Last night at 11pm I rolled over in bed wondering why there was a light in the hallway. Turns out my 4 year old woke up and decided to watch the tv after everyone else has gone to bed. For the last week, we have caught her up roaming the hallways at night, bored to tears. She used to come and try and party in our room late at night but stopped when we locked our bedroom door. We have tried punishing her, rewarding her, but nothing has helped. We put her to bed at 8:30pm and she gets up at 7am if we're lucky. She used to sleep well at night and still takes a nap 1-2 hours during the day, but now she's up all night and still gets up at the crack of dawn. Any suggestions?
I found my 3-year-old up and "partying" at 2am watching a video, playing dress up and eating cereal once. Every light in the house was on! This actually happened a few times, but not quite to that extent. I think the advice you got about cutting out the nap is good. If things don't work for you, I wanted to recommend The Sleep Lady. (aka Kim West) She has fabulous idea and works as a consultant www.Sleeplady.com.
My son is 4 years old and we had to recently stop laying him down for naps. He was doing the same thing. Hard to get to bed at night and couldn't sleep. Then would wake up. At first it was a little hard. About 4pm everyday he would get tired but I would usually try and give him an early bath (that would help to wake him up and rejuvenate him) or we would play some fun games. Then he would get his second wind it seems and would be fine. About 7 -730pm he is ready for bed and will sleep until about 8-830am the next morning. It has worked out great.
Good Luck
By way of comparison, my kids usually start dropping their naps at 2 1/2, which is earlier than most. But they simply won't sleep until midnight if they have a nap during the day. By age 4, my oldest was not sleeping until 9:30 or 10:00 pm and waking up on his own by 7:00 or 7:30. Just keep in mind that children are all different. Some kids need naps until they are 6, others don't.
Also, make certain your child isn't waking up due to bad dreams. Talk to them and ask why they are waking up. At 4, they should be able to tell you whether aren't sleepy, or if they think something is scary.
Have you considered pushing the bedtime back a bit? I'm sure you and your husband want some alone time at night, but maybe even pushing her bedtime back to 9 pm would help.
As regards the TV, could you put all the remote controls where she cannot access them when you aren't up? There can be some scary stuff on in the middle of the night when you cannot monitor it...
Have you asked her why she's up? Does she have bad dreams? We went through that for awhile with our newly-4-year-old dtr.
B.,
Please stop punishing your daughter for not being tired. It is not her fault she isn't tired!
She obviously does not need to nap during the day anymore. That is why she isn't tired at night. Hopefully you will stop napping her, and I'm sure she will be ready to go to bed at night. Once her naps caese, an 8:30 bedtime will be too late. A 7:30 bedtime is a good bedtime for a four year old who doesn't nap. Also, make sure she eats a good, healthy dinner so a hungry tummy won't be a factor in why she can't fall asleep.
I would try a rest time in middle of the day 1 hour of quite activity (movie, books) then maybe try to push her bedtime back to 9 or 9:30 sometimes children do not require as much sleep. If she really needs a nap just shorten IT and push her bedtime back to a later time. Also a soothing bath usually relaxes them to fall asleep. If she can't sleep she can't sleep punshing her is not the answer, teach her relaxation thingS to help her go back to sleep when she does wake up. Count sheep, cd of relaxing music, stuffed animal to cuddle..... good luck!
We have the same problem however our child is 2 years and 5 months. I remeber hearing with my other children that they need an even earlier bedtime and I just remebered when hearing the back up the bed time advice. Try putting her to bed earlier and maybe have a good bath and story routine. Good luck tous both.
dear B., you probably need too stop the naps or shorten them alot. she is just not sleepy. warm bath, reading to each other. i used to lay in my kids bed and read to them. i would fall asleep in there but they would too. i just got up in the middle of the night to go to my bed. good luck.
It might be time to drop the nap but back up her bedtime a little earlier so that she's tired at bedtime but not cheated out of the sleep that she seems to need. Give it several days to work. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
I have a "Nightcrawler" too. He is also 4 yrs. old. I have yet to figure out how to keep him in bed. The worse part is if you catch him he claims he was just going potty! Yet he is in the livingroom no where near any potty!!!! Rewards for staying in bed have not worked, taking privilages away has not worked. We are at our witts end. If you figure out something that does work - PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!!! till the good luck!!!!
I feel your pain. My 4 year old has not napped since age 2. She still stays up as long as she can and gets up at the crack of dawn. I almost wish she would just roam around the house--instead she wakes me up and insists I stay awake with her and won't rest until I force her to her bed. Let's hope they'll grow out of it!
I would try dropping the nap.
Good luck,
L.
