Impossible to put almost 4 yr old to sleep

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Preschoolers

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amother

Cerulean ↓

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 8:08 pm

Ready to snap. My almost 4 yr old is impossible to put to bed. I put him in at 7. Tried 8 , tried 6:45, tried 7:30, all the same. He gets books and tucked in, shma, sleep. Well. ...the second I leave he jumps out of bed. I have to physically sit in the hall for up to an hr till he actually falls asleep. He's hungry thirsty needs the bathroom etc. Please give me a good and firm routine and what to do so he won't keep coming out. I have no nights and going craaazzzyyyy. Thanks !

amother

Amber

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 8:51 pm

Story tapes to listen to. Saved my sanity. Turned out he was simply bored waiting to fall asleep and the story tape kept him busy.

yehudis1056

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 8:54 pm

Oh gosh I'm going through same thing with my 3.5 year old ! And she keeps my older daughter up and makes her hyper so both of them refuse to go to sleep! I'm ready to lose it (disclaimer already did a few times) no advice for you just commisseration but I'll be watching the thread to see if any good ideas come up!

amother

↑ Cerulean

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 9:07 pm

Any good story tapes for 4 yr old? And doesn't make them stay up later?

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 9:17 pm

Went through the same craziness last year with my four/five year old son. Honestly, NOTHING worked, not tapes, not reward systems, NOTHING. He was driving all of us insane, getting wild, getting out of bed and running and crashing in a giddy way. The older kids could NOT do their homework! It was horrible. I felt like such a failure with my teenagers whining "Ma! Get that kid to bed! We can't study with him running and screaming and climbing everywhere!!!". You know when I started being able to put him in bed and he stayed put? When I started to respect his body clock and let him stay up and play until 9 pm. Then he happily went for bath, story, shema, asleep. I stopped trying to give myself a night by putting him to bed at 7:30. Itst hard having him up so late, but much calmer over here. Good luck!

miami85

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 9:39 pm

Children between 3-5 need 10-13 hours of sleep. If your child is going to sleep at 9pm waking at 7am, then that's 10 hours, that may be all your child needs, waking up 6:30 then adjust it to 8:30. Once I figured out this with my kids bedtime became less of a struggle. Annoying that they are up "so late" but it also means that I have less pressure to put them to bed by a certain time. Especially if your child still naps during the day, then he may need less sleep. If it's taking him an hour to fall asleep, and he wakes up approximately the same time everyday and is generally behaving/well rested, then you have your answer.

amother

Pearl

Thu, Sep 07 2017, 9:40 pm

Melatonin

amother

Tan

Sun, Sep 10 2017, 4:31 pm

I have a 4 year old. Use the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". It's amazing.

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