How do you deal with your childs sleep problems during the night?

Our daughter (almost 5) will go to sleep but ALWAYS wakes during the night.
The amount of times and how long she is awake varies-

Right now, she is in her bed but I can see and hear her on the monitor whinning out as if she is having a bad dream. Before long, she will be awake wanting something to drink ( ALWAYS during the night) and she MAY or MAY NOT go back to sleep.

This can happen one or 5 times per night-

Is there anything to do to help them get a good nights sleep?
(and yes she is on Melatonin)

Hugs! We've had the opposite problem. Trouble falling asleep but once they're asleep, usually stay asleep until morning (95% of the time). If they do wake at night, they crawl into our bed. We let them stay for a while depending on the time, then sometimes we'll move them to the couch we have in our bedroom or back to their bed. That seems to work for us so that we can all get as much sleep as possible.

Is she afraid or does she have anxiety? If she's having a rough night, can you set up a blanket and pillow next to your bed that she can go to to have the comfort of closeness but not disturb the whole house?

(07-30-2011, 11:09 AM)LynnNBoys Wrote: Hugs! We've had the opposite problem. Trouble falling asleep but once they're asleep, usually stay asleep until morning (95% of the time). If they do wake at night, they crawl into our bed. We let them stay for a while depending on the time, then sometimes we'll move them to the couch we have in our bedroom or back to their bed. That seems to work for us so that we can all get as much sleep as possible.

Is she afraid or does she have anxiety? If she's having a rough night, can you set up a blanket and pillow next to your bed that she can go to to have the comfort of closeness but not disturb the whole house?

Thanks for your reply-
She also at times has problems actually falling asleep. You just never know whats to come. She actually slept in the bed with me (hubby in a different bed) for about 8 months- About 4 or so months ago we FINALLY got her back in her bed and hubby in ours.
YYes she does have anxiety problems also. We kinda have a BAD habit going on that we give her medication to her and then she lays on the same couch as we watch tv, she falls asleep on the couch then we take her to her bed. She will sleep anywhere from 3 or so hours but will wake us up screaming, crying, or pitching a fit, OR sometimes just be WIDE AWAKE. She keeps a drink beside her bed but ALWAYS has a hard time soothing herself back to sleep. We HAD to get her out of our bed because she is like the tazmanian devil in a bed :/ CONSTANLY flipping, kicking, ect. The way we got her back into her bed was to first put a baby bed matress in our bedroom floor and gradually from there back into her room- Now Im wondering which battle I care about- her being in the same room or US getting sleep :/ sooo frustrating for everyone involved-

I appreciate all advice- Im glad I found this site with people who actually UNDERSTAND what we are going thru

The whole "pick your battles" is important to remember. But I do think it's important for you and your husband to be in the same bed too.

We've had a huge struggle with getting our older son to sleep, it was really bad for about 3 years. Part of the reason was that we didn't have the SPD diagnosis yet, and partly because we let the judgments of others decide what is right for our family. "They" decided that children should sleep alone in their own bed, in their own room.

Finally, we just went with what works for us and our sons. Hubby and I take turns putting one of the boys to bed, the other puts the other son to bed. Bedtime is pajamas, potty, brush teeth, read books, then tuck into bed...and then we sit until he's asleep. Younger one is in bed by 8-8:30 and older one is in bed by 9-9:30. We try for the earlier times when school is in session, later times for weekends. We've tried again and again to be able to just tuck them in and leave, but it just seems to aggravate the whole house. Especially with my older son, his anxiety seems to peak at bedtime, all his worries come out then. So we sit. Yes, it was hard on the nights that it used to take older son 3 hours to fall asleep and I'd be antsy thinking about all the things I still needed to do or things I wanted to do. But in the long run, it was what was best for our kids. And now, it takes them only 15-20 minutes at the most to fall asleep, so we can still have a little time for us at night.

I don't see falling asleep on the couch necessarily as a bad thing. I'm not going to knock it. I understand about Tasmanian devils--my almost 7 year old is constantly turning and kicking in his sleep. That's why we need to move him over to our couch. More in a minute...

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So yeah, doesn't sound like it works to have her in your bed, but maybe it's worth trying to make a spot for her in your room some place. If it keeps you and hubby in the same bed and her staying asleep or being able to fall back to sleep sooner, then I'd try it.

You could also try looking through Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr Weissbluth. I read that when older son was 10-11 months old. I liked a lot of things in there. And found his idea that Sleep Begets Sleep very true. The more they sleep, the more they'll sleep. I'm probably not saying it too clearly but it might be worth looking at it and trying some of the ideas that appeal to you. Most deals with infants but there are sections about children too.

Bumping this up.

My son was in my room until he was 4. He started off in his cot but use to revolve all night hitting bars and himself and scratching and screaming. I put him on a mattress in my room which was a little better noise wise but he was sitting up and lying down all night long. This went on till he was just over 3. Nothing changed then except he started to sleep better. He is a whirl wind all day long, doesn't tire at school and now goes to bed at 8 willingly. He still moves and shouts occasionally all night but he is not in my room so is easier to zone out.

Wish you luck, not one doctor or paediatrician took me seriously until now.

Hi. I'm not sure if your sleep prob has resolved itself but my daughter suffers from chronic insomnia. We use melatonin to get her to sleep but she used to wake every night around 1-2 am and stay awake for 3-5 hours. A few months back i started giving her liquid magnesium and now give it to her daily and her waking at night has settled immensely. We went from a sleep through every couple of weeks to sleeping through most nights. Getting to sleep is still a prob and hopefully I'll be able to ween her off the melatonin once the sleeping through is sorted. The nights she does wake (and the nights she can't settle despite the melatonin) I find her vibrating rocker helps her get to sleep. We also have vibrating pillow that I use if the rocker's batteries are out.
The other thing I'd suggest looking at are ferritin levels with ablood test. Both my girls (and I) suffer restless legs so I give iron supplements to us all.
Lucia

Checking for any mineral deficiencies is good, even very minor ones can inhibit sleep. Ours was more the calcium and magnesium but I've heard iron can be an issue too. SPD kids get so overstimulated, it's hard to calm down and sleep well, is she getting enough breaks/calm time during the day? Conversely, is she getting enough exercise? My DD sensory seeks at night too, she needs soft squishy stuff like this huge stuffed dog, weighted blanket, soft down comforter, ect. Most nights she does sleep in a bed in our room too, she has a lot of separation anxiety, to me it just doesn't make sense if she's too anxious to play in a room by herself she's not going to sleep in a room by herself either. A lot of these milestones seem to happen slower for our kids, they do seem to happen eventually though.

(01-03-2012, 10:12 PM)AngelaVA Wrote: Checking for any mineral deficiencies is good, even very minor ones can inhibit sleep. Ours was more the calcium and magnesium but I've heard iron can be an issue too.

Vitamin B12 deficiency can be a major source of sleep problems, particularly insomnia, which I suffered from for years. Now on the correct dose of B12 supplements (I get bloodwork 2x/year to check on levels and dose) I sleep at least 7 hours per night, up from 3 or 4.

We have had great success with a weighted blanket. My son is a seeker. While usually a fairly good sleeper he has also been a wanderer, up in the middle of the night just to see what is going on. Since he received his blanket for his birthday we rarely have a visitor in the middle of the night.