What do you do when your 4 year old has trouble going to bed at night?

Answer 1

I'm not sure what to do.

My daughter has trouble going to bed at night.

I have tried letting her sleep in, and she will sleep for 14 hours if I let her!

I have tried waking her up early, but she still doesn't get tired at bedtime.

If I let her stay up till she wants, she doesn't pass out till around 2 or 3am.

So, this is our normal routine: I wake her up at 8am, no naps during the day (cause she starts school this year), then I start getting her ready for bed at 8pm. She is laying in bed with the lights out by 9:30pm, and she doesn't fall asleep till almost 11pm. Is this normal?

What should I do? And how many hours of sleep does she really need each night?

Well try letting her got to bed with you for a couple of nights like you put her down about 8:00 and then when you come in check to see if she is alsleep and if she is it means she just wants to be with you!!

Answer 2

Addressed here are eight ways to help Mom, Dad and Baby have a good night sleep for days to come.

1. A bedtime Routine. Babies and infants are creatures of habit. They enjoy the predictability of a sleep ritual so a regular bedtime routine will help settle your baby more quickly and also increase the chances to help baby sleep through the night.

Routine helps to establish baby's sleep pattern and once it is established your baby will be happier, more content, and more likely to sleep through the night. This needs to be incorporated right away during the newborn/infant stage. However, its not late to get this routine functioning. It will become harder and take longer as your child gets older.

An example of a good routine is; Put your child in PJ's, set the mood by dimming the lights and establishing a quiet relaxed atmosphere, cuddle time with mom/dad. This is followed by baby in the cot with a story or lullaby. You could give a bath before bedtime as well, or a baby massage which babies love and parents love to do! Be consistent with the above routine. It must be done on a nightly basis until it becomes a habit for your child.

2. Do not feed your baby to sleep. Feeding a baby to sleep can create a problem with their sleep patterns. The baby will soon begin to recognize that you feed him or her at bedtime. This will become something they depend on and expect. This is the same issue with waking up at night as well.

There are a couple of ways to deal with making this change.

• Firstly, change the time or the amount of time you feed your baby when nearing his or her bedtime. Doing so will gradually remove the association of bedtime with feeding.

• Another option is to feed your child earlier in the evening instead of as a bedtime routine. When you do these things your baby will not associate feeding with bedtime. This will help your baby to learn to fall asleep on his or her own accord.

3. Bottle and breast feeding. Childcare professionals believe that combining formula bottle feedings and breast feedings can lead to sleep problems and works against the ways used to help baby sleep through the night.

With breast feeding the milk supply is replenished naturally by the breast with each feeding that takes place. When formula milk via a bottle is given instead of breast milk, the breast milk supply can lesson. So with the next breast feeding, there may not be much milk supply as previously. With this, your baby will require more frequent feedings and this is why he will wake up during the night, possible several times for a feeding. Of course, infants need to be woken up and fed every few hours but once this stage passes, your baby is able to go through the night without having to be fed, provided his appetite is satisfied in his last feeding before bed.

Answer 3

Here are some ways to help anyone get to sleep at night:

• Have a nightly routine - like brushing your teeth, taking a bath, reading a bedtime story - that you do every night. This habit will help your brain know that it's time for bed.
• Turn off the distractions - leave the TV and Video Games and cellphones in another room besides the bedroom. They're too much of a temptation for a child or teenager to have at hand. And even adults have trouble sleeping with the light of the TV flickering in their eyes or the soft beeps of the cellphone interrupting them.
• Lower the temperature - the bedroom should be the coolest room in the house because your body temperature naturally lowers as you get ready for sleep, so lowering the room temperature signals your body that it's bedtime.
• Darken the room - not everybody likes a totally dark room, but the lights should be low with maybe only one small night light on in case you need to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
• Try a glass of warm milk - people make jokes, but it does help some people to feel sleepy
• Try melatonin - if all else fails, try taking a dose of melatonin every night an hour or two before bedtime. This doesn't make you instantly sleepy, but it signals the brain that it's time for bed.