Parenting Australia

Hi, My daughter is nearly 3 years old, and she just doesn't sleep. She goes to bed at about 7pm, but come 2am she is up and about. Most nights she tries to watch tv, or she turns all the lights on in her room and starts to play. She just wont go back to sleep. I then spend about 1 or 2 hours getting up and down, trying to get her to stay in bed and go back to sleep. She is also waking up her 11 month old brother, so he is suffering as well.
Then, to make matters worse, she is up to start her day at 5.30am, which means everyone in the house is too. I just can't get her to sleep through, or sleep in.
I don't know why she is awake, but I am at my wits end. I am soooo tired.
She sleeps for about an hour in the middle of the day, so it's not like she's getting too much sleep in the day. I'd sleep then too, but I have the baby up at that time, so it doesn't happen.
Any ideas what I can do?? PLEASE HELP!!
Cheers!

Hi, I have much the same issue. My little girl is almost 3 and regularly wakes during the night. She's rarely unhappy or hungry, etc. She just seems to wake and comes to get me because she wants company.

Unlike your little one, L doesn't sleep during the day. She gave it up shortly after she moved into a big bed, when she realised that she could get up if she wanted to.

The only thing I can suggest is to drop the daytime sleep so that she's more tired at night - although that hasn't been foolproof for us. Other than that I can only suggest just accepting it for the time being.

Someone recently suggested to me that this just might be the way my daughter's sleep patterns are and she's always going to be a restless sleeper and prone to waking in the night. Eventually she'll learn to settle herself back to sleep without needing me to put her back to bed, but in the meantime I will have to put up with getting up and taking her back to bed. It hasn't helped me get more sleep, but I am a bit less stressed about it and, thus, more able to deal with her calmly and get back to sleep more quickly myself.

i had the same problem with mu son and in the end went to a sleep specialist who advised me to keep stimulation during the day to a minimum, no shopping cxentres, bright lights not to much excitement and as much sleep as possible during the day, sleep = sleep, sometimes they wake in the night because they are overexcited and want to get out there again!

I found her advise almost impossible to believe but was so desperate gave it a go, and withing 2 days he was sleepig through.

my son had the same problem. he would wake at two and have parties with his teddies. i took him to a specialist who said the most common reason for this is the brain is lacking a natural chemical called melatonin that the penenal gland in his brain produces to help him distingush night from day. he gave me menatonin drops to make up for what his body wasnt producing and it worked.. no more middle of the night teddy parties. this sleeping problem started at two yrs old and he is now 5. melatonin can be ordered online or through a script from your doctor. i still use it to this day and i think that you might find it handy too