update if you come up with a solution! He doesn't watch any TV at night, so that's not it. I'm beginning to be worried that maybe he's just a nightowl. We never had anything like this with his brother.
Hello,
It does sound as if he is overly tired. The TV thing doesn't sound too good. Cartoons can be very stimulating and he is probably getting all hyped up from it. Also, seems to me with his singing and playing with his fingers he is trying to calm himself down enough to go to sleep, but by then it is too late and he isn't sleeping enough for the
6:10 wake-up call. Instead of TV spend some quiet time with him like reading, singing, talking about his day and your day, bathing, etc. He'll resist at first because the cartoons will be a hard thing to give up, but he will soon learn that spending time with his parents is way cooler :) Like John Lennon said "all you need is love" and kids know this.
My first two thoughts after reading your post: 1) the hour of TV watching just before bed is amping him up, making it hard to fall asleep, and 2) you don't say what time his bedtime is but it seems like he's staying up too late. There is a natural time when the body is tired and wants to fall asleep, and if pushed past that there is a chemical released to keep the body up, and it becomes even more impossible to fall asleep. I know it's hard for working parents, you want to spend time with your son when you can, but a boy his age needs between 11 and 14 hours of sleep. If he's getting up at 6:10, he should be in bed by 7 at the latest. Starting a calming routine in place of the TV and 20 minutes before you want him in bed could help a lot -- it could still be play, but quiet things like puzzles, plus reading and singing, bathing and brushing teeth, would be great quality time for you and help to ease him into readiness to sleep. You can't reason with him, he's only 3 and he wants what he wants. You just have to change the routine and tell him the new schedule. And be patient, changes like this could take up to two weeks to make the big difference you want, this is not something that will change over night. Good luck!
