Dads come on in here.....

[red347lx]

My wife and I are currently having some issues with our oldest child. My daughter is 5 and has started school this year at our local elementary. Our problem is this. For the last year or so she has not ever slept through the night and is constantly getting up and coming to our room and climbing in bed with us.

I normally wouldn't care however this condition is now causing some behavioral issues at school. Yesterday I was called to school due to her pushing her teacher and telling her "no" when asked to do certain tasks. She was in preschool the last two years and we started to see this at the last part of last year when she wouldn't sleep through out the night.

My question is to you fellas, Have you ever had this with your children and if so what steps did you take to get them to sleep through the night?

She falls asleep perfectly most nights with little to no fuss at all, its just staying asleep that is the problem. I have read that most kids need at a minimum of 10hrs of sleep. I believe at best she is getting 6-7 hours.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[mikesfastss]

Ive noticed with my 2 and 4 year old girls that naps seem to make it worse for a good nights sleep, i also make sure they get no sugar after 4pm and i put them to sleep by 7 pm. Its not always a for sure thing but it does help.

 

[4Gas$]

I assume you have already talked to her doctor &
possibly ran some blood / other test to make sure all is
well.

Having ruled out all physical problems, my wife was very
good about not allowing our children getting into the habit
of sleeping in our room.

Parents think they’re helping their children by “giving them
security” by letting them sleep in parents room - Not true, most
agree, babies should be out of parents room and into the children’s
own room before habits / dependency on the sleeping arrangements
become solidified.

It maybe “tough love time”. She may have to sleep in her own room
nightly. It will be rough for a short time, but she will come around &
in the long run be much better off for it.

Perhaps start on a weekend, do everything you can to comfort her, but
stand firm on the “her room” and “our room”.

God bless you folks, parenting is the toughest job in the world.
It also pays the greatest rewards in the world.

 

[raroz28]

if the kid is carbing up on simple sugars all day she will never sleep. make sure the diet is good and try keeping her up throughout the day or limit her naps to 20-30 minutes once per day.

 

[chacho44]

give her the night night juice!!!! lmao just playing, i never had these problems with my girls ut seems like it can be annoying, and frustrating how it can be affecting her schooling. Gl man hope you find a salution

 

[soap]

Our daughter is almost 4 and naps for 1-2 hours a day and sleeps all night. She has been a great sleeper ever since she was born (we got lucky). We did have an issue with her coming out of her room early (like 5:30-6:00am) so we put a digital clock in her room and put a post-it note over the minutes (so you can only see the hour) with the number 7 on it. We told her that when the numbers match she could come out........it has worked great.

Parent life hack note........we set the clock back a half hour, so 7:00 is really 7:30 :wink:

--Joe

 

[DBK]

One tip: sound machine. The white noise machine on a low volume drives them nuts because it makes them sleepy and seems to keep them from waking from various little noises.

 

[Jacob]

The wife and I stopped giving out son naps at the age of 3 years old..Hes 5 years old now and gos to bed at
8:30pm and gets up at 7am unless he gos to the bathroom..Most of the time we don't even know because he gos pee then right back to bed..7pm is the latest for night time snack and its never sweets..Only time he gets sweets is during the day which is once or twice but its somthing small..
Naps and sweets will have them up all hours of the night..Few of out friends has issues with their kids getting up at night and when we told them to cut back on sweets,snacks right before bed and nap,they sleep sound all night..
Now my brothers kids,they are up all hours of the night because they get alot of junk foods and take naps all the time..One is 4 years old and the other is almost 7 years old so we kinda learned from them lol ...

 

[nitrousrick]

It's nearly impossible to make a suggestion that works for all kids it may take some trial and error. My kids(2 and 5) get "desert"(usually some type of small sugary treat) nearly every night after dinner and sleep through the night just fine.

I'd bet it took time for your daughter to develop this sleeping habit so don't expect it to go away over night. As DBK said above start with a sound machine of some type. When she wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to climb in your bed take her back to her bed and tuck her back in. Lay down with her for a bit until she falls asleep if needed.

My son just started kindergarten this year too.(been in a daycare/learning center since 3 months) A big component of the first month or so kindergarten is geared towards teaching class room rules/regulations, developing structure, routines etc. Kids come in from varying levels of structure so the teacher has to get them all on the same page early on or the year could be a disaster. For example my son has five agreements with the teacher ranging from raising your hand before speaking to keeping your dear teacher happy. Starting school and having home routines thrown up in the air at the same time can be tough on a child. Remember to be patient, use a soft voice when speaking with her and try no to show your frustration. Kids are amazing she'll get figured out if you stick with her.

My wife and I let our kids sleep or fall asleep in our bed on occasion as a "special" treat. There will come a time when they don't want anything to do with us I enjoy all those moments. Snuggling up with the little ones at night is awesome.

 

[mdhmi]

... Yesterday I was called to school due to her pushing her teacher and telling her "no" when asked to do certain tasks ...

And the teacher shouldn't be asking anything he or she should be telling..

 

[Jaggirl02]

One tip: sound machine. The white noise machine on a low volume drives them nuts because it makes them sleepy and seems to keep them from waking from various little noises.

x2

I slept with a sound machine and or a fan since I was a newborn.. i still sleep with a fan every night, it helps me sleep so much better. If I'm away from home and I don't have a fan, I wake up a few times. My sister used to let my niece sleep with them all the time and had a tough time getting her to sleep in her own bed as she got a little older. I'm a big believer of making them sleep in their own bed.

 

[raroz28]

x2

I slept with a sound machine and or a fan since I was a newborn.. i still sleep with a fan every night, it helps me sleep so much better. If I'm away from home and I don't have a fan, I wake up a few times. My sister used to let my niece sleep with them all the time and had a tough time getting her to sleep in her own bed as she got a little older. I'm a big believer of making them sleep in their own bed.

From psych classes I've taken, it's usually taught that it's better to start at infancy and keep the baby as close as possible. Many parents like to let the baby cry itself to sleep, resulting in negative long term affects.

If the child is getting up and lacking autonomy in the night, it may be the affect of earlier ideological methods that parents employed to get the baby to sleep by itself.

 

[svtserpent]

Unfortunately my wife and I aren't on the same page as far as this goes. It drives me nuts when I wake up in the morning and one of my daughters is in bed with us! It also cuts into what little sex life I have left. AND our 5 year old daughter is having some issues at her new school.

 

[Jaggirl02]

From psych classes I've taken, it's usually taught that it's better to start at infancy and keep the baby as close as possible. Many parents like to let the baby cry itself to sleep, resulting in negative long term affects.

If the child is getting up and lacking autonomy in the night, it may be the affect of earlier ideological methods that parents employed to get the baby to sleep by itself.

Crying themselves to sleep and not letting them sleep in your bed every night is two different things.

 

[red347lx]

She has had a white noise machine since birthday. We don't let her have any candy or treats at all after school. We went to the Dr today and she did blood work to check for anything that may effect this sleep problem(thyroid, iron). I will keep you all posted.

We don't mind her sleeping in our room, however it is a killer on us when we deal with her being restless and such....

 

[red347lx]

Blood work came back normal for all things tested......Dr said to give her a teaspoon of Benadryl to see if that helps. First night(Thursday night) she slept better still waking but had a great day at school.
I bribed her with going go karting so maybe that was the reason she behaved better....don't know and honestly don't care. She didn't get any negative marks on her chart today...lol

 

[MarkVIII93]

Blood work came back normal for all things tested......Dr said to give her a teaspoon of Benadryl to see if that helps. First night(Thursday night) she slept better still waking but had a great day at school.
I bribed her with going go karting so maybe that was the reason she behaved better....don't know and honestly don't care. She didn't get any negative marks on her chart today...lol

The reward system generally works fairly well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BAd Dad]

The reward system when abused. Will bite you in the ass.

 

[DBK]

The reward system when abused. Will bite you in the ass.

x 1000000.

 

[red347lx]

It was a one time deal to see if it would work. Still working on the sleeping issues is the main priority.