4 1/2 Year Old Will Not Sleep Through the Night

Putting her to bed earlier is definitely not going to solve the problem.
Does she get up to go to the bathroom on her own or does she come to get you to take her?
I would explain to her it is not her fault she is waking up during the night, but that unless it is an emergency she should go to the bathroom and go back to bed without disturbing other people.
Sleep walking is not her fault either. My son used to do this. I just locked the doors and put the keys where he couldn't get to them so he wouldn't wander away outside. My brother did the sleep walking thing too. We made sure the basement door was chained across the top and dead locked the front and back door since he wandered outside in the middle of the night in 2 feet of snow barefoot on one of his adventures. My mom and I heard the door close which is why we knew what he had done. They both out grew it, but my son got up between 1 and 2 a.m. everynight from the time he was 4 until he was 14. He would get a drink, go to the bathroom and go back to bed.

My son had a similar problem. The first suggestion from the doctor was an earlier bedtime, which didn't help. The next was to remove milk from his diet. That worked great, and he started sleeping through almost immediately. Good luck!

I am going through the same thing with my almost 2 year old. She went from going to bed on her own to having me rock her to sleep. If I don't rock her she will cry until I do. Last night she cried for almost an hour. I finally gave in and rocked her.

Since the middle of last week she has been waking up at 3 or 3:30 in the morning wanting to get in bed with me. I tried to make her stay in her room Sunday night and she cried from 3 until 4 when I gave in and put her in bed with me. I am exhausted. I am so happy you asked this question. I will read the advice you receive in hopes that it will help me. Good luck to you.

My son went through a similar stage and I just didn't get up. The only time I got up was for the bathroom. (He doesn't really get up to use the bathroom he uses pull ups still so when he does get up I encourage that!)
I told "You can sleep with me, you can sleep in your bed but you need to lay down and sleep because that's what I'm going doing." It stopped shorty after that. Just an idea.

My daughter goes through periods where she'll do the same thing. Everytime she does though, after the very first night I remind her of what happens. EVERY single time she gets me up equals one stuffed animal she has to give to me the next morning. Usually that first night I won't take any because sometimes it's months since the last time she woke up during the night and I figure she maybe forgot what the consequence is. Or, after that first couple of times that first night I'll tell her "from now on, everytime you wake me up you lose one stuffed animal." This works GREAT! She had a TON of those little stuffed animals and they would just sit on a shelf. I never knew how to get rid of some of them because she would always say "NO! I love that one" when I'd try to clean them out. So, not only has it hit home with her and caused her to think twice about her bad sleeping habits, but it's also helped me to get rid of some of her many animals! Next, I've already told her will be the Barbies. She's pretty freaked out about that. By the way, I NEVER give her these things back. To me, that defeats the purpose. My kids don't "earn" things back. They just simply lose things. Everything that gets taken away goes to Goodwill.

Hi! You don't mention whether or not your daughter is still napping. If she is, I would shorten them or eliminate them all together. Debbie