# Help with bed times please



## Macgyver (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi all


I am a very tired mummy (more than normal) ds is 3 and over the last two weeks it has been a nightmare to get him to sleep and stay asleep.


Before he would go to bed at 8pm up at 7:00 am but now he won't settle until 10pm and up every hour.


I've tried sitting at the bottom of the bed that works fine and he will go off eventually, but up again every hour or two,  then I sit on the floor by his door until his goes back off but he still keeps waking.


The only solution I found is having him in bed with us or going down stairs and we both fall asleep in the sofa.


Everyone keeps saying just put him back in bed, but he doesn't get out of bed he just screams the house down.


He has also become scared of the dark so now has to sleep with the main light on even tho he has a lamp and night light.


Can anyone give me any advise please


From tired and emotional mummy


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## becs40 (Apr 9, 2013)

I've yet to get to the 3 year old stage as little man is only 16 months. Whenever we have issues though I tend to do the opposite of what you would think. So if he's restless during the night and waking frequently people often assume it's because he's not tired enough. It's normally the opposite in that he's too tired so I put him to bed earlier.
Does he have a nap still during the day? If not I'd hazard a guess that over tiredness may be part of the problem. It may be that's he's having a growth spurt and needs a bit more sleep than usual?


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## walnut123 (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi

I had the very same problem with my little boy when he was about 4.  In the end I just used to put his slightly older brother to bed and then bring the younger one downstairs, and let him fall asleep on the sofa, and then I would take him to bed with me.  This went on for months.  When he came downstairs to sleep on the sofa, he had to lie in a position that allowed him to still see me.

He did talk about seeing a monster in his room, and so I wonder whether their imagination starts to really run wild at this age and this makes them afraid to be alone?

We were having friends to stay so had to resolve the problem, so I told him a few weeks ahead, that soon he would need to go to his own bed. In fact, the way I finally resolved it was to move his bed in to his brother's room, and so they now share a room.  He would still cry if his older brother fell asleep before him, but this eventually settled down. 

It's a really hard thing to deal with.  I used to spend hours getting him to sleep, then getting up to him several times each night and sitting on the bed with him or lying on the floor.  We decided that it was best to make our lives easier, so we just had him in bed with us, and things worked out in the end.  It is probably an age thing - I have a friend whose daughter had the same sleep issues at about your child's age.

Good luck.  It is exhausting.


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