3-Year Old Waking at Odd Hours in the Night

My son did the same thing just before 3 years old. The first few times it happened we went in his room, but then we just stopped as soon as we realized it was becoming a pattern. It took 2 nights, the first he cried for about 10-12 minutes and then stopped and went back to sleep. The second night it was less than 3 minutes and he was back out. Now it rarely happens.

My daughter work up this morning at around 4:15 - she's 23 months old. I was going to go check on her, but my hubby told me to stay in bed and give her a minute. Less than a minute later she was back to sleep.

Good Luck!

This happened as well. She was getting teeth.
I also went in there to check to see what was going on.
If you make it a habbit which we all do then it is harder to break.
Just nip it in the bud, there will be crying but it will be better.
If they are sick that is different, sleeping on the floor next to us.
Maybe teething, maybe just waking up, try a few things
We have used good night sleep tight book, ( the sleep L.) and liked that.
I go buy the is she wet?.. if you are potty training.. could be it, did she eat enough, maybe she is thirsty... we started that then stoped, 1 drink before bed and that is it.
Some people use babywise as kids get older or to start with, lots of books out there though.
Good luck and let us know what works for you so other moms know!

This sounds exactly like my life right now! Except she's in a big girl bed & climbing in our bed with us- which I never thought I'd let happen! Between being exhausted & 8 mos pregnant, we've been letting her sleep with us but we have to break the habit! I can't wait to hear all of the response! I wish you the best because it is difficult!!

My 3 yr old does this. Luckily for us, unless he has a nightmare, most nights he's up with the lights on in his room, playing, and he doesn't call for us. (At 3am...)

We have a rule that we'll go in 1x for him (unless he's really freaking out, like a nightmare). We tell him that we're not coming back in after we tuck him in. It took 1 night of us letting him pound on the door for him to get the message.
So it's kind of like CIO, only older and they understand.
She's old enough to know what you're saying. You just have to follow through when you lay the groundwork.

My daughter is 2 and is doing the same thing right now. Every child is different but for us we know that if we go in there she now knows we will come in and continues to do it every night. My daughter could be screaming at the top of her lungs (anyone would think there was something wrong and go in) but as soon as I open the door and she sees me, she smiles. My son never did this stuff so it's all new to me but I've learned with my daughter that I have to let her cry and go back to sleep on her own. If I don't my husband and I will be up every night with her. Have to break the cycle.

I've not been through this because my son is only 17 months old, but I think it's the same at your daughter's age - my suggestion is that you need to stop going to her. You admitted you've created a bad habit and that's why it's continuing. Since she's three and capable of understanding, you can have a conversation with her before bed about whats expected (she stay in bed until morning, mommy and daddy stay in their beds, etc.) you may even be able to ask her what will help her feel better at night - maybe she has an idea - nightlight, bottle of water, etc. Anyway, you could try reward charts for staying in bed all night, but really - if it's an expectation, you shouldn't have to reward it. Whenever I felt bad about letting my son cry at night, I may go check on him once to see if he actually needs something but then leave him. This would probably backfire with a three year old though because 1) the needs to check on aren't the same and 2) she's getting what she wants if you come in and 3) you may make her more awake and make her want to try harder to get you to come back. So yes, I recommend cold turkey - it's in her best interest as it sends a clear message and helps her get over this more quickly then different method where you might come in but not get her out or whatever. Good luck

Maybe a night light would help, three years old is when they start to be more fearful and scared. Our fearless almost 4 y/o started being more fearful a few months ago and right about the same time I received my babycenter email talking about fear.
We aren't a CIO family so we do go in if she wakes up scared and we tell her that at bedtime, not as much lately, but she was relieved knowing when we left her room for the night, she wasn't alone. When she sleeps all night without waking, she gets praise in the am and will even tell us proudly that she slept all night and didn't wake up.
We were clear that if she wakes up scared, mom or dad will come in, but that's it, bedtime is sleeping and not playing.
We also were tired and struggling, but it's a phase and ends, now it's rare she wakes at night, and we just told ourselves to suck it up for awhile, take turns and it's worth it.