Hi,
I have 3 girls ages 8-1. My two youngest are a year apart they will soon be turning 3 and 2 and sleep in the same room since our youngest was was 11 months. These last couple of months have been hard for our youngest. She wakes up at about 2am every night and cries most of the time like something hurts her or just pesters her sister to wake her up too. My husband and I have given her baths before bed, rubbed her legs, patted her back, held her, let her laydown with us, given her medicine thinking more teeth were coming out. At his point neither of us know what to do. Its becoming a problem for everyone in our household. She is still taking a pacifier to sleep. She does take a sippy cup right before bed and thats all. She usually is pretty easy to put down for nap time a bedtime. Shes a great eater. Any suggestions, advise, or help is greatly appreciated. Below is her daily schedule:
6:30 am- Wakes up
7:15 am- light breakfast at home
7:45 am- drop off at childcare
8:00 am- breakfast at school
12:00 pm- Lunch
1:00-2:30pm- Nap
3:00 pm- Snack
4:30 pm- Pick up from childcare
5:00 pm- arrive home and do family activies
6:00 pm- Dinner
7:00-8:00 pm- Reading, drawing, dacning, singing as a family
8:00-8:30 pm- prep for bed time
8:30 bedtime
it just boggles my mind that people keep schedules this tight!
it would make me come unglued.
:) khairete
loosey-goosey S.
What's the bedroom environment like? Is there light? Sound or light emitting toys? Is the temperature too hot (I wake up if I'm too warm)? Is she wetting her diaper and not liking how it feels (maybe reduce the amount in her cup)?
Earlier bedtime. She's waking at night because she's overtired. Move it back 1 hour gradually and see if things improve. A child 1-3 years old needs between 12-14 hours of sleep a day. Sounds like she's barely getting 12, and this could be your sole problem. Also, 6 hours between waking from nap and bedtime is a long time to go between sleep periods.
I agree, the youngest should be going to bed around 7:30. She is exhausted. I guess the 2 youngest will need to be put down together?
Before bath see if the youngest will take a final cup of milk.
Make sure their room is darkened and cooled down when you take her from her bath to the bedroom to dry her off after bath. Keep bath time as calm as possible not a time to get them riled up.
Then while drying them off, make it almost like a massage, this will wear them out. Use the towel to rub their feet, hands, backs and heads.
The eldest child can go to bed later, just remind her you all need to keep it calm in the house while the little ones are getting ready for their earlier bedtime.
I wonder if she's overly tired. I base this on my 1 yo granddaughter who still needs 2 longish naps ( one is 2 and sometimes 3 hours) and usually is in bed by 8 or 8:30. She wakes up anytime from 6-7.
Your youngest may not be tired yet. She, also, may be hungry.
My baby did not go to bed that early at that age.
Can you move bedtime later for the 2 youngest ones?
They don't get as much exercise/stimulation as the 8 yr old in school.
Can you put the 2 youngest ones in sep rooms? If not, just try a later
bedtime.
Instead of reading/drawing/dancing in evening (move that to an earlier
time), try skipping fam activities @ 5pm, dinner right at 5:30 if not before
(use a slow cooker to make it easier), fam activies now or go for a collective walk, bath/windown time/reading time.
Then bedtime.
Again, I would put the younger two to bed later.
They don't do as much, don't exercise as much, don't use their little legs/
bodies as much. Less energy used/less energy expended so less tire.
Move the bath to morning and cut out some of that hectic singing, dancing hoopla. Home from daycare, playtime, supper, story, bed. Not so much stimulation in the evening.
I would put the two younger ones to bed at about 7:30. And no way bringing her to your room etc. No sippy cup either. Good supper so she is full. And then to bed. Mine only did that when they were hungry. Good luck.
My kids went to bed before 8:00 pm until they were around 4 or 5. And then it became 8:00 pm. Maybe try putting the two youngest down around 7:30?
I wouldn't move dinner up any, though. If you increase the time from dinner to bedtime at all, you might want to offer another small snack of some sort... yogurt or a piece of cheese. Something with a little protein and a little fat.
My kids would have a piece of string cheese in the 15 minutes before teeth brushing, then bedtime routine and lights out.
I know it is hard with your schedule, but I would try to get her to bed earlier, at this age she should be getting at least 12 hours of sleep and really closer to 14 hours. It looks like she is getting 11.5 with 10 hours at night and 1.5 hours at school. Sleep begets sleep :)
She's probably starving in the middle of the night. A toddler can't go 13 hours without food....
6pm dinner and wake up 6:30, assuming she doesn't eat the moment she wakes up and might eat at child care it's 13+ hours without food.
Give the kids a snack at bedtime and see if that helps.
Kids also go through stages where they just wake up.
Thank you all for the help. We did put both the younger ones down at 7 last night and she did better. Hopefully with all the advise we got we can get through this. Just a note I didn't put my children's schedule on here to judge it. It's the way our life works for us and if you run your children's schedule different that's fine but were not all the same and other things work better for other families. Just because you do not do it that way doesn't make it the only way. Thank you all again for the help!! :)
