Sleeping issue

mmalaka

I am looking for advice here about my daughter sleeping hours, she is about 3 years old, and she go to sleep at about 10:30 at night and then wake up between 8 and 9 in the morning, and that’s it, she do not sleep during the day she is active and never feel tired or sleepy actually she sometimes try to refuse going to sleep. And if she gets a small nap during the day this will lead to delay her sleeping time up to midnight!!! Is this normal?

noby

I would try and get her to bed earlier and awake earlier if it was me.

littlebug

My 4 year old goes to bed at 8 but it could be 9 before he's asleep and he could be awake any time after 6 (5.45 this morning:() so he gets roughly about 9-10 hours sleep. Your 3 year old gets slightly more.... so yeah it's normal enough IME. Some kids just need less than others. Both mine stopped having naps at 2 while I know others who kept having naps up to age 4. I would aim for and earlier bed/ rising time if I were you as it will make life easier when school time comes. As she gets older and busier at school she will probably need more sleep. My eldest was a very early riser too but now I sometimes have to wake her at 8.30.

Quality

My fella just turned 3 in January, I have him in bed at 8 every night, He will sleep till 8 the next day. I dont let him nap anymore, He is in play school.

Up to December He was napping during the day, not going to bed till 10 at night and was always tired and cranky in the morning time.

It was my new years resolution to get him into a routine and it is working well. I am enjoying a bit of peace and quiet in the evening time. And thakfully he is happy in the morning.

paulusdu

my 3 1/2 year old boy will go to bed around 8, and he is usually asleep by 9:00, 9:30. he has a nap during the day, usually about an hour but he would probably sleep a bit longer if we let him. He is up around 7 during the week, and maybe 8 at weekends, so he probably gets a bit more than yours.

To be honest, we are going to stop him having an afternoon nap and get him to bed (and hopefully asleep) a little earlier, so it won;t be too big a shock when he starts to go to school.

Sounds a bit similar to your little one in terms of hours of sleep, maybe my little lad gets about an hour more (and we get an hour more peace :-))

embee

My daughter will be three next week. She sleeps 7pm to 7am every night and dropped her daytime naps about a year ago.

Every child is different though, and the amount of sleep they need varies wildly. I don't know of too many 3 year olds who take daytime naps, tbh.

Tipsygypsy

Hi, my little fella will be 4 in April, he goes to bed at 8:30 usually and sleeps to about 7am, but thats when the whole house gets up, so he may sleep slightly later if left to himself. He doesnt take a nap now unless we've had a long drive. His older brother is 6 and would sleep later in the morning if he could... cant wait til they all sleep later!

di11on

We had similar concerns when our little one was younger... and after some reading came to the conclusion that a strong routine is very important for young children.

The clincher for us was that we read that if your child always falls asleep when put in a car etc, then they are probably not getting enough sleep.

10:30 sounds very late. It certainly sounds to me like your daughter isn't getting enough sleep. It's tempting to think that they'll just sleep if tired, but it doesn't work that way with kids. They love life and will fight off sleep as much as they can. So it's really up to us as parents to make sure they get enough sleep and creating a routine for them that allows this.

The key is setting up a routine - so that your child recognises bed time every day and realises that when you start it off, the end result, without any doubt, will be bed time. They key is also to make it positive - something to look forward to - quality time with mummy. You could start with something relaxing, like a bath, then pyjamas, then teeth and then a nice story with mummy or daddy... maybe a little song? This is how we do it. When they were younger we also did silly little things like saying good night to all the cuddly toys in the room etc.

Routine is key. When they see it starting, No. 1 they know bedtime is the end result and No. 2 it's something nice that they can look forward to, rather than something to fight and resist.

That's our experience anyway - hope it helps.

beth-lou

I would start a bedtime routine with her if you haven't one already and start it at 7. The day you start it, get her up at 6.30, so that she is tired earlier in the evening, and start to talk about bedtime at 7pm. Pyjamas at 7.15, milk at 7.30, talk about a bedtime story at 7.45 and up the stairs at 8. Sit on the bed and read the story. Then a snuggle up and say good night. If she says no, you have to be firm and say it's late and it's time for sleep, give a kiss and turn out the light. Maybe have a nightlight in the room.
You might have to go up a few times to the room, and might have to physically bring her back up to bed, but if you're consitant and do this for a few nights, and get up at 7am she will fall into it, and with school starting in September, you really do need toget her into a routine, otherwise she will be tired in school and will find it hard to keep up. Also no tv for the last hour before bed should help.

Sorry if you are already doing something similiar. This is just what worked for us and being consitant really helped.

livvy

di11on wrote: »

We had similar concerns when our little one was younger... and after some reading came to the conclusion that a strong routine is very important for young children......
The clincher for us was that we read that if your child always falls asleep when put in a car etc, then they are probably not getting enough sleep........
10:30 sounds very late.
That's our experience anyway - hope it helps.

I think that is great advice. My girl is two and bed time is normally eight to eight- day time nap gone Im sure you must be absolutely wrecked by 10.30pm... when your wind down time must start. I hope it works for you.

lostinnappies

At three children normally dont need a nap during the day (some do). My now 4 year old goes to bed at 8pm on the dot. He lies down and doesnt get up again (normally) until about 7.30am. He is a sound and solid sleeper but he wasnt always. The way I got him to do this is by providing bed time ques ie brush teeth, dress for bed and a bed time story. I did this EVERY day without fail. Never deviated from it. He knew then at that stage he had no choice. Once in bed I used the rapid return technique. Every single time he got to the door, i came in said nothing didnt look at him just picked him up and put him back in bed. It took some doing and I was there for about 2 hours some nights, but after a week of doing this he learned that mommy was boss and when it came to the bed time ques he knew what was coming and what was expected of him. Now he takes 5 min from when his head hits the pillow to when he is asleep.