I'm exhausted

busymumof3

Could you press nursery to drop the daytime nap at least for a trial period? May mean more work for them if it makes him grizzly. All my three were out of regular daytime naps by 18 months. Not saying that's a good thing though and definitely led by them not me.

My HV told me at my son's two year review a couple of weeks ago that he should be sleeping 12-13 hours. I wish she would tell him that. He sleeps 9-10 tops at night ie 9ish to 7ish wakening two or three times a week. I have a stairgate on his doorway so he can't go wandering. He just stands at the gate and shouts for us!

Having said that he is actually much better than the other two were! I now feel fuzzy headed if I actually manage to get a full 8 hours sleep.

jellyhead

my health visitor is full of info like that but somehow my son never takes it in apparently he should be napping for 2 hours each time (twice a day, he's 8 months). often they only last 30 minutes but i'm just glad he sleeps for ten hours at night, it's bliss compared to when my eldest was little.

busymumof3

I know - we were shell shocked with my eldest. He was a tyrant and didn't actually go to bed awake until he was at pre-school nursery. Had a built-in sensor and just used to scream (and make himself sick) when he found himself alone in his bed. He more or less slept with us for the first four and a half years. I have a five and a half year age gap between numbers 1 and 2!

Lillibet_2

Hi FA

I can't really help as our Spud is only 8 months old so haven't had to deal with this problem yet (just 7 months of waking every 2 hours:eek:), but I wanted to say that it sounds like you're doing all the right things & it's just a case of perservering. And, unfortunatley, 4 days isn't a very long time to get son back to sleeping through. I know it feels like a lifetime to you but it isn't even a week yet. Keep going, get lots of early nights yourself & while you're off work is there any possability of you getting a daytime nap?

Good luck;)

PS : I have read about getting a clock radio & training kids that they aren't allowed out of their rooms until music starts, until then they are allowed out of bed to read/play silent games/puzzels etc but must not make a sound or leave the room except for bathroom/illness. Would this be a possability or not 'cos of the room sharing I guess? Alternatively, call me old-fashioned, but instead of dealing with the getting up, what about actually punishing him for it as he sounds like he knows he shouldn't be doing it?? Withdraw privlieges/set chores as you/he are too tired beacuse of the early mornings? Just a wild idea!!!!!!

jellyhead

we used timer plugs for spud when he was older. can't remember what it was we plugged in though, i'm a dozy mare like that! there's a bunny alarm clock that changes when it's time they're 'allowed' up, but it's expensive.

fannyadams

Thank you all for your valuable advice.
I took charge of a manic whirlwind this afternoon when I picked him up and was told that he had asked for a nap and they'd let him have 30 mins. I was expecting to take receipt of a 'cranky manky' (grizzle puss) but he was running around and when we went to collect DS#1 from after school club DS#2 was racing around with the other children whist DS#1 was collecting his stuff together.
We had a bit of fun & games getting him off to bed as he wanted to go to bed before he'd got his nappy changed and his PJs on but he still had two exits before he settled.
I will wait and see what he's like tomorrow morning. Please, if the sleep fairies are listening can you get him to stay in bed until 6?
I thought about the stairgate idea but as HWTHMBO has pointed out DS#1 will need to get up for a wee in the morning and often leaves it to the last minute so if there is an obstacle then we will have wet carpets too.
I have also considered the afternoon nap idea and did have a quasi nap this afternoon, I tend to develop habits quite quickly and knowing that I have to go back to work next week I don't want to get into the habit of a nap. It took me long enough to stop napping in the afternoon before I came back after maternity leave!
Gonna go for the early (8pm) nights and set the video for what I wanna watch (then I can watch it the next day).
thanks again to all who've posted. nighty night

gixxerchick_2

We used to have a problem like this, our little angel would be up from 2am till 4am some mornings, absolutely wide awake and wanting to play, know how you're feeling, think the worst one was when he 'd been up since 2am and was not having any of going back to bed and at 4:30 am i gave in and took him downstairs- i was on an early shift that day that started at 7am, i just muddled my way through the day.
Another thing he used to do, around 4:30 would be to come into our room and bounce on the bed roaring like a lion!!

We changed his bedtime routine-he had a bath, then an hour of quiet time with some warm milk, seemed to do the trick.

Good luck, i know what's it like to be that tired

chewy62

Fannyadams, I had this same problem with my then nearly 2 year old, and he kept waking up at 4:45 every morning, no matter what time I put him to bed! I was 7 months pregnant at the time so it wasn't great, but I was able to have a nap with him in our bed later in the day. I just started going to bed a lot earlier about 9:30.
It lasted about a month or so and then he stopped all of a sudden. I think it is just a phase they go through so hopefully it will end on it's own! Good luck!

fannyadams

Update : The nursery only let him have 30 mins naptime yesterday AND....
this morning he slept til 5:50 - :j and went back to bed for another 30 mins before coming back out and sitting in the doorway looking tired. He then went back to bed again for another 10 mins before recalling that daddy was now awake enough to play (like has happened most mornings) - DS#2s frustration when daddy put him back to bed was loud but luckily failed to wake DS#1. He did stay in his room for another 15 minutes, until we decided that he should get up and great the day. Made a huge fuss of him and told him that tomorrow if he stayed in his bed until mummy of daddy went in to collect him then he could have a ride to nursery on the motorbike (this is his favourite treat).
Hopefully we've cracked it - thanks again for all your help

trippy

I know it sounds silly and like the last thing you'd want to do, but have you tried putting him to bed earlier? We have some gobbledegook book recommended by our HV called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. This is what he recommends doing.

I would also recommend a digital clock in the room and telling him he can't come into you until it says 7. We have done this with our daughter since she was 2 and it has worked. If you can get him to stay in his room, you might find he'll get bored and fall back to sleep. It's also quite handy if they wake up at 8 one morning and they say in bed for ages, waiting for the clock to turn to 7!

Another piece of advice given by the HV is to actually wake him up 15 minutes before he usually wakes up to break the cycle. Then he will go back to sleep again. Obviously this is really hard to do, but that's what they said and I can see it makes sense.

Lastly, depending on your finances (and this is NOT moneysaving) there's a sleep clinic called Millpond that was on some TV programme last year. It's about £100 but they will sort the problem out with telephone consultations etc. It depends on how close you are to the end of your tether.